Recruiting Notebook: Jalen Brunson lists Nova in Final 8

Jalen Brunson, a 2015 guard that's considered the best in his class, has cut his list to his final eight schools and Villanova has made the cut per his Twitter account.

I want to thank all the coaches that have put the time into recruiting me. This is my final 8 in no particular order! pic.twitter.com/A3yiGcgurt

— Jalen Brunson (@jbcrossover5) May 3, 2014

The schools including, Temple, Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and UConn have all offered Brunson, considered a four star guard by 247 Sports and other scouting services and is considered the second best player at his position by ESPN.

As mentioned in Chris Lane's recruiting roundup, Villanova recently conducted an in-home interview with Brunson. The 6-foot-2, 180 pound guard from Lincolnshire, Illinois (Stevenson/Mac Irvin Fire AAU), is the best pure point guard in the country and put his skill on display at the recent Sacramento session of the Nike EYBL. Brunson averaged 16.3 points, 9.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game in Sacramento.

Other Big East schools (Creighton, DePaul and Xavier) have also offered Brunson.

He brings a balanced game and can be compared to a point-guard with the caliber of Tyler Ennis who can control the tempo of a contest. Brunson brings three point range, high basketball IQ, tremendous ball-handling and a natural feel for the game combined with above-average passing skills and court vision.

However, he does lack athleticism, depending on his size (still being argued if he's 6-feet or 6-foot-2) he'll lack size for the guard spot and depending on his frame entering college, he'll lack strength and lateral quickness.

Brunson scored 56 of his team's 68 points in the Illinois Class 4A Semifinal game against Whitney Young and Duke commit Jahlil Okafor. He also didn't turn the ball over once.

Brunson has been linked to Illinois (wants to stay home and purportedly has a good relationship with John Groce) and Temple (his father is Rick Brunson played for Temple for four seasons and averaged 16.7 points and 4.1 assists per game his senior season). If he does come to Philadelphia, Villanova hasn't been one of his frontrunners in the final eight schools yet, as Illinois has been in Brunson's ear for almost two years and Temple his whole life.

Trey Lowe set to visit Villanova unofficially

2015 Ewing high school and Team Final guard Trey Lowe, has informed VU Hoops that he's planning an unofficial visit to Villanova, but hasn't decided a date as of yet.

Rated a three-star recruit by Rivals, Lowe is poised to blow up on the Nike EYBL circuit this summer. The 6-foot-6, 165 pound swingman tallied 42 points (10.5 ppg), 9 rebounds (2.3 rpg), 6 turnovers and 6 steals in four games in Sacramento while shooting 39.5 percent from the field and 72.9 percent from the line, but an abysmal 19 percent from deep. Lowe played in all four games and started two, seeing about 18.9 minutes per game.

Though that's hardly a good enough sample size, Lowe still has the makings of a solid swingman in the future. Lowe holds offers from Robert Morris, Temple, Saint Joseph's, Monmouth, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Rider, Hofstra, Quinnipiac, Fordham, Lafayette, Drexel, Boston, Lehigh and most recently, VCU.

Villanova has yet to offer according to Lowe. The guard recently scored 38 points at the Donofrio Classic in April and averaged 27.8 points, 3.6 assists, 2.3 steals and 8.2 rebounds per game for Ewing and scored more than 30 points eleven times in his previous season, scoring more than 40 twice.

With a close connection to Villanova commit Donte Divincenzo, Lowe coming to Villanova may be a high possibility.