Analyzing the Top 3 Schools: Darius Johnson Decision

Virginia point guard Darius Johnson released his final 3 this past week. The following teams made the cut: UCF, Alabama, and Providence. Below, we analyze each team and chances they have of landing Johnson.

UCF:

BOC- This school seems like an odd fit at first; however, Darius Johnson has a family member that is part of the UCF program. This has to be the driving factor, as playing in the American Athletic cannot be too appealing.

Crier- Darius Johnson would be a top 10 recruit landed all-time for the UCF program. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as Coach Dawkins has had great success in Orlando, remember they should’ve beat Zion and Duke a year and a half ago. Despite having a family member as apart of the staff one would think Johnson would get the keys to the car right away. Darius Johnson reminds me a lot of former Golden Knight BJ Taylor in the way they play.

Alabama:

BOC- Nate Oats is seen as a tenacious recruiter and had a ton of success at Buffalo. Alabama also has had a recent amount of success with putting backcourt players in the League, notably Colin Sexford and soon to be Kira Lewis. The run-n-gun style of Oats has to be appealing as well. A familiar name of Jahvon Quinerly will likely have the starting spot over the next 3 years. Bama is heavily recruiting a 5-star JD Davison, so it’d be interesting to see if they’d take a commitment from DJ.

Crier- When Nate Oats was doing his thing at Buffalo, the program’s culture was one of a blue collar mentality. No seriously if you don’t remember the fans of buffalo would wear blue collar worker shirts to games. Feel like this type of style fits Johnson’s game immensely, as he a tenacious defender and attacker.

Providence:

BOC- The Friars round out the Top 3. Cooley and Staff are looking for a successor to Jared Bynum and are actively targeting a point guard recruit in this class. That has to appeal to Johnson. Additionally, don’t discount the familiarity of players on the roster, as the Friars are flush with players from the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas.

Crier- Rounding out his top 3 is another school that can fit his style of play. He reminds me of Dunn in regards to his tenacity, clearly Dunn was on another level athletically. Also see a bit of Kyron Cartwright in him as they are both down-hill drivers who will look to set the table while getting themselves going as well. Think Darius could be very successful and a fan favorite in Friartown and as BOC mentioned we’ve had success recruiting his area.

Handicap the Race:

BOC- 1. PC 2. UCF 3. Bama

Not confident overall in my picks as Johnson has kept his recruitment rather quiet.

Crier- 1. PC 2. UCF 3. Bama

It isn’t really exciting that we have the same top 3 but if you remember from our big board I gave Johnson my highest confidence meter for the Friars so can’t back down now.