The Kansas Jayhawks and California Golden Bears were also eliminated, as Bill Self’s final push wasn’t enough to get Gordon to consider Kansas among his favorites. Cal had a commitment from teammate Jabari Bird, but the Golden Bears were never considered serious contenders to land the top ten recruit.

Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

Gordon’s decision to eliminate the Oregon Ducks and Kansas Jayhawks comes after a good week for both programs in nabbing commitments from Jordan Bell and Joel Embiid respectively. Both players are four-star big men, with Bell selecting Oregon over Auburn and Embiid KU over Florida and Texas.

The common thought is that Gordon will stay out west, with Washington being viewed as the pick to land him. However, that has likely changed after the official visit to Kentucky, which was reportedly an incredible one for the five-star power forward. The Jayhawks were viewed as the team that had the highest chance of luring Gordon out of the west, largely because of Self’s push to land him and the fact that the Wildcats already have the Harrison twins and Julius Randle. Another thing that made it seem like UK had a lower chance is the fact that the Wildcats are involved in Andrew Wiggins’s recruitment as well.

Sean Miller has been actively pursuing Aaron Gordon, so Arizona also has a high chance of landing him. Things are pretty even in the top three, but I still think Gordon will stay out west and will likely end up going to the Washington Huskies.

Jordan Bell’s decision to pick Oregon on Tuesday looks all the more important right now, because Gordon’s decision to take the Ducks out of his top three (it wasn’t a surprising decision at all) means that Bell is most likely the final elite recruit in the Ducks class. In fact, Oregon might also be done with recruiting in 2013 after securing their fourth commitment in the class from three-star in-state SG A.J. Lapray.

By the way, Bell has signed his letter of intent.

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At this point in time, Oregon is considered the favorite to land Bell, but it all depends on how this official trip goes for the top ten California recruit. He took his official to Eugene late last month, and things are pretty even overall for the 6’7″, 200 pound PF.

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Ranked just outside of the top 100 by most recruiting services, Bell is one of just three offered prospects to still be on the board. Aaron Gordon is one of the others, and the Ducks will certainly have a harder time landing him over the likes of Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, and Washington. Former Louisville commit Austin Pope is the third (three offers, Utah the only other major one) but is a one-star prospect.

Jordan Bell has also received offers from Nevada, Memphis, USC, Texas, and Washington in his recruitment. One of the reasons why he is so highly rated (top 25 PF in 2013) is because he has an excellent all-around game. Bell is a great rebounder, a solid passer, and he handles the ball as well as any big man in the state. The elite four-star prospect is an insane shot-blocker, but he does have lapses on defense. Offensively, Bell isn’t a good shooter and needs to develop some more consistency on that end.

Overall, Oregon is in a great position to land Bell but so is Auburn. This visit gives the Tigers the last word heading into Monday’s decision, and this is tight race between both teams. If Dana Altman and the Ducks are not able to land the the likely early signee, then Oregon will likely go without a top 125 recruit in the 2013 class unless if they can land Gordon which is going to be an extremely difficult feat for the program.

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The Wildcats, Washington Huskies, and Oregon Ducks are viewed as the teams in the best position to land him, while the Kansas Jayhawks, California Golden Bears, and Stanford Cardinal are right in the thick of it as well. John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats are always a threat as well, and he has an official visit scheduled with those Wildcats next month, after Coach Cal visited Gordon in September.

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

The high-energy forward has been compared to some top talents such as Blake Griffin, and the brother of former UCLA Bruins star Drew Gordon has already made a huge name for himself in the basketball world. The likely NBA-bound Oakland Soldiers star has been a monster on the AAU circuit for one of the top teams out there, and he is arguably the best dunk-artist in high school hoops.

Last weekend was Gordon’s official visit to the Kansas Jayhawks, with Bill Self coming on strong recently. He received a big five-star commit just five days ago in small forward Wayne Selden and is looking to add another top talent in this class.

Gordon took an official visit to the Oregon Ducks early this month and visited UW in late September, but there is more to the picture than just his top three schools of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. Most recruiting analysts believe that the Huskies have the best chance at landing the supremely talented forward, and it’s tough not to think that they are the favorites. They were able to pick up a key commitment from top shooting guard Darin Johnson last week. Johnson actually had Oregon has his leader coming into an official visit to Seattle a week earlier, but the 105th-ranked recruit in the 247Composite ended up committing to the rivals.

But Washington is definitely going to have a tougher time bringing in Gordon, because Lorenzo Romar has to deal with other top recruiters such as Sean Miller and Self. Those two have done an excellent job in coming into the picture for Gordon, but things are as wide open as it gets at this point.

For some reason, I can’t help but think that Gordon will stay in the Pac-12 with the only team outside the conference having a good shot at landing him being KU. Kentucky has a key official visit set and, again, always seems to have a good shot with Calipari leading the way, but UK has already added so many top recruits at the forward position and is continuing to pursue more.

At this point, Washington has the best shot at landing him but by an extremely little margin. This visit to Arizona is likely the most crucial visit for Gordon’s recruitment, because it could very well decide the balance between which Pac-12 recruiting power has the upper hand in his recruitment. Oregon has steadily been the third wheel among the teams out west in the picture, so this visit mostly affects the Wildcats and Huskies.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.