Texas Basketball Recruiting: 4-star Cassius Stanley outs Horns among finalists

The list of three finalists for highly touted four-star shooting guard Cassius Stanley didn’t include this Texas basketball recruiting class.

The often-followed recruitment of a talented four-star shooting guard is about to come to and end, and the 2019 Texas basketball recruiting class won’t play a part in it. This time, the talented offeree of the 2019 Texas basketball recruiting that excludes the Forty Acres from his potential landing spots was the four-star shooting guard Cassius Stanley.

Last week, the Texas basketball recruiting class for this cycle was eliminated by highly touted five-star center Isaiah Stewart. The 2019 Texas basketball recruiting class wasn’t even in his top five finalists. At least the top three finalists for Stanley only included three teams.

Head coach Shaka Smart has a solid 2019 Texas basketball recruiting class signed, but it could use some more depth and skill in the back court. The only addition this 2019 Texas basketball recruiting class had at guard so far was the four-star Elkins High School and Missouri City, TX, shooting guard Donovan Williams. During the Early Signing Period, Williams was one of the three commits in this Texas basketball recruiting class to sign their National Letter of Intent.

However, it would be great for this class for the Texas Longhorns basketball program to get another commit. While it will not come from the top 30 rated 2019 high school prospect in the nation and Chatsworth, CA, native Stanley, there’s still a few names left on Smart’s big board.

The finalists that were named in the top three for Stanley included the Kansas Jayhawks, Oregon Ducks, and UCLA Bruins. It was somewhat surprising that Stanley excluded one of the presumed in-state favorites to get his commitment, the USC Trojans.

On Jan. 21, Stanley also announced his commitment date where he will decide between his three aforementioned finalists. According to the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions, the leader to land Stanley’s commitment and signed letter of intent is UCLA. Oregon and Kansas will be fighting the odds for his commitment decision.

https://twitter.com/overtime/status/1086481424247648256

The Rivals FutureCast also gives UCLA the edge to land Stanley. The only indicator (which isn’t really that important) going against the Bruins is the Rivals FanFutureCast which favors Stanley to land in the Big 12 with head coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks.

The news that dropped about this announcement date for Stanley came right after he gave some props to New England Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady as he led his team to yet another Super Bowl appearance. Stanley will still have some time to think through his final decision, though, as we’re roughly three months out from April 17.

Whoever lands Stanley is getting the nation’s No. 28 2019 high school prospect and the third best shooting guard. Stanley also ranks as the third best high school prospect out of the state of California.

This 6-foot-5 and 180 pound Sierra Canyon High School standout is trending up before National Signing Day arrives. His skill set is going to help him make an immediate impact whether he lands at UCLA, Kansas, or Oregon. For the sake of the Horns, the team should hope for him landing anywhere but Kansas.