Penn State Basketball Recruiting: Lists Trimmed and Visits Set

Penn State is in somewhat of a weird place with its scholarship situation. Due to redshirts and transfers, the Nittany Lions do not have a junior class. Other than no senior day in 2016-17 season, the weirdest thing about this is that Pat Chambers could conceivably be done recruiting until the class of 2018 if he lands two of his remaining targets in the 2016 class. Lamar Stevens and Dylan Painter have long been the priority targets, especially after top-50 recruit Tony Carr's commitment last month, but big man Sedee Keita and slasher Willie Jackson could just as easily round out what would be a home run five-man class that would exhaust PSU's scholarship allotment for the next two cycles.

Of course, this is Penn State basketball. Rarely do things ever work out precisely, and besides - with the rate of transfers what it is, no program can afford to stop recruiting at any point. So even if those spots are filled, you can bet your house that Chambers, Dwayne Anderson, Keith Urgo and Ross Condon will be out and scouting the 2017 class at every opportunity. But before we get into the names of the rising juniors you need to know, let's provide what could be one final update on the class of 2016.

Class of 2016 - 2 Scholarships Available

Commits

PLAYER	HOMETOWN	POSITION	STARS	NOTES
Nazeer Bostick	Philadelphia, PA HS: Roman Catholic HS (PA) AAU: Team Final	Guard/Forward 6'5" 175		Committed 4/30/15
Joe Hampton	Hyattsville, MD HS: Oak Hill Academy (VA) AAU: D.C. Premier	Power Forward 6'8" 250		Re-committed 5/15/15
Tony Carr	Philadelphia, PA HS: Roman Catholic HS (PA) AAU: Team Final	Point Guard 6'4" 200		Committed 8/3/15

Above you will find 247 Sports' 14th-ranked class as well as Scout's 15th-ranked class. Pretty neat. Just over two months until signing day.

Targets

PLAYER	HOMETOWN	POSITION	STARS	NOTES
Lamar Stevens	Jenkintown, PA HS: Roman Catholic HS (PA) AAU: Team Final	Small Forward 6'6" 190		Offered Visited 6/27/15
Dylan Painter	Hershey, PA HS: Hershey HS AAU: Team Final	Power Forward 6'10" 215		Offered Official Visit 9/12/15
Sedee Keita	Philadelphia, PA HS: 22 Feet Academy (SC) AAU: We-R-1	Power Forward 6'9" 225		Offered Visited 6/12/15
Willie Jackson	Cleveland, OH HS: Garfield Heights HS AAU: King James Shooting Stars	Forward 6'6" 210		Offered Official Visit 10/9/15

Names to watch: C Abdul Ado, G Jair Bolden, G Amir Coffey, F Darius Hicks, G Curtis Jones, F Mario Kegler, F K.J. Santos, G Ian Sistare, F Arnaldo Toro, G Breein Tyree, F A.J. Wilson

No longer considering PSU: F DeAndre Hunter, G Alani Moore, C Jayce Johnson, G Frankie Hughes

Gone: G Randall Broddie (Memphis; Reclassified to 2015), Anthony Cowan (Maryland), Amarveer Singh (Seton Hall), C Derek Funderburk (Ohio State), C Barret Benson (Northwestern), C.J. Walker (Florida State), A.J. Brodeur (Penn), Quinton Rose (Temple), Markelle Fultz (Washington), Ar'Mond Davis (Memphis), Kevin Huerter (Maryland)

There aren't many names left on the board after Carr's commitment, which has had somewhat of a domino effect. Alani Moore, long considered a major target for Penn State, released a top four consisting of UMass, Temple, Seton Hall and Georgia Tech soon after Carr's announcement. I have no idea if Penn State turned him away or not, but boy is it weird to even have to consider that as a possibility.

Frankie Hughes is also reported to have cut Penn State from the schools he's considering, though I don't suspect that was totally because of Carr. A 6'3" combo guard with a great outside shot, Hughes is the type of player that would have complemented a 6'4" ball-dominant point guard well. Alas, we'll never get to find out. St. Joe's, Dayton, San Francisco, Texas A&M, Wisconsin and Minnesota remain for Hughes, according to his high school coach Sonny Johnson.

Penn State remains in the mix for his Garfield Heights teammate Willie Jackson, however. From the same article, the 6'6" wing has narrowed his list down to the following five: Temple, Boston College, Penn State, Akron and Missouri, who have been the trending team in Jackson's 247 Crystal Ball:

Jackson is scheduled to officially visit State College for the Indiana football game, which takes place the weekend of October 9. If the visit happens it will be his fifth and final official visit.

While Jackson would be a great get for Penn State at this juncture, the Nittany Lions are still in the thick of things for their new top target, Lamar Stevens. According to ESPN's Jeff Borzello, Stevens cancelled his scheduled official visit to Pittsburgh, which is a good sign for the seven other schools in his final eight. His next scheduled official is September 18 at Marquette. Though he has yet to schedule a Happy Valley trip, Stevens has said on record that he is planning to visit Penn State in an official capacity. Based on this August post on City of Basketball Love, that visit may well happen this weekend for Penn State's game against Buffalo, which is shaping up to be quite a recruiting weekend for Pat Chambers, with or without Stevens.

