Four months and three days since its first men’s basketball national championship, Baylor on Sunday saw its new standing in college basketball’s hierarchy pay big dividends as five-star guard Keyonte George picked the Bears over a final list that included Texas, Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Kansas.
George, the second-highest ranked prospect to ever commit to Baylor behind 2012 recruit Isaiah Austin, is ranked as the No. 2 player in the 247Sports Composite for the 2022 cycle behind UCLA commit and top overall recruit Amari Bailey. With a 99.89 rating, he is the top overall prospect at the shooting guard position in his class.
Texas had at one point been considered a potential landing spot for George after it secured the commitment of Arterio Morris, a teammate of his at iSchool Entrepreneurial Academy in Lewisville, Texas. But Baylor, which landed his final official visit back in June, saved its best push for last as a number of crystal ball predictions for the Bears poured in the last two weeks culminating with his commitment Sunday.
George is the second recruit to pick Baylor in the 2022 class alongside top-100 talent Dillon Hunter, another shooting guard, who hails from Wichita, Kansas. The commitment moves Baylor up 17 spots, from No. 27 to No. 10, in the national recruiting rankings and third in the Big 12 behind Iowa State (No. 8) and Kansas (No. 9). It could be one of several star-studded signatures Baylor earns in the 2022 cycle with the Bears also in the hunt to land five-star center Vince Iwuchukwu out of Montverde Academy and four-star in-state guard Bryce Griggs.
