College basketball’s early signing period opened Wednesday and will run through Nov. 20. While the early signing period in college hoops is much different from that in football, where last-minute flips and switches are the norm, it’s still an important day for players and their future fan bases across the country.
After taking some time to start coming off the board, top prospects have been flying off the board, with 120 of 247Sports’ Top 150-ranked players having already made their decisions.
As the early period begins, here’s what college basketball fans need to know.
Top-ranked player AJ Dybantsa won’t sign early
You never want to say never in recruiting, but barring a serious change of direction, 2025’s top-ranked player AJ Dybantsa won’t be signing early. An athletic and skilled 6-foot-9 native of Brockton, Massachusetts, who is playing his senior season at Hurricane (Utah) Utah Prep, Dybantsa isn’t likely to wait until February as initially planned, but his father has confirmed to 247Sports multiple times that there are no plans to sign early.
Officially, Dybantsa is down to a final seven of Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, BYU, Kansas, Kansas State, and North Carolina. Unofficially, it’s more likely that the remaining group consists of the Crimson Tide, Cougars, Wildcats, and Tar Heels, and he’s visited all of them.
BYU has built a lot of buzz thanks to the arrival of new coach Kevin Young from the NBA and what is thought to be an impressive war chest of NIL funds. However, those closest to Dybantsa have maintained that he’s more open than has been reported and that this is a much tighter race than many have thought.
A decision could come as early as late November or early December, but nothing is set, and Dybantsa and his family are watching the remaining finalists closely to see if the way they play matches up with what they’ve sold him on during the recruiting process. If you’re looking for more on Dybantsa, I wrote a piece with even more intel for VIP subscribers-only on Tuesday.
Duke has the top-ranked class, again
If there was anybody who thought that recruiting at Duke might fall off in a post-Mike Krzyzewski world, Jon Scheyer has made it clear that the Blue Devils are going to remain a recruiting machine. He enters the early signing period ready to ink the nation’s top-ranked class in 2025 after landing the Cooper Flagg-led top-ranked class of 2024 and signing the second-highest-ranked class in 2023.
This year’s group is headlined by 2025’s No. 2-ranked prospect, Cameron Boozer of Miami Columbus High School. If you think landing the 6-foot-9 son — and his twin brother, Cayden Boozer, who ranks No. 21 — of former Blue Devil and NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer was a layup, you’ve got another thing coming. Scheyer and his staff had to pull off a late comeback to land the talented brothers. Five-star wing Shelton Henderson of Bellaire, Texas, ranks No. 15 overall and brings a level of athleticism and toughness they could use, while Nikolas Khamenia is a smooth and skilled combo forward from California who ranks No. 19 overall.
Scheyer and his staff still have their sights set on at least one more big-time piece, and No. 4-ranked Nate Ament, who will be deciding in the spring, is somebody they’re in a good position for.
Who is left and who else may decide early?
As mentioned in the intro, 80% of the players in 247Sports’ Top 150 for the class of 2025 have made their decisions. Of those 30 remaining undecided, 15 of them rank among the top 40 overall.
Before the signing period ends, we expect at least a few of them to come off the board.
- No. 18 Kingston Flemings, a point guard from San Antonio, is set to choose either Houston or Texas Tech live on 247Sports on Thursday.
- Bryson Tiller, a skilled big man who ranks No. 20, doesn’t have a firm date yet but is expected to choose from Auburn, Georgia Tech, Indiana, and Kansas before the period ends.
- Friday night should be fun when Kiyan Anthony comes off the board. Ranked No. 34 overall, he’s down to USC and Syracuse, and he’ll be revealing his choice live on his father Carmelo Anthony’s podcast. It’s hard to imagine him not picking the school his father led to a national championship in that scenario.
- Also expected to decide early are No. 37 Davion Hannah (Alabama, Cincinnati, Missouri, or Ohio State) and No. 40 Sebastian Williams-Adams, who will choose from Auburn, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, and Purdue live on 247Sports on Sunday.
We already mentioned that neither Dybantsa nor Ament has plans to announce early, and none of the other remaining five-stars — Koa Peat, Mikel Brown Jr., Caleb Wilson, Brayden Burries, or Chris Cenac, who all rank among the top 10 — have set decision dates.
Where the 2025 5-stars are headed
| Rank | Player Name | Position | Commitment Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AJ Dybantsa | SF | Uncommitted |
| 2 | Cameron Boozer | PF | Duke |
| 3 | Darryn Peterson | CG | Kansas |
| 4 | Nate Ament | PF | Uncommitted |
| 5 | Darius Acuff Jr. | PG | Arkansas |
| 6 | Koa Peat | PF | Uncommitted |
| 7 | Mikel Brown Jr. | PG | Uncommitted |
| 8 | Caleb Wilson | PF | Uncommitted |
| 9 | Brayden Burries | CG | Uncommitted |
| 10 | Chris Cenac | C | Uncommitted |
| 11 | Meleek Thomas | SG | Arkansas |
| 12 | Isiah Harwell | SG | Houston |
| 13 | Jasper Johnson | SG | Kentucky |
| 14 | Jalen Haralson | SF | Notre Dame |
| 15 | Shelton Henderson | SF | Duke |
| 16 | Braylon Mullins | SG | UConn |
Other classes that caught my attention
While Duke’s class enters the signing period ranked No. 1 overall, the rest of the top 10 of the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings is interesting, to say the least.
It is no surprise to see that the two-time defending national champion Connecticut Huskies are getting a recruiting bump, and their class, headlined by five-star shooting guard Braylon Mullins from Indiana, ranks No. 2.
John Calipari is gone from Kentucky, but it’s also no surprise to see Mark Pope steering the Wildcats to the No. 3 class, given their resources and history. It doesn’t hurt that two of their top-25-ranked commits, shooting guard Jasper Johnson and center Malachi Moreno, are products of the bluegrass state.
From there, things get a little funky. Notre Dame — yes, Notre Dame — checks in at No. 4, thanks in large part to five-star wing Jalen Haralson. In his first year at Michigan, Dusty May has the Wolverines in the No. 5 spot, and he’s kept an important in-state target home in No. 24 Trey McKenney.
The rest of the top 10 is filled out by LSU at six, SMU at seven, Iowa State at eight, Mississippi State at nine, and Northwestern at 10.
Undoubtedly there are some out there asking, “Where are John Calipari and Arkansas?”
Well, Coach Cal and the Razorbacks are doing just fine. They’ve landed a pair of five-star guards in No. 5-ranked Darius Acuff Jr. and No. 11 Meleek Thomas. Both are high-scoring and fit the mold of the guards Cal has landed at his previous stops. Because the 247Sports Composite aggregates points and takes into account rankings of other services, the duo only ranks No. 14 there.
However, on the 247Sports-only team rankings, the class ranks No. 5 and will go up in the Composite as other services adjust their rankings.
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