With college football season upon us once again, the continued talk about what the most powerful conference is throughout the land always seems to come light this time of year. It seems that the SEC has been the top dog in recent seasons and with some quality contests on the gamete this weekend, several of those within the league will play host to some key recruits, while we remain on commit watch with the likes of Kobi Simmons, Cassius Winston, and Dylan Painter, and zero in on what the visit for Winston can lead to in heading to East Lansing on Friday.

THE SEC IS THE PLACE TO BE

Not the top outing of the weekend but still a conference game at the least, the Gamecocks will play host to Kentucky and bring in one of the top interior big men in senior center, Romello White. The Georgia native was a one-time Tennessee commit and White seems to fit the mold of your hard playing, tough interior guy that Frank Martin has come to love. At Ole Miss, the Rebels will host junior college forward Justas Furmanivicius along with Maciej Bender, a senior big man who hails from Poland but plays at Mountain Mission in Virginia.

Tennessee brings in the Oklahoma Sooners on the gridiron and the basketball staff has done a great job of lining up some quality official visitors. North Carolina native and volume rebounder Grant Williams, in-state recruit and quick guard Jordan Bone, along with South Carolina native and quickly improving wing Deriante Jenkins, will all head to Knoxville this weekend. Expect for the red carpet to be rolled out by the new staff at Tennessee as any of the three would be nice building blocks moving ahead.

However, the place to be this weekend seems to be in Starkville, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee. The Bulldogs host two official visitors that they will definitely key in on in attempting to land where big man Schnider Herard, and a high volume scorer who can play either guard spot in the backcourt that hails from nearby Starkville High, Tyson Carter, heads to campus. Carter will be joined by his grassroots teammate and the younger brother of freshman wing Quinndary Weatherspoon in 2017 lead guard, Nick Weatherspoon.

Down in Nashville, Vanderbilt brings in two key and vital recruits to campus. After taking in Texas last week, La Lumiere center James Banks will trip off to the SEC program. This seems to be a two-horse race and one worth watching. Along with Banks, Clevon Brown, a Lone Star State native that the Commodores are heavily involved with, will join his fellow class member in taking in the football contest between the Commodores and the Georgia Bulldogs, along with getting a better feel of what can be offered to each of them. Both are quality students and high level prospects, which seem to fit the model that Vanderbilt attempts to recruit.

COMMIT WATCH

Just as we proposed last week in the second edition of Fastbreak Friday, there were a lot more commitments compared to the prior week and the same can be said for this coming week. A bevy of high level visitors are about to take flight and we note on who might be close to popping.

Harvard is bringing in all five of its commits for within the 2016 class along with one other uncommitted recruit. By landing Bryce Aiken, the Crimson will put together one, exceptional class with star power at each spot on the floor. Seton Hall, among others, is also involved with Aiken but don’t be surprised if a commitment occurs this weekend with the Jersey native.

Dylan Painter heads to Penn State this weekend and one of the first programs to get involved with the in-state recruit, it seems that it is between Villanova and the Nittany Lions for the big man’s talents. A commitment could ensue in the coming days.

The perceived leader for some time now, Texas gets it shot at hosting Javin DeLaurier. The 6-foot-8 forward out of Virginia recently visited Notre Dame and while a commitment wouldn’t have been all that surprising, now that Duke has gotten into the picture and set an official visit date up next month with the high-motored big man, things may be put on hold for a bit.

Yoeli Childs, a native of Utah, remains within state borders and heads off to BYU. While the Cougars lost out on his grassroots teammate in Frank Jackson, the WCC program has remained highly involved with the hard-nosed forward over the past few months.

It seems it is a three-team race between the likes of UNLV, Ohio State, and Kentucky for Kobi Simmons and that a commitment could take place at any time. Heading to Columbus this weekend, it will be interesting to see how the visit fairs for the Big 10 program and the Peach State native.

Others that should be closely monitored this weekend include the likes of Jordan Bone to Tennessee, DeAnthony Melton to USC, AJ Cheeseman to Western Carolina, Tyson Carter to Mississippi State, and the key spotlight visitor of the week, Cassius Winston to Michigan State.

VISITOR OF THE WEEK

The craziness of the Xavier Simpson commitment to Michigan has settled down a bit but in hindsight, it all makes sense. The swift recruiting job by the Wolverines staff with the Ohio native meant that they didn’t feel totally well in luring Cassius Winston, its top point guard recruit, to campus for next year. Now down to Michigan State, Pitt, and Stanford, the in-state recruit will head to East Lansing this weekend with his grassroots teammate, Miles Bridges, and take another look at the Spartans program. The thought for some time now was that the race for Winston was between Michigan and Michigan State. With the Wolverines now bowing out and visits already taken to Stanford and Pitt earlier this summer, it seems that this weekend is lining up to be a great one for Izzo and his crew when it comes to luring its top recruit to a commitment for the Big 10 program.