Dylan Painter is one of two Pennsylvania big men scheduled to be on campus this coming weekend. He'll be joined by 2018 Trinity (PA) big man Sean Good, who is already drawing interest from Notre Dame and Maryland as a rising sophomore. Despite the high-level interest, there's not a ton of intel out there on Good just yet, but he's one of many talented rising sophomores due west of State College that have Chambers and crew taking notice.

Back to Painter - the Hershey big man came away from a late-August Villanova official visit uncommitted. He told Adam Zagoria of zagsblog.com that he is unsure if he will take any further visits beyond Penn State, which bodes well for both the Wildcats and Nittany Lions. Xavier remains firmly in the running, but this one should come down to the two home state programs.

The last man on the board, Sedee Keita, is still receiving offers and taking visits. There's no timetable on a list trimming or a commitment date as of this post, but expect Syracuse to jump back into the thick of things after 2015 Orange commit Moustapha Diagne was forced to attend another school due to NCAA shenanigans. 'Cuse was originally considered the favorite for Keita, as they are for so many big men from the Philadelphia area, and Diagne's unfortunate situation may have opened a door that scholarship limitations initially closed.

The big takeaway from all this is that Penn State is targeting one wing player and one big man with their final two scholarships. Any combination of Stevens or Jackson and Keita or Painter would be a huge boon to a class that may well top the 2015 group's claim as the best in school history, at least on paper. Should they miss on a wing player, I would expect Chambers to save a scholarship for either an incoming transfer or a class of 2017 recruit. Due to the lack of frontcourt options beyond this coming season, were Penn State to miss on both Keita and Painter it seems likely that Chambers would continue to look for a big man in this class, perhaps in St. Benedict's (NJ) forward Arnaldo Toro or in the Juco ranks.

Class of 2017 - 2 Scholarships Available

Targets

PLAYER	HOMETOWN	POSITION	STARS	NOTES
Mohamed Bamba	Harlem, NY HS: Westtown HS (PA) AAU: PSA Cardinals	Center 6'11" 190		Offered
Lonnie Walker	Reading, PA HS: Reading HS AAU: Team Final	Shooting Guard 6'5" 180		Offered
Myles Douglas	Baltimore, MD HS: Paul VI (VA) AAU: Team Takeover	Small Forward 6'6" 190		Offered
Aamir Simms	Dyke, VA HS: Blue Ridge School (VA) AAU: Team Loaded	Small Forward 6'7" 200		Offered
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree	Philadelphia, PA HS: Neumann-Goretti (PA) AAU: Team Final	Center 6'8" 200		Offered
Quade Green	Philadelphia, PA HS: Neumann Goretti (PA) AAU: We-R-1	Point Guard 5'11" 155		Offered
Aaron Thompson	Fairfax, VA HS: Paul VI (VA) AAU: Team Takeover	Point Guard 6'1" 165		Offered
Andrew Platek	Guilderland, NY HS: Northfield Mt. Hermon (NY) AAU: Albany City Rocks	Shooting Guard 6'4" 175	NR	Offered
David Beatty	Philadelphia, PA HS: Archbishop Carroll (PA) AAU: We-R-1	Guard 6'3" 195	NR	Offered Visited 11/8/14
Najja Hunter	Montclair, NJ HS: Westtown HS (PA) AAU: PSA Cardinals	Shooting Guard 6'5" 178	NR	Offered Visited 2/14/15

Names to watch: F Nick Alikakos, F Aaron Cash, C Josh Carlton, G Renell Cummings, G Trevon Duval, F A.J. Gareri, F Zach Kent, C Ejike Obinna, G Nate Pierre-Louis, G Kodye Pugh, G Daron Russell, G Terryonte Thomas, G Matt Turner

Names are still surfacing on the 2017 front, though as discussed above the number of names may be limited due to Penn State's scholarship situation. Depending on who ends up in the 2016 class, the Nittany Lions will likely be looking to add a swingman or a big, and there are a few options in 2017.

Bamba and Walker would be first choice for Penn State, but the problem is they would be first choice for nearly every other program in the country. Their inclusion on the big board is merely a courtesy. Realistically, if the Nittany Lions were to have a scholarship or two to hand out, the next three names on the board would be the ones to watch. Myles Douglas, Aamir Simms and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree all earned offers this summer and could potentially fill a hole left by the 2016 class. Douglas and Simms are top-100 swingmen while Cosby-Roundtree is likely the best big-man in Philadelphia's 2017 class not named Bamba. He earned a 'Nova offer this summer and will likely garner quite a few more.

Again, there's not a lot of movement on the 2017 group right now, but that could change if Chambers' plans for the 2016 class don't pan out.

Scholarship Matrix

Redshirting
^Used a redshirt year