The 2021 Basketball Class is Coming Into Focus

Shaka Smart landed the third commitment in his 2021 class with David Joplin today:

Joplin is a 3/4-star recruit (depending on which service you prefer) and had offers from Butler, Georgetown, and Iowa State among others. He’s 6’7” and has a decent outside stroke, so he could be used in multiple spots if his defense is good.

Joplin is the latest commitment, following the likes of Keeyan Itejere:

and Emarion Ellis:

The class is probably about halfway complete; with a senior class of four (Coleman, Febres, Hamm, & Sims) plus a near-guaranteed one-and-done (take a wild guess) there are at least five spots to fill this class. It’s possible Texas decides to take more than five if they think somebody is going pro early or somebody isn’t happy with their minutes - if this season happens, there are at least 12 guys who think they deserve 15+ minutes/game - so maybe consider the median class size six at this point. I imagine Texas is looking to fill spots all over the court with a class this size, so I would guess there’s at least another big and another guard to come. There are rumblings that another commitment is imminent, but as always there are others more tuned into recruiting than me. Justin Wells and Dustin McComas are two good people to follow on the recruiting front, as well as my PWF podcast co-host Tim Preston.