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In a big recruiting win for Canes Hoops, 4-star PG Chris Lykes (Gonzaga, D.C) committed to the Hurricanes over Villanova, his other finalist.
Glad to be a part of the family❗️ #UMiami @miamibasketball pic.twitter.com/TMtgF7VuGR
— Chris0⃣Lykes (@IAm_Lykesdat) June 13, 2016
Lykes is a very talented and skilled player at the PG position. He lacks height (5'6"-5'7" range) but he's a borderline 5-star player and highly coveted. If he was near 6ft tall, every team in America would be recruiting this kid. Yeah, he's that good. And he's coming to Miami. That's a win in my book.
Lykes gave an interview to Scout.com about his decision to commit to Miami over Villanova, his other finalist. In it, he had some great comments:
"Their style of play fits mine perfectly," he added about Miami. "They ran 900 ball screens last year, something that I feel I excel in pretty well. It's overall a great school, but most importantly they have a great engineering program that will allow me to balance basketball and academics. I couldn't go wrong with any of the choices that I had, but my heart was with Miami and it always has been since watching Shane Larkin."
Lykes' skillset lends itself favorably to playing in Miami's dribble-drive and pick-and-roll heavy offense. Those are the things that he does best on the court, so this should be a perfect fit for this incredibly talented player.
After losing out on a recruit to Villanova previously in this cycle, beating the Wildcats for a local player such as Lykes is big for Miami.
Lykes is a top talent according to all major recruiting services. ESPN has him 46th overall, 247Sports has him 69th (nice) overall and 16th best PG in this class, Scout has him as 93rd overall, and Rivals has him 97th overall in this class. Yeah, that kind of talent will work for me.
To get a better idea what kind of player Lykes is, you can see the highlights embedded below.