AAC

SOUTH FLORIDA

• Thomas Dziagwa – 6-foot-4 guard – Tampa Catholic High School (Florida)

TEMPLE

• Jordan Bruner – 6-foot-8 forward – Spring Valley High School (South Carolina)
• Willie Jackson – 6-foot-6 forward – Garfield Heights High School (Ohio)

ACC

CLEMSON

• Michael Durr - 6-foot-9 center - Westlake High School (Georgia) 2017
• Chuma Okeke - 6-foot-7 forward - Westlake High School (Georgia) 2017

GEORGIA TECH

• Brandon Robinson – 6-foot-4 guard – Douglas County High School (Georgia)

PITTSBURGH

• Justice Kithcart – 6-foot guard – Virginia Episcopal School (North Carolina)

VIRGINIA

• Kyle Guy – 6-foot-2 guard – Lawrence Central High School (Indiana) COMMIT
• Jay Huff – 6-foot-10 forward – Voyager Academy (North Carolina) COMMIT
• DeAndre Hunter – 6-foot-7 forward – Friends Central School (Pennsylvania)
• Ty Jerome – 6-foot-3 guard – Iona Prep (New York) COMMIT

VIRGINIA TECH

• Jamir Moultrie – 6-foot guard – Bishop McNamara High School (Maryland) 2017

AMERICAN EAST

MAINE

• Ameka Akaya – 6-foot-5 wing – St. Maria Goretti High School (Maryland)

ATLANTIC 10

GEORGE MASON

• Jeff Dowtin – 6-foot-3 guard – St. John’s College High School (Washington DC)

GEORGE WASHINGTON

• Mike Tertsea – 6-foot-10 center – John Carroll School (Nigeria)

BIG EAST

DEPAUL

• Jeriah Horne – 6-foot-6 forward – Barstow High School (Kansas)

GEORGETOWN

• Bruce Brown – 6-foot-3 guard – Vermont Academy (Massachusetts)
• Seventh Woods – 6-foot-1 guard – The Hammond School (South Carolina)

PROVIDENCE

• Shamorie Ponds – 6-foot guard – Thomas Jefferson High School (New York)

XAVIER

• Xavier Sneed – 6-foot-5 wing –  Hazelwood Central High School (Missouri)

BIG 10

MARYLAND

• Wenyen Gabriel – 6-foot-9 – Wilbraham & Monson Academy (New Hampshire)

MICHIGAN

• Xavier Simpson – 5-foot-11 guard – Lima Senior High School (Ohio) COMMIT
• Jaron Faulds – 6-foot-9 center – Holt High School (Michigan) 2017
• Kyle Young – 6-foot-6 wing – Jackson High School (Ohio) 2017

MICHIGAN STATE

• Miles Bridges – 6-foot-6 forward – Huntington Prep (Michigan)
• Nick Ward – 6-foot-9 center – Gahanna Lincoln High School (Ohio) COMMIT
• Cassius Winston – 6-foot-1 guard – University of Detroit Mercy High School (Michigan)

OHIO STATE

• Kobi Simmons – 6-foot-5 guard – St. Francis School (Georgia)

PENN STATE

• Dylan Painter – 6-foot-9 center – Hershey High School (Pennsylvania)
• Lamar Stevens - 6-foot-7 forward - Roman Catholic High School (Pennsylvania)
• Dwayne Cohill – 6-foot-2 guard – Holy Name High School (Pennsylvania) 2018
• Sean Good - 6-foot-9 center - Trinity High School (Pennsylvania) 2018

BIG 12

IOWA STATE

• Eric Curry – 6-foot-8 forward – Southwest Christian Academy (Tennessee)
• Darrion Strong – 6-foot-2 guard – Coffeyville Community College (Minnesota)

OKLAHOMA STATE

• Curt Jones – 6-foot-2 guard – Huntington Prep (Virginia)

TCU

• Josh Parrish - 6-foot-5 wing - Seguin High School (Texas)

TEXAS

• Javin DeLaurier – 6-foot-8 forward – St. Anne’s Bellfield School (Virginia)
• Andrew Jones – 6-foot-3 guard – MacArthur High School (Texas)

CAA

JAMES MADISON

• Dondre Griffin - 6-foot-3 guard - Knightdale High School (North Carolina)

