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So, here's your regular atom bomb of the month as a Cal basketball fan!
Next year I will be going Michigan State university. Once a spartan. Always a Spartan
— Big Sauce (@Biggs_Swanigan) April 10, 2015
The Michigan State staff was as surprised as anyone that Caleb Swanigan chose the Spartans. Everyone pegged him as Cal-bound today.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 10, 2015
No sarcasm: a lot of classy #Cal fans in Caleb Swanigan's Twitter feed are wishing him the best. Hat tip to them. Wish that was the norm.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) April 10, 2015
First of all, Caleb Swanigan was the least likely of the prospects to commit to Cal. Unfortunately, a bunch of speculation by NATIONAL REPORTERS FOR BILLION DOLLAR SPORTS COMPANIES (seriously, what the hell guys?) led us to believe that Swanigan might actually do the improbable and commit to be a California Golden Bear. As projected at the beginning of the week by CGB, Swanigan was the biggest longshot of the group, and apparently decided to play games with pretty much everyone, INCLUDING the Michigan State staff. So odd.
I'm not very pleased with how of this unfolded. Either the media was terrible at their job, or Swanigan misled a bunch of people in his recruitment, or a little bit of both. Whatever. Kids will be kids.
Enough on that. So with Swanigan pretty much blindsiding everyone, what does that mean for Ivan Rabb?
Well, there are two schools of thought.
With Caleb Swanigan now off the board to Michigan St, Ivan Rabb essentially becomes a must get for Cal. Feast or famine here. No in between.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 10, 2015
Now you have to wonder if Ivan Rabb goes to Cal -- as so many recruiting guys anticipated.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 10, 2015
Rabb will commit to Cal because that's the school he wanted to go to, but he dragged out things to try and get other top national prospects to join them. There's still Jaylen Brown (who no one knows what he'll do), and Davon Dillard has already committed. Rabb would definitely be the centerpiece on that team.
With Swanigan committing to Michigan State, that plan is now probably in disarray. Rabb will reconsider his options, look for the best place to win at the next level, and ultimately decide whether Arizona or Cal is that spot. Many people would say Arizona is that spot, but the Wildcats are losing at least three of their five starters (T.J McConnell, Brandon Ashley, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, with Stanley Johnson still waffling). It's actually not clear at this point.