Dotson was a top priority for Kansas
Coming off official visits to Kansas, Maryland, Florida and Arizona, Devon Dotson, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound point guard from Providence Day High School in Charlotte, N.C., just announced his future plans minutes ago.
With friends, family, classmates and administrators in attendance, Dotson, the No. 17 ranked player in the 2018 class, verbally committed to Bill Self and Kansas. Dotson joins five-star power forward Silvio De Sousa and four-star center David McCormack in KU’s 2018 recruiting class.
Just minutes ago, JayhawkSlant.com spoke to Eric Bossi, Rivals.com National Basketball Recruiting Analyst, about Devon Dotson.
“They’ve still got to get at least two or three more guys, so to half at least half of what they needed already relieves some of the pressure,” said Bossi. “If you had to go through the spring having to chase five or six guys, its tough to coach your team and recruit that many guys.
“This allows them to do more of what they want to do, which is spend time with the guys they’ve got on campus already,” he added. “Its just big (to land Devon Dotson). You don’t want to spend that much time recruiting somebody and not get them. They’ve got Charlie Moore sitting out (this year), but they still want to play multiple point guards.
“You want to have multiple options,” he continued. “To get a guy that was one of your priorities from the get-go, its certainly important. I’m sure they (staff) like to flex a little recruiting muscle by going out and getting top priority guys, not that its really been an issue.”
Kansas, without question, heavily recruited Dotson for a number of reasons. Not surprisingly, they expect the elite floor general to step in right away and compete for “starter like” minutes.
“He’s the guy that should be able to come in and play big minutes right away,” he said. “He’s a very confident kid and he’s a very strong kid. He has a good basic skill around him and he’s never backed down.
“I think he’s a guy that shows up, hopefully, ready to lead,” he added. “If he doesn’t start, he should push for major minutes.”
For Dotson, a big reason Kansas separated itself from the pack had a lot to do with how Self and his coaching staff handled former Player of the Year Frank Mason III.
In sweeping the National Player of the Year award last year, Mason, in 36 games, averaged 20.9 points, 5.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. As a senior, he shot 49 percent from the field, 47 percent from behind the arc and 79 percent from the free-throw line.
Dotson, without question, has a little Frank Mason III in his game. He’s jet quick with the basketball in his hands, loves to get up and down the court in transition and, above all else, loves to attack the basket.
Like Mason, it doesn’t matter if the path to the basket is clear or clogged, if there is a path to be taken, Dotson is going to attack.
“Obviously Frank Mason won player of the year and you saw what he did getting past people and putting pressure on defenders. They are saying that I can come in and do that from day one and lead and do my thing.”