2017 five-star Brian Bowen chooses Louisville

Brian Bowen’s recruitment is over, as the last uncommitted five-star player in the class of 2017 has chosen his school.

Bowen, an attendee of La Lumiere High School in Indiana, has elected to play for Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals. Bowen’s announcement ends a long-winded process in which the Creighton Bluejays and the DePaul Blue Demons of the Big East were thought to be contenders for the five-star small forward, as were the Michigan State Spartans and Oregon Ducks, among others.

The McDonald’s All-American made his commitment known on Saturday afternoon.

Bowen is widely regarded as one of the best players in the class of 2017. He stands behind Jaren Jackson, a Michigan State commit, as the second-best player from the state of Indiana and ranks fifth among small forwards and 18th in the country overall.

Creighton and DePaul had been in pursuit of Bowen for quite a while, but Pitino and the Cards swooped in late and were able to land him. They’ll certainly be getting quite the addition to an already top-tier recruiting class.

The Cards jump up to sixth in the 2017 recruiting rankings with Bowen, but remain in second place in the ACC behind a loaded class for the Duke Blue Devils. Still, with Bowen, fellow five-star Malik Williams, and four-stars Darius Perry, Jordan Nwora and Lance Thomas, Louisville’s class is quite the haul. And with them joining Quentin Snider, Deng Adel, V.J. King, Ray Spalding and Anas Mahmoud, it would surprise no one if the Cardinals were a force to be reckoned with again in 2017.

Creighton already had accumulated a Top 25 class (22nd, to be precise) for 2017. Had they landed Brian Bowen, the Jays certainly would’ve benefitted greatly with him aboard. There’s still plenty of talent to go around though in the form of Jacob Epperson, Mitchell Ballock and Tyshon Alexander, all of whom are four-stars and should provide depth for a team that should contend in the Big East again even without Justin Patton in the fold.

DePaul, meanwhile, would’ve obviously created quite a stir had they landed Brian Bowen. He would’ve been their second five-star in recent memory after they grabbed 2018 commit Tyger Campbell recently. While they didn’t get them, the fact that Bowen considered them so greatly is nothing if not a confidence boost going forward, as things seem to be trending upward for the Blue Demons now.