No. 1 Recruit in Class of 2017 Commits to Washington

Over the weekend, the No. 1 player in the class of 2017 made it official when Michael Porter Jr., officially committed to Washington. This was in absolutely no way a surprise considering his dad is on staff with Washington and Lorenzo Romar is Porter’s godfather.

Porter Jr., is an absolute freak at 6’9” and plays as a combo forward. He’s extremely polished, showing his skills off most recently in the Nike Peach Jam, where he was named co-MVP with teammate Trae Young, which moved him up to the No. 1 player in the country.

Porter will play the stretch four position for Washington when he gets there after this season. He has range that is well-beyond the 3-point line and has a soft touch, especially for his size. On top of that he can obviously beat guys off the dribble – though his handles could use some improvement. He’s a strong rebounder and a shot-blocker, which will allow Romar to play him at multiple positions depending on the lineup.

While this is a no-brainer, it’s a shame for college basketball fans. Porter Jr., is a special talent and unfortunately most people won’t get to see him play considering it’s Washington and games will start around 10 at night and half the games are on the Pac-12 Network, which no one has. Washington also isn’t a basketball powerhouse, especially to get a top talent like Porter (or Markelle Fultz for that matter).

If you’re a top-15 talent, I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t go to one of the bluebloods. We saw last year guys like Stephen Zimmerman and Malik Newman stay home to play and both struggle, miss the Tournament and in Newman’s case transfer out after being a top-10 recruit. Hell, even Simmons caught grief for not making the NCAA Tournament – obviously didn’t ruin his Draft stock – but from a collegiate level, it just doesn’t make sense.

College basketball is at its best when Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, Duke, Michigan State, Arizona and Louisville are great teams. While everyone loves Cinderella in the NCAA Tournament, there’s a reason why the 2015 Final Four had ridiculously high ratings. We’ll see what Porter can do at Washington in 2017 – I expect him to still be a top-5 pick in the NBA Draft, but we’ll see what happens at the college level.

Obligatory mixtape for Kmarko: