The official OKC Thunder Big board 1.0
By Rylan Stiles
10) Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, PF, Villanova
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl decided to go to Villanova over Arizona, North Carolina, Notre Dame, and his home town Kansas Jayhawks. The Overland Park, native was ranked 14th on the ESPN top 100 players in the 2019 recruiting class.
Normally when a player commits to Jay Wright’s Villanova program, it is a long term commitment so this gives me a bit of pause but ultimately I am still giving Jeremiah Robinson-Earl a 10 out of 10 he does enter the NBA Draft confidence scale. He just simply will be too good this year to go back to Nova.
Robinson-Earl will not be on Sports-Centers top ten plays, or the house of highlights youtube package all that often. But still, he has a great ability to simply make the correct and efficient play. While that is a good thing, it might be seen as a knock on him if he gets labeled a “fine” player with no upside.
Though do not let his seemingly “boring” play fool you. Robinson-Earl is an incredible rebounder that will never be outmatched on the glass, which again, is not a skillset you get often in young players. Despite being a power forward Jeremiah can handle the ball with the best of them, and his playmaking ability makes him a lethal fastbreak option after coming down with his plethora of rebounds.
If Jeremiah Robinson-Earl will have a highlight package it will come by way of taking the lives of college kids who try to challenge him at the rim with his elite-level shot-blocking skillset.
I think Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is the safest pick in this year’s lottery. I do not see any bust potential in this kid, but his franchise-changing outlook seems bleak as well. I think he is primed to be a very good starter in this league, which most teams would lock in right now given how random the NBA Draft can be.
Villanova has a tough slate of games to let us watch Jeremiah Robinson-Earl against some of the nation’s top talents.
The Wildcats could match up with the Baylor Bears in the Myrtle Beach Invitational if both squads advance to the finals as expected at the Nov. 16th-24th tournament.
Nova also welcomes in Robinson-Earl’s hometown Jayhawks for a Dec. 21st meeting and this matchup is so interesting because the Jayhawks will have top big men on the floor at all times against Robinson-Earl. From Udoka Azubuike, Silvio De Sousa, and even David McCormack. Robinson-Earl will not play a minute against a non-top-tier big man in college basketball on Dec. 21st.