NCAA Recruiting: Where Will Tevin Mack Land?

The college basketball recruiting season is nearing its end and there’s still one highly touted prospect up for grabs: four-star Dreher (S.C) small forward and ESPN 100 recruit Tevin Mack.

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Mack was originally a VCU commit while Shaka Smart was still in Richmond, but that didn’t last after Smart jetted to Austin to become the new coach at Texas and Mack was released from his LOI by VCU.

After reopening his recruitment, numerous schools have shown in the 6-foot-6 athletic wing and as of now, seven schools still remain in consideration for Mack’s services: Clemson, Georgia, Texas, UCLA, West Virginia, North Carolina and Kansas.

With a final decision expected to come Tuesday, according to Mack’s mother, which of these programs will be fortunate enough to land the highest ranked uncommitted recruit still in play?

In all reality, this looks to be a two-horse race as the time before Mack’s expected decision nears, with Georgia and Texas as the two thoroughbreds leading the race.

Mack’s mother reported that all of the schools still being considered have been in contact with Mack recently, but anyone who has followed this recruitment knows it would have been a long shot for any of these programs not named Texas or Georgia to land Mack.

It’s no surprise the Longhorns are right in the thick of things as a reported decision looms. Mack’s former commitment was to VCU and the relationship he built with Smart was said to be the reason he was headed to play for the Rams.

Texas still has one available scholarship and even though Smart has a pretty stacked roster in Austin, the one position up for grabs is small forward and Smart wants his former VCU commit to fill that same role for his Longhorns.

But prior to Mack’s commitment to VCU, Georgia was a serious contender to land the 6-foot-6 forward, and his older brother played under head coach Mark Fox when he was at Nevada. Throughout his entire recruitment, Mack has visited Georgia 10 times, according to his mother.

Any school that gets 10 visits from a kid, especially one that was considered a favorite in his first recruitment would surely seem to be the favorite, but Smart and the Longhorns may have gotten the last laugh as it pertains to swaying Mack.

Former VCU signee Tevin Mack unofficially visits Texas this weekend. Told ESPN it will likely be his only visit before making a decision.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) May 8, 2015

Tevin Mack says his visit to Texas is going 'fantastic.'
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 10, 2015

Unless Mack changes his mind and visits elsewhere before his decision, which would have to be an unofficial visit, it’s quite likely his former coach-to-be and the Longhorns will be the team that will have left the strongest impression as he nears a decision.

The 247 Sports Crystal Ball projections started favoring Georgia near the end of April, but once again, Smart and the Longhorns have emerged as the clear favorite since the beginning of May and outside of some vast and quick changes on the recruiting front, it should remain as such.

With all of this said, I’m expecting Texas to get the nod over Georgia and Mack to once again commit to Shaka Smart. The Longhorns have a ready-to-compete-now roster and Mack would be yet another tremendous addition to a recruiting class that will finish in the top 20 of the 247 Sports team rankings.

This would be a huge steal if Georgia were able to still sway Mack and land him in Athens, but my guess is we can expect Mack to be a Longhorn in the coming days.

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