Wenyen Gabriel may have been the largest stock-riser in the class of 2016 this grassroots season. The 6’9 combo forward possesses an offer list that reads like a who’s who of college basketball elite. Then there is Providence and Ed Cooley. Cooley has been on Gabriel the longest of any high major school. Providence became Gabriel’s first high major offer back in July 2014. Gabriel’s only other offer at that time was from in-state New Hampshire. On Wednesday Gabriel cut his list down to a final 5 schools. That list is comprised of Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Providence and UConn, according to a tweet from Adam Finkelstein.

Gabriel has also scheduled visits to 3 of the 5 schools on his final list. Maryland will get a visit from 9/4-9/6, Kentucky gets a visit from 9/25-9/27 and Duke gets Gabriel on campus 10/16-10/18. Gabriel has yet to set dates up with Providence and UConn though it should be noted he has been to both campuses unofficially a number of times. He did tell Scout.com that he’s “going to visit them” and just “need[s] to finish the dates.” Gabriel has been Cooley’s primary target in the class of 2016. Either he, one of his assistants or all of the above have been at every single game or camp they were allowed to attend where Gabriel participated. Gabriel told Evan Daniels of Scout.com that he “like[s] what [Ed] Cooley has been doing with the program.” He also called Cooley “a player’s coach” and said “Providence is a real comfortable place.”

Gabriel confirmed his list via his Instagram account:

https://instagram.com/p/6S1J-ww-2X/

Gabriel ran with Mass Rivals on the adidas Gauntlet circuit and put up an impressive statline of 17.4 points/game and 8.0 rebounds/game during the adidas Summer Championships in Las Vegas to finish out the July live periods. Cooley was seen front and center on ESPNU as the last game Gabriel and the Rivals played in at that event was televised.

Providence has had this happen to them before under Cooley. If nothing else you have to give he and his staff massive kudos for being phenomenal at evaluating talent and picking up on guys who are going to blow up. This will be the 3rd year in a row that the Friars got in early on a guy who was either the biggest blow up player or one of the biggest blow up players the summer before their senior year. In the class of 2014 that player was Abdul-Malik Abu. In 2015 it was Donovan Mitchell. Gabriel is widely considered that guy in the class of 2016.

The result may end up being the same with Gabriel but Cooley and his staff will stay in it until the very end as they did with Abu and Mitchell. Gabriel is likely due for a massive move in the rankings as they will be released by the scouting services sometime soon this month. If Cooley could somehow get a commitment from Gabriel over Duke — reportedly Gabriel’s dream school — Kentucky, Maryland and UConn it would be the biggest recruiting win for Cooley since he convinced a point guard from New London, CT to become a Providence Friar back in the class of 2012.

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