Omari Witherspoon is announcing his collegiate commitment on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. est. on 247 Sports’ YouTube channel.
Witherspoon is deciding between Pitt, Vanderbilt, and Maryland on Wednesday night, and several insiders have predicted that he will wind up at Pitt, joining Jeff Capel’s program.
Witherspoon is a 6-foot-4 guard out of Saint John’s College Prep in Washington, D.C. He is a three-star prospect on 247 Sports’ rankings, rated as an 87 overall.
So, rankings aside, what’s the scouring report on Witherspoon?
247 Sports and MADE Hoops scout Colby Giacubeno, who has seen Witherspoon play numerous times throughout his high-school career, joined The Pittsburgh Basketball Show on Tuesday to discuss that very topic.
“His rise in the timeframe in which he did so, his build, his length,” Giacubeno began. “In those terms? People are going to throw this out a lot as time goes on, but he kind of reminds you of Bub in that sense. Not the same type of game. Omari, I wouldn’t say is, and there aren’t a lot of people that are the shot maker like Bub was, especially last year for Pitt. But, what Omari is, he’s a really tough two-way presence of a guard who can play on or off the ball. I would envision him playing a little bit more on the ball at the college ranks. Not so much in a sense of ‘Hey, you’re our primary option, you’re who the offense is going to run through.’ Omari even knows that. It’s moreso, hey, I’m the initiator. Let me get us into sets, I can start the break….”
“…If you watch him with his Saint John’s team, obviously, you see him with his AAU team D.C. Premier, he’s going to do a lot of the ball handling, the majority of it. Saint John’s, he’s going to split it up. That’s where you can really see the versatility. That’s where a lot of the high-major programs really saw his value. The modern-day of the basketball, what teams are emphasizing. It’s versatility, position-less basketball, and that’s what Omari brings. He’s just an efficient playmaker. He’s got the size at the guard position, and then just really good instincts off the ball defensively. Presence on the glass. Just kind of a do-it-all guard that just needs polish in pretty much every area that a lot of freshmen do…”
He ranks as the No. 219 player in the class of 2025 according to 247’s composite rankings, and the No. 32 overall combo guard prospect in the class. On3 Sports is a bit higher on Witherspoon, ranking him as the No. 133 prospect in the class of 2025.
“He’s definitely a guy that shot up a lot of boards quickly. He went from not a lot of people knowing about him, maybe a guy who would go star for a George Mason and then high majors scratching his head as a sophomore, saying ‘Why weren’t we on this kid?’ To now, he’s on the big stage. Obviously, the schools that are involved with him, they’re all hoping for their names to be said tomorrow.”
Watch the full interview with Giacubeno below. He dives into Witherspoon’s recruitment in the interview and speaks about his reasoning behind his crystal ball prediction for Witherspoon to end up at Pitt.
