El Paso Basketball Phenom KJ Lewis Narrows College List to 8

Since his freshman season, KJ Lewis has been receiving national attention. In fact at one point, he was rated as high as 21st in the nation by 247 Sports for the Class of 2023. Now, it appears that his list of colleges is down to eight schools. According to Joe Tipton from on3.com, Lewis has selected his finalists: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Memphis, Texas Tech, and UCLA. Of that group, Tipton speculates that Arizona and Texas Tech will have the best opportunity to land the Chapin High School star.

On3.com also reported that Lewis took official visits to only three schools: Memphis, Arizona, and Texas Tech. According to KJ's official Twitter handle, he also took unofficial visits to Houston, Baylor, Texas A&M, as well as UTEP. Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, DePaul, Kansas, TCU, Texas, SMU, NMSU, Western Illinois, and Arizona State were among the other schools who offered scholarships to Lewis.

Lewis received his first official offer from UTEP and then head coach Rodney Terry on May 23rd, 2020. In June of last year, he took his unofficial to UTEP with new head coach Joe Golding.

It should be noted that UTEP made the El Pasoan a priority throughout his recruiting process. Coach Golding would love to have him, but Lewis has been one of the most sought after prospects in the state of Texas for a few years now. Before the school year started in August, the junior even received a $500,000 contract from Overtime Elite, which he later turned down. His mother, Monica Ramirez, played at UTEP in the early 1990s and she later served as an assistant to Sandra Rushing.

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The local standout is averaging 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.8 steals per game. Chapin is currently 28-4 and finished district champions with a 14-0 record in District 5A Division I. The Huskies will look to make another run in the Texas State Playoffs, which get started next week.

After the season, it's decision making time.

Lewis told Tipton that he has no other visits planned and he expects to announce his decision in the next 3-5 weeks.

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