I'm a tad skeptical of "best bud" (or herd) mentality among young adults (read teenagers). I remember conversations about various permutations of US National Team players and thus far, they all seem to pick the school that is best for themselves. That said, Goforth and Kennedy Brown have all been putting friendly persuasion on Verhulst who, IMHO, is the real catch of the group. From a practical sttiandpoint, if even "just" three of them go to OSU, who is going to sit? OSU, with their slew of talented bigs (including Ms. Brown) is not going to go one big-four wings.
Besides, the Irish in me things Verhulst, a fine representative of Bishop Miege, should join Olivia Miles in a reprise of the U.S. National Team backcourt in Chile. Run and gun Irish!
If I had to guess, I think Verhulst’s decision comes down to Oregon, Oregon State, and Notre Dame (I also think Louisville and Tennessee are still in the game given recent visits in the fall/winter).
If I were a top guard prospect, I’d be very cautious about Oregon because they are incredibly talented and deep at the guard positions. Bigby, Parrish, PaoPao, Scherr, Shelley, and Winterburn are all terrific guards, and playing time would be really tough to come by, even though Verhulst is extremely talented.
I could potentially see Rueck employing a lineup of Verhulst/von Oelhoffen, Kampschroeder, and Goforth on the perimeter. Would be similar to his backcourt of Pivec, McWilliams, and Tudor in 17-18 with no true point guard.
Seems like Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, and Notre Dame will be in a lot of recruiting battles for 2021s. Three are targeting Citron, three are targeting Miles, three are targeting Wolfenbarger, and two are targeting von Oelhoffen. It’ll be interesting to see who lands who.