After a quiet few days to open the early signing period, it finished with two headline-grabbing commitments: five-star forward Jayden Quaintance to Kentucky on Nov. 14 and top-five prospect Tre Johnson picking Texas on Wednesday, the final day of the period.
Aside from springing some life into the signing period, those two commitments pushed the Wildcats and Longhorns into the top three nationally in our updated recruiting class rankings.
Minimal drama over the past couple of weeks could portend some developments over the next few months, however. Here are the big remaining questions as we exit the signing period.
1. Who's left on the board?
With Quaintance and Johnson making their decisions, that meant eight ESPN 100 prospects announced commitments during the signing period -- leaving just 11 top-100 recruits still available entering the winter. Eight of those players are ranked inside the top 35:
Dylan Harper (No. 2): Once perceived to be a Rutgers vs. Duke battle, with a couple of other schools mixed in, this one has turned in the Scarlet Knights' favor over the past several weeks, and it doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon. Steve Pikiell could end up with two of the top three recruits in the country.
V.J. Edgecombe (No. 5): Entering the period, it looked like Duke was the favorite with St. John's trying to close the gap on a recent official visit. Those two are still thought to be the front-runners, but there's been some buzz that other schools involved with Edgecombe -- Baylor and Kentucky -- could turn up the heat again.
Derrion Reid (No. 9): This recruitment was expected to end in late October, with a commitment date scheduled and everything. But Reid postponed his announcement at the last minute, and now there's no sign on when -- or where -- he will commit. Georgia was the likely destination before the postponement, but Alabama was a close second and might be the favorite at this point.
Derik Queen (No. 15): All indications were that Queen was poised to commit during the early signing period, with Maryland, Indiana, Kansas and Houston on his final list. But the past couple of weeks came and went without a pledge. Will other schools get involve or is it still mostly a hometown Maryland vs. Indiana battle? Kansas is the wild card here.
Karter Knox (No. 16): Knox wasn't ever scheduled to commit during the early period, and he still plans to take his time during the high school season. He is down to Kentucky, Louisville, South Florida and the G League Ignite route.
Bryson Tucker (No. 20): After an incredibly quiet recruitment, one that included a visit to Michigan State and not much else, things have started buzzing a bit around Tucker. He took an official visit earlier this month to Kansas, and there has been some talk of a potential midyear enrollment.
Zoom Diallo (No. 25): The momentum in Diallo's recruitment has seemingly flipped every other week. Arizona, Washington, Gonzaga and USC are his final four, and depending on who gets asked, there's a different school in the lead.
Billy Richmond (No. 34): This has felt like a Kentucky vs. Memphis race for some time now, with Kentucky holding an advantage. Although Richmond didn't commit during the early period, the Wildcats are still perceived to be in the lead.
2. Why the lack of drama?
One thing worth monitoring during the signing period is which elite prospects opt not to sign a national letter of intent. Entering this month, two players with that potential were Duke recruit Isaiah Evans and North Carolina recruit Ian Jackson. Both players signed, as they had maintained they would for months.
Part of that decision undoubtedly stems from Evans and Jackson actually wanting to play their college basketball on Tobacco Road. But there's something else to consider: Schools rarely hold players to their letter of intent anymore. If Evans or Jackson or anyone else wanted to get out of their NLI, chances are Duke or North Carolina would release them without much of an issue.
3. Which classes are most at risk due to the coaching carousel?
We're still a couple of months away from the high-major coaching carousel to start spinning, but the season of coaching changes typically results in some ESPN 100 decommitments. This season, there are very few top-100 prospects committed to coaches on the hot seat. Perhaps the hottest seats are located at Stanford, Louisville, Washington, Nebraska and Minnesota -- and there are a combined zero ESPN 100 commitments to those five schools.
Some situations worth watching: Johnny Dawkins is under some fire at UCF, and he signed Kyle Green (No. 74). Clemson has two ESPN 100 signees (Del Jones and Dallas Thomas), but Brad Brownell has a team good enough to get to the NCAA tournament. Arizona State also has a pair of ESPN 100 commitments (Amier Ali, Sammie Yeanay), but Bobby Hurley received a contract extension in the spring, and the Sun Devils' athletic director just resigned.
4. Which 2025 prospects could make a move?
We might have to wait until August -- after the July live period -- but there will certainly be 2025 prospects who reclassify into 2024. In the current college freshman class, Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina), Jarin Stevenson (Alabama), Dedan Thomas (UNLV) and Johnny Furphy (Kansas) are all among the players who opted to reclassify in the final months before their enrollment.
Who might be in the next group of reclassifers? Joson Sanon (No. 10) has generated plenty of reclassification buzz and has already taken college visits this fall, while Jasper Johnson (No. 8) has long been rumored to reclassify and has made trips to West Virginia, Georgia Tech and Kentucky this fall. One other name is Brayden Burries (No. 28), who is being recruited by the likes of Duke, Arizona, USC and UCLA.
5. Will we see another late influx of international prospects?
Perhaps more than ever before, we saw a huge number of international prospects signing to play college basketball this season. UCLA inked four internationals, including Aday Mara and Berke Buyuktuncel, while Arizona scored a pair of impact imports in Motiejus Krivas and Paulius Murauskas. Kentucky signee Zvonimir Ivisic, who hasn't been cleared yet, was another big name. Many of those recruits were late signees, deciding in August and September to suit up.
Names will emerge as the recruiting cycle progresses and seasons end for club teams in Europe, but there are already a few players established as college targets:
Nolan Traore is putting up impressive scoring and distribution numbers in France this season. Ulrich Chomche is a big man from Cameroon who played in front of college coaches at the NBA Academy Games over the summer. And Samis Calderon is a long Brazilian wing who won defensive MVP at the Basketball Without Borders Global camp last winter and is now playing in the Overtime Elite league.