It is lunchtime somewhere. So, welcome back to the lunch hour read of the Meat & Three. Every weekday I dive into a big picture topic and three things to get you through a quarantine spring. 

Today we dive into a busy recruiting weekend, dive a little deeper into the new Georgia Southern hire, a terrific rewatch college basketball national championship game from the 1990s and a great Ty Freeman picture. 

THE MEAT: BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE HAVE SOME RECRUITING NEWS! 

There was a wild run of commitments over the weekend and Rutgers, yes, Rutgers was the headline-stealer. 

The Big Ten school picked up a major commitment from in-state big man Cliff Omoruyi. I thought he has talent that was worthy of a spot on the 2020 McDonald’s All-American game. The big man was one of the best players I saw in the country during the high school season. He’s the most important commitment to the school since Mike Rosario. 

The native Nigerian from Roselle Catholic (NJ) picked Rutgers over Arizona and Auburn. He’s one a day-one impact player for head coach Steve Pikiell and could be an anchor for a Rutgers team that will be considered a top 25 team to start the season. 

Landing a starter in March, in a pandemic, and straight from high school? That doesn’t happen very often.  

St. Joe’s head coach Billy Lange and staff has been involved with Jadrian Tracey of West Oaks (FL) for quite some time. And longevity in recruiting sometimes is the secret weapon to landing a commitment. Tracey pledged to the Hawks on Sunday. Tracey was one of the best available players in the class of 2020 in the Southeast and could be the type of player the former Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach could develop into a high-producing college player. 

Andy Kennedy has picked up his first commitment as the head man at UAB. And the Blazers landed a good one in Mae Jemimson (AL) guard Tony Toney. The guard is one of the best players in the state of Alabama. Our Alabama editor Garrett Tucker really likes this pick up. 

The perfect kid for AK," Tucker said. “He’s a tough, high motor guard. Gets after it on both ends of the floor. A great fit for both parties involved.” 

Wichita State has been trending on for all of the outbound transfers. The Shockers lead the nation in the category. Rebuilding the roster is like working the junior college rosters. So, they build with transfers and big high school commitments. 

The Shockers landed a former Atlanta prep star Alteriruqe Gilbert. The former UConn point guard wanted to find an opportunity to play right away. Make no mistake about it, Wichita State is there more than any other program in the nation. Gilbert has battled injuries throughout his college career. He has played in 64 games over the last four seasons. He played in 20 games this season, playing 27.5 minutes and averaged 8.5 points, 4.1 assists. 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals a game. Gilbert now hopes to put a cap on his post-high school experience on the court. 

Ricky Council, IV, of Southern Durham (NC) also committed to the Shockers over the weekend. Council is one of the best athletes in the nation and should fit well into the style of play Gregg Marshall likes to play. 

Big man Ibrahima Jarjou formerly of Holy Spirit and of Core4 Prep is headed to Austin Peay. The big man is a banger in the paint. 

THE NOTE

The Georgia Southern job didn’t take long to fill. New athletic director Jared Benko has hired Texas Tech assistant coach Brian Burg. 

The new Eagles head man helped the Red Raiders make the national championship game last season and has been on the bench with Chris Beard dating back to the Arkansas Little Rock days. 

Said Benko: “Brian’s commitment to the comprehensive development of our student-athletes on-and-off the court resonated with the search committee.  As we spoke to some of the best and brightest college basketball minds in the country, his name continued to come up time and again.  Brian has mentored under some of the top coaches in the country, and we know this experience will benefit our program tremendously.  Coach Burg will hit the ground running this week, and we look forward to him having a long and successful career with Georgia Southern University.”

I reached out to our friend Corey Evans about Berg and his recruiting value. Evans said: 

“Brian is arguably one of the most relentless recruiters I’ve been around over the years. He’s a great evaluator but also at developing strong relationships all throughout the country. The success that Texas Tech has enjoyed of late can be traced some to what Burg has done on the recruiting trail.” 

THE STREAM

The infamous Chris Webber timeout game is one of the most iconic moments of the NCAA tournament. The Fab Five of Michigan were paired against the powerhouse of North Carolina in 1993. 

This game is classic 90s basketball and it boasts one of the most famous lines in college basketball broadcast history. 

With 11 seconds left to play, we hear:

"Webber brings it into the frontcourt ... they have no timeouts remaining ... Oh! He calls it, too many timeouts! That's a technical foul! He called a timeout, and Michigan doesn't have any!"

THE TY FREEMAN PHOTO OF THE DAY 

I love this picture from Ty at our 2018 Best of the South. Two teams who have years of playing on our stage - Pro One out of Alabama and the Atlanta Lightning from Georgia - were getting ready to take to the biggest stage of the Summer at the Best of the South. 

There is a layer of competition here that doesn’t really need to be explained.