/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45768710/usa-today-6724184.0.jpg)
Put up the Bear signal. Rally the fighting Oskis to Berkeley. Cal basketball is bringing their three biggest recruiting targets to campus this week.
We already knew that Oakland (California) Bishop O'Dowd big man Ivan Rabb (CGB scouting report) and Gary (Indiana) Our Savior New American small forward Davon Dillard (CGB scouting report) will be coming to Cal this weekend for their official visits. Now Fort Wayne (Indiana) Homestead center Caleb Swanigan (CGB scouting report) is all set to join them. ZagsBlog has the report. This is huge because Rabb and Swanigan are friends, and making a visit together could convince them on the possibility of playing together.
Swanigan has shed 100 pounds and is now a physical 6'9 and 260 pounds. Paired up with Rabb, Kingsley Okoroh and Christian Behrens, this would be one of the best big rotations in the Pac-12.
For a player who will likely never shed the nickname “Biggie,” Swanigan is doing his best to prove that the moniker has more to do with his style of play than his size. He may not loom as large as he once did, but that doesn’t mean he’s not ready for big things.
“Swanigan is an all-around basketball player with the kind of hands and footwork that you only see in big-time players,” Homestead head coach Chris Johnson told USA TODAY High School Sports. “He’s also a very unselfish player who understands the game and has a ‘team-first’ attitude.”
To review.
- Dillard has a top five of Pitt, Purdue, Cal, Creighton and Indiana
- Rabb has a top five of Arizona, Cal, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA
- Swanigan has schools like Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Cal, Louisville and Michigan State in the mix.
If Cal can get anyone, Rabb is probably priority uno and the likeliest of any of these four and five-star blue chippers to become a Golden Bear. But a combination of Rabb and Swanigan would immediately upgrade the frontline of the Bears to top two or three in the conference. Pair them up with a backcourt full of playmakers like Jabari Bird, Jordan Mathews, Tyrone Wallace (if he comes back), and Stephen Domingo, and this is a team that can immediately elevate itself back to national title contention.
This is a huge weekend. Let's get it done Cuonzo!