7-foot-1 power forward Thon Maker is one of the best players in the Class of 2016, with major scouting sites declaring him to be a five-star prospect. Maker, who played his high school basketball in Virginia, was born in the South Sudan and has Australian citizenship.
Thanks to his skill set Maker already holds offers from many of the nation’s top programs, and his recruitment will be something college basketball fans will need to keep an eye on in the next two years.
But will fans have to wait that long to see Maker in a college uniform? According to reports from Evan Daniels of Scout.com and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com this weekend, Maker’s legal guardian Ed Smith has stated that there’s a chance the big man could reclassify and join the Class of 2015.
In both reports Maker’s ability to add weight to his currently slender frame is said to be a major factor in the decision-making process. And in a conversation with Zagoria, Smith also touched on Maker’s desire to become a part of the Australian national team program.
“I will monitor Thon’s progress academically and physically,” Smith told SNY.tv. “Thon would also like to become more involved with the Australian Junior and Senior National program under coach [Andrej] Lemanis. Playing in the U19 World Championships is something that is important to Thon.
“To begin forming a relationship with and an understanding of the Australian system is important. We will try to structure our progression with this in mind. This is all part of our decision to reclassify or not.”
Whether or not Maker moves into the 2015 class is definitely something to track, because that class has been praised for the number of quality big men at the head of the class. A move into 2015 would place Maker with five-star front court prospects such as Ivan Rabb, Diamond Stone, Stephen Zimmerman and Cheick Diallo (just to name four).
Among the programs that have reportedly offered Maker are Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisville.