Three-Point Play: Uncertainty, Kok Yat, top PGs

Will we have a college basketball season? That is the billion-dollar question as programs begin to start preseason workouts. In today's Three-Point Play, Rivals.com Basketball Analyst Corey Evans looks at a potential contingency plan for the winter, spotlights the latest talent to join the 2021 class and breaks down the already small number of high-major point guard targets.

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The coronavirus pandemic wiped out the travel season. Now the question in basketball circles is whether there will be a college season.

College football conferences have begun to share their plans for that sport's season and while not a straight apples-to-apples comparison, there are a couple of ideas for the college basketball season that are beginning to gain momentum.

First, I can’t see non-league games taking place, especially if fans are not in attendance. There's minimal gain for host programs if they can't reap the reward from gate receipts, concessions and parking fees, especially when dealing with buy-games.

Additionally, the testing capability of, for example, a program in the NEC may not match up with what a Big East program can afford. Is Creighton willing to put its players on the court with St. Francis without feeling absolutely comfortable about the Red Flash's testing procedures? I doubt it.

The result of this uncertainty could result in conference play being moved up to start after Thanksgiving. Leagues would then have the chance to play 20 conference games, maybe even in some sort of tournament-style.

For instance, the first weekend in December, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss travel to Atlanta and play a round-robin format in which each team plays three games between Thursday and Sunday. They then return to campus and another set of three-games is played by each member program at a different location two weeks later.

There is very little chance we will see consistency across the board from league to league, there may even be discrepancies across the power conferences. However, one should rest assured that the NCAA will do everything in its power to preserve some sort of NCAA tournament next year.

Ultimately, it would be a mild surprise if there is not some sort of college basketball season year. What it looks like is more the question.

Just like his older cousin and now Auburn freshman J.T. Thor, Kok Yat will reclassify back into his original, 2021 graduating class, a move that we first reported on Tuesday afternoon. One of the more versatile talents in the 2021 class, Yat will have no shortage of college options in the coming months.

A 6-foot-9 wing-forward that must get stronger but has the ability to change positions in the blink of an eye, Yat's versatility has intrigued us here at Rivals.com and various college programs throughout the nation.

Yat will return to Georgia's Norcross High School in the fall to complete his high school career, but has already seen a number of high-majors enter the picture. He has only visited the campus at New Mexico and will more than likely wait until the spring to sign, though a lot will ride on what rules are in place regarding visits during the ongoing pandemic.

For now, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Kansas, New Mexico, South Carolina and TCU are among the group of that have shown the most interest in Yat. Arizona State, Ole Miss and Washington have also begun to express greater interest in recent days but, with an already limited available options of high-major prospects in the 2021 class, it is within reason to expect many more will soon prioritize Yat.

Two weeks ago, we forecasted the potential dominoes that could fall as a result of predicted commitments from Angelo Brizzi, Rahsool Diggins and Stevie Mitchell. Now that Mitchell is off the board to Marquette, and once Jalen Warley commits on Sunday afternoon, 22 of the top 35 point guards in the 2021 class will have already found their college homes for next fall. This is crazy to think about since it is just the middle of August and already programs have been forced to find alternatives for their alternatives.

It is also why Carter Whitt has become such a heavily discussed prospect in recent weeks. Whitt is someone that is relatively still wide open with his recruitment compared to most others.

While Whitt has seen his no shortage of high-majors enter his recruitment, I also wouldn’t be surprised if Hunter Sallis saw his own recruitment hit another level. Sure, Kansas and North Carolina are involved, but there may be one or two other programs that could be ready to make the move on the elite guard.

If schools strike out on their top options or the various alternatives we bring up, then maybe we see the interest for someone like Skyy Clark, a potential reclassification target, ramp up even further, though he will now cut his list to a final seven tomorrow. Maybe, it is a matter of waiting things out and testing the transfer market, one that should be ripe for the taking in the spring with the potential one-transfer rule going into effect.

Either way, this is the earliest that I can recall the point guard market being so decimated, which could lead to major reaches and tough decisions by needy coaching staffs across America.