July recruiting storylines: Marcus Spears Jr. chal...

While high school recruiting has arguably taken a back seat to the transfer portal as coaches aim to build more experienced rosters, college basketball is also coming off a season in which arguably the three best players in the country -- maybe four, if not for Caleb Wilson's injury -- were freshmen. Cameron Boozer was the consensus Player of the Year, AJ Dybantsa led the nation in scoring and was the No. 1 pick, and Darius Acuff Jr. was the SEC Player of the Year. And after a spring in which coaches and fans alike focused almost entirely on the transfer portal and high-level international prospects, July is the month when attention turns back toward the younger prospects. Thursday begins the first of two live evaluation periods this month, when college coaches will travel around the country to various shoe-company-affiliated tournaments and independent grassroots events. This month used to essentially be the only time coaches would be able to see players all summer. Even with the addition of evaluation periods in June and the ability for coaches to watch FIBA events overseas, the next two weeks will continue to move the needle when it comes to in-person evaluations in the recruiting cycle. Here are some of the key storylines to monitor. 1. The changing landscape of roster construction It's been said before over, with the transfer portal boom and the introduction of NIL and revenue sharing, but we're truly in unprecedented times when it comes to recruiting and roster construction. There's the recent introduction of the new five-year, age-based eligibility model -- known colloquially as "5-for-5" -- in which athletes across college sports have five years of eligibility over five seasons. The clock begins upon full-time enrollment in college or the beginning of the academic year following the player's 19th birthday, whichever comes first. Along with the fact that rising salaries are keeping players in college longer, as opposed to entering the NBA draft, the sport is featuring older, more experienced players than ever before. That same sentiment would apply to the recent influx of elite international prospects, but recent NCAA guidance has updated stricter eligibility requirements for overseas players to come to college. On top of that, Michigan just won a national championship with a starting lineup that featured five transfers -- including four who were added to the roster last offseason. Where do freshmen fit in? 2. The race for No. 1 Marcus Spears Jr. enters the month as the No. 1 prospect in the SC Next 100 rankings for the class of 2027, updated earlier this week. He was the only player to rank in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding on the Nike EYBL circuit, averaging 20.9 points and 8.7 rebounds during the spring. He has held the top spot in this class for a while, but don't count out the players just behind him. Right behind Spears is Beckham Black, the younger brother of Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black. The rising senior is fresh off helping lead USA Basketball to a gold medal at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup last week in Turkey. He averaged 12.3 points and 8.3 assists in seven games and was the only 2027 prospect to earn a spot on the tournament's all-star five team. Demarcus Henry, at No. 3, really boosted his stock during the spring as well, adding dozens of offers in April and May. He's a versatile and productive prospect, and averaged 19.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the spring on the EYBL circuit. No. 4-ranked C.J. Rosser was with Black in Turkey, leading the team in scoring in the gold medal game against Serbia with 23 points. He averaged 16.4 points over the course of the tournament, second on the team. Rounding out the top five is Adan Diggs, who reclassified up from the 2028 class back in May. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard is a playmaker with the ball in his hands, and is coming off a spring in which he averaged 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists. 3. Early commitments slowly making a return At this point in the recruiting cycle last year, only one five-star prospect was committed, only nine players in the SC Next 100 overall. It was a historic low by sheer numbers, with the introduction of revenue sharing a major factor in the pace of commitments. At the time, most coaches had very little idea what their salary caps were going to be for the 2026-27 season and didn't know what the market would look like for high school seniors. While there are still only two five-star prospects committed in the 2027 class, there has been far more movement among the top 100. Six top-25 prospects, nine in the top 30, are off the board, with 18 players total in the SC Next 100 currently committed. That's much more in line with the 2025 recruiting class, which had 17 top-100 prospects committed entering the first July live period. Meanwhile, with coaches so focused on short-term roster construction during the early part of the spring and playing catch-up on the 2027 class now, the 2028 class is very much yet to develop from a recruiting standpoint. There are zero SC Next 60 prospects currently committed. 