WKU Basketball: Will Mitchell Robinson Be a One-and-done?
WKU has landed their highest ranking recruit in the modern era of recruiting with the signing of consensus five-star center Mitchell…
WKU has landed their highest ranking recruit in the modern era of recruiting with the signing of consensus five-star center Mitchell Robinson. He is bound to make an instant impact for the Toppers but how long will he stay at WKU?
I’ve always had the dream in the back of my head that one day WKU would land a five-star recruit. I always thought it would never happen because big time recruits never really go to smaller G5 schools like WKU but I (along with several other die-hard WKU fans) will actually see that dream become reality this fall.
7-foot, Chalmette, Louisiana product Mitchell Robinson has always liked Rick Stansbury. He initially committed to Texas A&M when Stansbury was still on the coaching staff there so to many scouts and recruiting experts, it was no surprise that he decommitted from TAMU once Stansbury was hired as WKU’s new head coach as well as his Godfather Shammond Williams as an assistant coach.
A lot of people, like myself, was nervous that Robinson might not stick with WKU with all the constant rumors about coaching changes or that a bigger school might try to swoop in last minute and convince Stansbury to leave, but Robinson silenced most of those rumors once he signed his LOI to WKU in November of last year.
Since then, he’s played in several showcase games, including the high-profile McDonald’s All-American Game, making him the first ever WKU signee to play in it. Despite going to WKU over schools such as LSU, UK, or even TAMU, Robinson has still gotten a lot of national attention. But how long could Robinson, who is one of the top recruits in the entire 2017 class, wind up staying at WKU before going to the NBA?
My prediction is Robinson declares for the draft after his freshman season at WKU.
DraftExpress just recently released their mock 2018 NBA Draft and had Robinson going #13 overall, and several other mock drafts have him going somewhere in the Top 15. Robinson is a lengthy, shot-blocking machine and can finish at the rim in almost any situation so it’s no surprise NBA scouts are already drooling over him.
There are still some question marks about him, though, and scouts are wanting him to gain a few more pounds before he goes to the NBA so his freshman year at WKU could answer a lot.
Basically, everyone is predicting him to dominate C-USA competition with ease and if he plays to his potential and stays healthy, he probably will. He has NBA talent and with him spending a year fine-tuning all his skills and gaining some muscle his freshman year at WKU, he could be NBA ready by 2018.
Obviously, I would love to see him stay for four years and potentially graduate as the greatest player WKU has ever had, but someone of his caliber isn’t going to wait four years to go pro. Robinson definitely seems like he wants to play for WKU but he still has his eyes set on becoming a professional basketball player so I would honestly be surprised if he stays for more than one year.
With all that being said, let’s not get upset because he might leave WKU after one year but instead, let’s cherish the fact that the Tops landed a five-star recruit of his caliber in the first place.
Robinson definitely could’ve gone to a bigger school to play one season of basketball and would’ve gotten a lot more exposure but instead, he chose WKU. And that’s pretty awesome.
I’ve seen soooo many people say they want to see WKU become an elite team in college basketball again and I couldn’t think of a better way for Stansbury to do that other than land some extremely talented players like Robinson.
Whether his time on the Hill is short or not, he is gonna leave a major impact on WKU while also changing something in the national landscape as well. I feel like Robinson will prove to people that you don’t have to go to a school like UK, UNC, or some other huge school to be recognized nationally but you can go to a smaller school and leave an even bigger impact on that university and fan base as you work toward your dreams.
I hope to see Hilltopper Nation be all-in rooting for Robinson and the Tops next season as WKU hopefully returns to a level of greatness it hasn’t been to in several years. Robinson made my dream of seeing a five-star come to WKU come true and I hope to see his dream of becoming an elite player at the college and NBA level come true as well.