CUSA

OLD DOMINION

• Te’Jon Lucas – 6-foot guard – Washington High School (Wisconsin)

UT-SAN ANTONIO

• JJ Rhymes – 6-foot-4 wing – Shadow Mountain High School (Texas)

IVY

HARVARD

• Bryce Aiken – 5-foot-11 guard – Patrick School (New Jersey)
• Robert Baker – 6-foot-8 forward – The Walker School (Georgia) COMMIT
• Justin Bassey – 6-foot-4 wing – Colorado Academy (Colorado) COMMIT
• Christian Juzang – 6-foot-2 guard – Viewpoint High School (California) COMMIT
• Chris Lewis – 6-foot-8 forward – Milton High School (Georgia) COMMIT
• Seth Towns – 6-foot-8 forward – Northland High School (Ohio) COMMIT

MISSOURI VALLEY

EVANSVILLE

• Dru Smith – 6-foot-2 guard – Francis Joseph Reitz High School (Indiana)

ILLINOIS STATE

• Denis Alibegovic – 6-foot-2 guard – Downers Grove South High School (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 2017

MISSOURI STATE

• Alize Johnson – 6-foot-7 forward – Frank Phillips College (Pennsylvania)
• Jeremy Sheppard - 5-foot-11 guard - John Marshall High School (Virginia)

MOUNTAIN WEST

AIR FORCE

• James Edwards – 6-foot-2 guard – Plum High School (Pennsylvania)

NEVADA

• Damari Milstead – 6-foot guard – Moreau Catholic High School (California) 2017

UNLV

• Jaylen Fisher – 6-foot-2 guard – Bolton High School (Tennessee)

OHIO VALLEY

MURRAY STATE

• JJ Matthews – 6-foot-8 center – Millwood School (Virginia)

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE

• Ray Kowalski – 6-foot-3 guard – Concord High School (North Carolina)
• Jaylen Sebree - 6-foot-5 wing - University Heights High School (Kentucky) 2017

TENNESSEE TECH

• Brian Coffey – 6-foot-1 guard – Greater Atlanta Christian High School (Georgia) 2017

PAC 12

CALIFORNIA

• Charlie Moore – 5-foot-11 guard – Morgan Park High School (Illinois)

COLORADO

• Trevor Stanback – 6-foot-9 center – Maranatha High School (California)

USC

• DeAnthony Melton – 6-foot-3 guard – Crespi Carmelite High School (California)

UTAH

• CJ Keyser – 6-foot-2 guard – Brewster Academy (Maryland)
• JaQuori McLaughlin - 6-foot-2 guard - Peninsula High School (Washington)

PATRIOT

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

• Justin Pierce – 6-foot-5 wing – Glenbard West High School (Illinois)

SEC

MISSISSIPPI STATE

• Tyson Carter – 6-foot-3 guard – Starkville High School (Mississippi)
• Schnider Herard – 6-foot-10 center – Prestonwood Christian Academy (Texas)
• Nick Weatherspoon – 6-foot-2 guard – Velma Jackson High School (Mississippi) 2017

OLE MISS

• Maciej Bender – 6-foot-9 forward – Mountain Mission School (Poland)
• Justas Furmanavičius – 6-foot-7 forward – Three Rivers Community College (Lithuania)

SOUTH CAROLINA

• Romello White – 6-foot-9 center – IMG Academy (Georgia)

TENNESSEE

• Jordan Bone – 6-foot-1 guard – The Ensworth School (Tennessee)
• Deriante Jenkins – 6-foot-5 wing – Hargrave Military Academy (South Carolina)
• Grant Williams – 6-foot-7 forward – Providence Day School (North Carolina)

VANDERBILT

• James Banks – 6-foot-9 center – La Lumiere School (Georgia)
• Clevon Brown – 6-foot-8 forward – Churchill High School (Texas)

SOUTHERN

THE CITADEL

• Brendon Myles – 6-foot-3 guard – Whitefield Academy (Georgia)

UNC-GREENSBORO

• Jaylen Fornes – 6-foot-2 guard – Word of God Christian Academy (North Carolina)

WESTERN CAROLINA

• AJ Cheeseman – 6-foot-5 forward – Duluth High School (Georgia)

WCC

BYU

• Yoeli Childs – 6-foot-7 forward – Bingham High School (Utah)

GONZAGA

• Zach Norvell - 6-foot-5 wing - Simeon Career Academy (Illinois)

SAN DIEGO

• Mark Gasperini – 6-foot-8 forward – Brimmer & May School (Russia)