Texas Tech Red Raiders
Seeing what head coach Chris Beard has done with lesser known prospects makes the Red Raiders such an appealing candidate (along with just making the national title game). He also fits their system perfectly, as Aku would be a nice replacement for the outgoing Tariq Owen as the athletic, defensive specialist center down low.
But he would almost certainly redshirt his freshmen season if things go according to plan. Grad transfers Chris Clarke and TJ Holyfield will be the starting frontcourt players, while three-star forward Tyreek Smith (who also reclassified) and seven-foot center Russel Tchewa are coming in as freshmen. Of all the options, Texas Tech would represent the most difficult route of playing time. And this doesn’t even include the Red Raiders going after top-tier big men to capitalize on their recruiting boost.
Texas A&M Aggies
Newcomer head coach Buzz Williams also has a rebranded roster, including a pair of three-star forwards in Emanuel Miller and Yavuz Gultekin. These are very talented players that could be more ready to play out the gate than Aku and have a higher overall floor. But with senior forward Josh Nebo the only returning frontcourt rotation player, there is still plenty of playing time available going forward.
Texas A&M doesn’t start out in the Buzz era in a bad spot at all and already in play for multiple quality top-100 players in the 2020 class. There’s a small chance that the Aggies could land even better frontcourt recruits than Aku. This roster is far from finished being retooled so that is one concern a player who needs to be developed should have.
TCU Horned Frogs
After a ton of transfers midway through the season, TCU’s roster looks completely different up and down. But they’re actually in good shape at the center position, with sophomore Kevin Samuel coming back after a good first year. Former top-100 big man Russell Barlow also is coming back to provide depth. If Aku comes in, he’ll almost certainly be a redshirt candidate for the team next season as he continues developing.
If he picks the Horned Frogs, Aku would be the 10th newcomer to the program, joining five other prospects and four transfers. But all of them are perimeter players, with none of them bigger than 6’7. He would give them the future frontcourt piece that they’re looking for. And between his days at Pittsburgh and now at TCU, head coach Jamie Dixon has done very well with developing four-year center prospects. It would be a nice long-term investment for a program looking to find the right pieces.
Tulsa Hurricanes
Sort of the outlier of the list, Aku brings head coach Frank Haith and the Hurricanes as another Texas-based program he could join. Of all of them, Tulsa would give Aku the most immediate and long-term availability of playing time. Outside of forward Martins Igbanu, there isn’t much size to speak of on next season’s team as well. They did bring in JUCO big man Emmanuel Ugboh into the fold, so Aku wouldn’t have to play out the gate on day one.
Tulsa isn’t the sexiest option when it comes to playing for an NCAA Tournament contender. And while Coach Haith isn’t on the hot seat, he also isn’t guaranteed to be around for years after either. The other four coaches on this list are all but assured to stick around during the duration of Aku’s time at college. Based on this list, it’s hard to imagine the Hurricanes being anything other than the 5th option.
Houston Cougars
The epitome of “small ball”, the Cougars won 33 total games and were minutes away from making the Elite Eight last season despite not having a player in their rotation over 6’8. They’ll need some size next season with their best players now gone. Houston still could use another big man in their 2019 class, only adding 6’7 power forward J’Wan Roberts.
Aku probably is a player who’ll be brought along slowly regardless of who he picks but this is a team who could really use him at the center position. And with players such as Nate Hinton around and Quentin Grimes joining the fold, the freshman big man would be surrounded by really good talent.
