With the early signing period now in the books, we wanted to run through the important questions with our HoopSeen.com staff. Who was the dominant program that came out as the winner of the early signing period?

Garrett Tucker: I think the easy choice here is Mississippi State. They aren’t necessarily the dominant program that you would mention, but what Ben Howland and his staff did in Starkville is nothing short of impressive. The Bulldogs have five seniors, along with Malik Newman, who is expected to enter his name in the NBA Draft this year. That makes six open scholarships in Howland’s first year on the job. Typically, you would be happy to sign three or four prospects in the early period, but Mississippi State signed SIX players over the week’s span. Now that’s impressive, I don’t care what school you’re at. On top of that, they have the No. 4 overall recruiting class in our 2016 Team Rankings. There’s some talent coming into Starkville.

The Bulldogs did a great job of targeting the top prospects in the state of Mississippi. Combo guard Tyson Carter and wing Mario Kegler will be fan-favorites for Mississippi State fans after spending their high school careers in the state. Eli Wright had a great showing at the Phenom National Showcase, and many are now speaking of him as one of the steals of the 2016 class. Louisiana point guard Lamar Peters will also bring excitement to State’s offense, and big men Schnider Herard and Abdul Ado are fantastic anchors down low. Hats off to Mississippi State, they got things done during the early signing period.

Carter Wilson: Ben Howland and the Mississippi State Bulldogs had a big signing period, rivaling that of almost any team. Getting signing week commitments from Mario Kegler and Abdul Ado as well as a commitment from Schnider Herard early in November, it’s a good time to be a basketball fan in Starkville. Add the signings of Tyson Carter, Lamar Peters, and Eli Wright, who all committed before November, and you have a class that measures up to any class in the country. Ben Howland and company are getting it done at Mississippi State right now.

Corey Evans: How can it not be Kentucky? Yes, Mississippi State, Duke, and Michigan State all did some great work during the first signing period, but UK came into last week with two commitments from Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones, and escaped with three more, top-10 recruits. Only De’Aaron Fox was expected to commit to the Wildcats but by luring Malik Monk and Bam Adebyo to join the fray, the group down in Lexington is the hands down winners, which again looks like the best-recruiting class in America, unless Duke can somehow land a guy like Marques Bolden, or Michigan State receives a commitment from Josh Jackson later this year. 

Justin Young: Kentucky. But we know this. It is the same answer year after year. But this class, well, this class could be as good as the John Wall/DeMarcus Cousins/Eric Bledsoe group of 2009. The De’Aaron Fox/Malik Monk combo is as athletic and potentially as exciting as Wall and Bledsoe were. Now mix in the size, speed and versatility of Bam Adebayo, Sacha Killeya-Jones and Wenyen Gabriel and you have a downright scary bunch.