The University of Alabama men’s basketball program secured a crucial commitment for the upcoming spring signing period on Friday morning as 6-foot-5 guard Josh Primo of Toronto, Ontario, chose the Crimson Tide over Creighton.
“I am grateful to all of the schools that have recruited me during this process, however it is time to make a decision,” Primo told ESPN. “I’m excited to say that this fall, I will be attending the University of Alabama!! Roll Tide!!”
Primo is ranked as the No. 27 overall prospect and a five-star prospect by 247 Sports. His composite ranking (No. 47) is lower because some recruiting sites including Rivals and ESPN do not include players from outside the United States in their rankings.
The 17-year old Primo had considered bypassing college for the professional ranks but instead announced in February that he would reclassify into the Class of 2020.
ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony, who evaluated Primo at a Basketball Without Borders event in February, gave him a solid review.
“Primo looked comfortable operating on and off the ball at the camp,” Givorny wrote. “Primo is extremely smooth and fluid while changing speeds, splitting ball screens, and finishing with touch and creativity around the rim using either hand. He did a great job of getting teammates involved out of pick-and-roll, showing the ability to deliver accurate passes after drives or off a live dribble. He’s a good shooter with his feet set, but particularly off the dribble.”
Primo’s commitment comes on the one-year anniversary of Nate Oats taking the head coaching job for UA. Assistant coach Bryan Hodgson was the Crimson Tide’s lead recruiter for Primo.
The spring signing period for National Letters on Intent is scheduled to begin on April 15, pending review by the Conference Commissioners Association, which administers the NLI. That review, based on the current coronavirus pandemic, could leave the April 15 date intact while extending the spring period past its current May 20 deadline.
Alabama, which signed 6-8 forward Keon Ambrose Hilton last November, continues to recruit several prospects from the high school and junior college ranks, and could add a player or players currently in the NCAA transfer portal as well.
Oats cannot comment on specific unsigned prospects per NCAA rules but talked in general terms about recruiting earlier this week.
“Recruiting is obviously one of those things that’s changed,” he said on his Tuesday teleconference. “If everything was status quo and normal, I’d be flying all over the place trying to get my face in front of players right now: transfers, JUCOs, high schoolers, anywhere. Ideally, (our) is multiple skilled players all over the floor. That’s how we’ve won in the past.”
“At this level, we need to get better players than what we had at Buffalo here at Alabama, but we’d like to get more guards and big guards that can play. We want more guys that can pass, dribble and shoot all over the floor. We want more bigs that can shoot — pass, dribble and shoot, to be honest with you. So, we’re looking at every possible angle there is. We’re talking to high school kids that we’ve been tracking for a while. We’re talking to JUCO guys that we’ve been tracking for a while. We’re talking to transfers that have just become available here in the last week or two. We’re looking at all of it.
“We don’t know how this going to end up looking. Some of these guys are committing now without taking visits. I think that’s just going to become a reality because there will be guys that want to take the spot, they know where they want to go and they’re going to take it before somebody else takes it and they’re going to have to commit without a visit. I don’t know that everybody we’re recruiting is going to do that. Some of them may. But I think they’ve gotten the comfort level with us, and then once they are able to visit, we’ll just bring them on a visit afterwards.”
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or via Twitter @cecilhurt
