Is PG Devon Dotson’s decision coming soon?

By Matt Tait     Oct 4, 2017

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Kansas University basketball recruiting

Class of 2018 point guard Devon Dotson, the No. 17-ranked player in the country according to Rivals.com, appears to be down to two finalists in his recruitment — Kansas and Maryland.

And an announcement seems to be forthcoming.

So says Dotson’s father, Dana Dotson, who told Russ Wood, of the Rivals.com site Terrapin Sports Report, that his son’s decision would be revealed, “Pretty soon. Like in a week or so.”

That was Monday, so the smart money is on Dotson making some kind of announcement next week. While it remains to be seen which program he picks, it’s a safe assumption that it will be either KU or Maryland.

Florida was the other program with the best chance at landing Dotson, but the Gators’ Monday commitment from five-star point guard Andrew Nembhard is believed to have closed the book on the idea of Dotson becoming a Gator, leaving KU and Maryland as the clear leaders.

Dotson has visited both programs — Kansas in late August and Maryland last weekend — and he also has hosted coaches from each program for in-home visits.

If you’re the type that likes to dive into the reaction from each visit to see if that will predict what decision will be made, you might be inclined to say advantage Kansas.

When asked after the visit to Lawrence how things went, Dotson’s father used the word “great” when recapping the visit for recruiting analysts. When asked the same question by Wood about last week’s visit to Maryland, Dotson’s father said the visit was “good.”

Those are just words. And it’s hardly a safe bet to base any kind of prediction off of a single word. But there’s little denying that most people believe that great is better than good.

Either way, it was information the Dotson family was in search of during these visits. Specifically, how each program saw the 6-foot-1, 180-pound, five-star point guard from Charlotte fitting into their roster next year.

At Kansas, the feedback was favorable, as Dotson’s father told him the coaches continually emphasized that they could see Dotson operating as the team’s point guard right away.

At Maryland, which features sophomore point guard Anthony Cowan already in place, the focus was on how the Terps’ roster would look a year from now.

“The one thing we did ask for on the way out is just their projected depth chart,” Dotson’s father told Wood. “We wanted to see, ‘Who do you really expect to be there next year, who do you really expect to be there sophomore year?’ They have a couple of guys that are pretty talented and have a shot of going to the NBA. We do it ourselves, but we can’t do it from a coach’s point (of view).”

That’s where help from the coaches comes in and they often have to answer the same questions more than once just to reassure players and their families that what they remember or are thinking is correct.

While Maryland gained an advantage in hosting Dotson most recently, it’s worth noting that during the past two weeks alone, KU coaches Bill Self, Norm Roberts and Jerrance Howard all have made their way to Charlotte to check in on Dotson.

With the visits behind them and all of the information and answers in front of them, it seems as if it now is time for the Dotson family to wade through it all and come to a conclusion about which school is best for them.

For what it’s worth, the 247 Sports Crystal Ball predictions have Kansas listed as the heavy favorite for Dotson, at 82 percent.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.