Five-star recruit Isaac Hamilton to announce his decision Friday on ESPNU

By Taylor Bern

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 | 9:05 p.m.

UNLV fans will find out live on national TV if five-star shooting guard Isaac Hamilton will become the newest Rebel.

After telling reporters in Las Vegas last Sunday that he definitely wasn’t going to make his decision in November, Hamilton changed his mind and will go on ESPNU’s “National Signing Day Special” at 4 p.m. to announce his intentions in front of a national audience. ESPNU is on Cox cable channel 320 and DirecTV channel 208.

Hamilton, a 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard out of Los Angeles, was on an official visit to UNLV this past weekend and stayed for Monday night’s game against NAU, a 92-54 victory that brought out the most fans — 18,178 — for a season opener in school history. His list includes UNLV, UTEP, Baylor, SDSU and UCLA, though a source close to Hamilton’s recruitment said it’s likely a 50/50 choice between UNLV and UTEP.

UTEP coach Tim Floyd recruited Isaac's older brother, Jordan, when the former was at USC. Jordan eventually played two years at Texas before being drafted in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft. He's in his second season with the Denver Nuggets.

Last Sunday, Hamilton said his top three were UNLV, UTEP and Baylor, but on Thursday he told a Rivals.com reporter that all five schools were even. Hamilton will go on ESPNU’s show along with top-30 players Kennedy Meeks (Georgetown or UNC) and Tyler Roberson (Kansas, Syracuse or Villanova).

Hamilton is one of the nation’s best scorers but said he wants to play at least some point guard in college. He said Sunday the coaches at UNLV told him he would get that chance.

Adding more intrigue to Hamilton’s decision is his younger brother, Daniel, a four-star forward in the class of 2014. Though the brothers said they aren’t necessarily a package deal, whatever school gets Isaac will be the front-runner for Daniel as well.

The timing of Hamilton’s decision certainly looks good for UNLV since that was his most recent visit. But was that enough to put the Rebels over the top and continue this coaching staff’s stellar results on the recruiting trail? Fans will have to tune in to find out.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story contained a mistake regarding Jordan Hamilton's college. The Sun regrets the error. | (November 15, 2012)