5-star SF Brian Bowen includes Texas in final six

Five-star La Lumiere School (Mich.) small forward Brian Bowen cut his list of potential suitors down to six Wednesday evening and Shaka Smart’s Texas Longhorns made the cut.

Along with the Longhorns, Bowen included Michigan State, Arizona, UCLA, North Carolina State, and Creighton.

For Texas, freshman center James Banks may be the best hope of luring the elite wing to the bottom of the map, as the two were teammates last season at La Lumiere School. There could also help in convincing Bowen that the transition to Texas would be well worth it, as sophomore shooting guard Eric Davis Jr. is from Saginaw, Mich., as is Bowen.

But in reality, Bowen’s recruitment looks to Michigan State as the convincing frontrunner as the other five still in contention hope for a miracle.

To this point, Bowen has taken 11—yes, 11— unofficial visits to Michigan State, and the Spartans currently hold all 14 of his Crystal Ball projections.

Smart has already proven that he has some serious recruiting chops, but if he’s able to steal the Michigan native away from Tom Izzo, he’d have a new career-best recruiting effort.