4. Which programs are off to a strong start in 2027? Two programs known for getting much of their recruiting work done early are unsurprisingly off to strong starts in the 2027 class. Purdue is the only program with multiple top-50 commits, with five-star center Isaiah Hill and top-30 point guard Kevin Savage, who committed to the Boilermakers on Sunday. Hill became the highest-ranked prospect to commit to Purdue since the ESPN recruiting database began in 2007 when he picked Matt Painter's program back in May. Iowa State is the only other program with two SC Next 100 prospects committed, when Donovan Davis (No. 75) joined Josiah Harrington (No. 88) in May. Harrington, meanwhile, pledged to TJ Otzelberger and the Cyclones nearly two years ago, in September 2024. A third, four-star prospect, Jack Kohnen, is also in this 2027 class. 5. Will it be another Duke vs. John Calipari battle at the top? From 2014 to 2018, John Calipari's Kentucky and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski finished No. 1 and No. 2, in either order, in the recruiting class rankings. In 2019, they both finished in the top three. In 2020, they were back at No. 1 and No. 2. After Jon Scheyer took over for Mike Krzyzewski in 2022, Duke had the No. 1 class and then lost out to Calipari's Kentucky in 2023. Calipari moved to Arkansas in 2024 and landed the No. 3 class in 2025 and the No. 1 class in 2026. Meanwhile, Scheyer had the No. 1 class in 2024 and 2025, but lost out to the Razorbacks in 2026 and finished No. 2. That's a long way of saying that Duke and whichever program Calipari is coaching are shoo-ins to finish near the top of the recruiting class rankings in any given year. Will that continue again in the 2027 class? Both coaches currently have one SC Next 100 commitment each: point guard Davion Thompson (No. 28) picked Arkansas last month, while skilled forward Kager Knueppel (No. 36) -- the younger brother of former Duke standout Kon -- committed to Duke last week. Scheyer and the Blue Devils recently extended scholarship offers to top-10 prospects Adan Diggs and Lewis Uvwo, while top guard prospect Beckham Black is also a key target. Arkansas, meanwhile, is heavily in the mix with top-10 prospects Demarcus Henry and King Gibson, and is also on the lists of nearly every elite prospect in the 2027 class. Both programs are just getting started. 6. Spring breakouts to monitor in the summer There were some big risers from the spring in the latest player rankings update that we'll be watching this summer. RJ Moore, the son of former UConn national champion Ricky Moore, first broke out last summer and took another leap this spring to move into the rankings, landing just outside the top 50 at No. 57. Duke commit Kager Knueppel, a 6-10 forward, is one of the elite shooters in the class, going 50.7% from 3-point range on nearly seven attempts per game this spring. He jumped nearly 50 spots, going from No. 85 to No. 36. Javion Tyndale, a diminutive 5-9 point guard, has been one of the best scorers on the EYBL circuit, averaging 20.4 points for UPlay Canada. He leapt 40 spots, from No. 89 to No. 49. There are also two new names in the top 10: Lewis Uvwo, who jumped from No. 25 to No. 8, and Cayden Daughtry, who went from No. 13 to No. 10. Uvwo is a dominant defensive prospect and led the EYBL in blocks with an eye-popping 5.3 per game, while Daughtry led the EYBL in scoring with 23.7 points per game and then averaged 11.7 points and shot 45% from 3 at the FIBA U17 World Cup. 7. Where will coaches be this month? The first evaluation period for college coaches begins Thursday and will run until Sunday, July 12. The second period runs from July 16-19. The dominant event every summer is the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, South Carolina, featuring the best Nike grassroots teams under one roof during the second live period. Before that, during the first live period, Nike will hold its final EYBL session in Las Vegas. Adidas has its third 3SSB session in Texas this week. As we reported last week, the session is not open to college coaches on Thursday due to an "oversight" on Adidas' end, but will be accessible the remaining three days of the live period. The shoe company will again host its championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina, from July 16 to 9. Under Armour has events in Georgia and Kentucky, while Puma's Pro16 circuit will be hosted in Richmond, Virginia, and Bryan, Texas. There will also be a slew of independent events outside of the shoe company purview, including ones from Hoop Group, Made Hoops and Pangos. The NBA Academy Games, which has become a popular stop for college coaches and NBA scouts and has produced a number of NBA players, will run July 15-19 in Atlanta.