Xavier makes Top 3 for 2018 wing Talen Horton-Tucker

Roughly three weeks ago, 4-star wing Talen Horton-Tucker announced his final seven schools. At the time, the class of 2018 hooper had the Georgetown Hoyas AND the Xavier Musketeers in mind. Less than three weeks later, the Simeon Academy star announced his final three schools on Twitter. And Xavier, along with the Iowa State Cyclones and Illinois Fighting Illini, are the trio that he will decide amongst.

The Hoyas, along with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Saint Louis Billikens and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were all cut from Horton-Tucker’s list on Sunday night.

This is certainly a win for Xavier, and landing a player of Horton-Tucker’s caliber would certainly be a coup. Talen is ranked 109th overall in the class of 2018 via 247Sports Composite. He ranks 28th among all small forwards and is the fourth-ranked player in the state of Illinois. Illini commit Ayo Dosunmu, who was scooped up this past week, is the top-ranked recruit in the state. Champaign’s Tim Finke and Milwaukee commit Ty Mosely are ranked 2nd and 3rd, putting him in good company to say the least.

Of the schools remaining, Iowa State appears to have the lead for him per 247Sports’ Crystal Ball. Four picks, including one made on Sunday night, were for the Cyclones. That seems to follow along with head coach Steve Prohm’s plan to recruit the state of Illinois well. They’ve already landed the No. 5 and 6 commits in the state, as Zion Griffin and George Conditt have already committed to the Cyclones for 2018. With the Illini grabbing the top commit in the state in Dosunmu, that would certainly play well in Brad Underwood’s hand to land another Top 5 recruit in the state. Especially with Champaign’s own Tim Finke possibly coming aboard too.

For Xavier, of course, they will have to pursue and pursue hard with ISU and Illinois being within proximity. Chris Mack has proven to be a stout recruiter in his own right, with the Musketeers getting the 11th-ranked class in 2017. Their group in 2018 would certainly shoot up the charts if they were to land Talen Horton-Tucker. Time will tell to see if they can land him now.