photo by: Journal-World Illustration

University of Kansas basketball recruiting

Class of 2019 Kansas basketball targets Matthew Hurt and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl each dropped a spot in the updated Rivals.com rankings, but both remained in the Top 10.

Hurt, a five-star forward from Rochester, Minn., who welcomed the Kansas coaching staff into his living room over the weekend, dropped from No. 5 overall in the 2019 class to No. 6.

Robinson-Earl, another five-star forward from nearby Kansas City, who is playing his senior season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., dropped from No. 9 to No. 10.

Neither move is significant enough to warrant any eyebrow raising. And both players remain at the very top of KU’s wish list as the recruiting period heats back up during the coming weeks.

As noted in a Sunday report from KUsports.com recruiting insider Matt Scott, members of the KU coaching staff were in Florida today to visit with Robinson-Earl and moved on to another destination in the early afternoon.

Despite Hurt and Robinson-Earl’s adjusted rankings, both players remain elite prospects of whom Rivals.com analyst Eric Bossi still thinks very highly.

In unveiling the updated Top 10 on Monday — the rest of the new Rivals150 rankings will be out on Tuesday — Bossi called Robinson-Earl “a ready-made college player” who is “fundamentally sound, has the skill to fit a variety of offensive schemes and is a high-volume rebounder with great hands who has become a dangerous pick-and-pop jump shooter.”

Bossi also noted that Robinson-Earl’s move to IMG should benefit him physically as much as anything.

“He will arrive on a college campus with a body that is ready to go at the college level,” Bossi said.

The 6-foot-9, 235-pound Robinson-Earl is currently down to a final five of Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Villanova, and he is expected to visit KU for Late Night on Sept. 28.

Regarding Hurt, who continues to hover around the Top 5, Bossi pointed to the 6-foot-9, 200-pound versatile forward’s all-around game as the reason for his lofty ranking.

“If you want a jump shooter, Matthew Hurt is your guy,” Bossi said. “If you want a jump shooter with tremendous size (and) overall skill who does everything else on the offensive end well, then you will be in love with what Hurt brings to the floor. Look all around the country and you’re not going to find many other players who have been as consistently excellent at the highest level as Hurt has been over the years.”

Hurt, who has been to KU for Late Night in the past, has not yet announced any scheduled official visits and appears to still be in the planning stages of his recruitment.

Top-ranked point guard Cole Anthony (No. 3), 7-foot center James Wiseman (No. 2) and No. 1 overall prospect Vernon Carey are the other notable names in the newly revealed Rivals Top 10.

Names worth watching when the other 140 names are released on Tuesday include: small forward Samuel Williamson, who recently made an official visit to KU’s campus; shooting guard Josh Green; power forward and Hurt AAU teammate Zeke Nnaji; rising shooting guard Christian Braun, of nearby Blue Valley Northwest; Memphis forward Chandler Lawson; and Little Rock, Ark., point guard Isaac McBride, among others.