Five-star center Walker Kessler has been one of the most highly recruited prospects in the 2020 class with schools all over the country fighting for his signature in November. Today, he’s announced a final list of six schools and discussed it exclusively with Rivals.com.

Auburn: “It’s very close to close, great coaching staff, great facilities and obviously a very well-coached basketball team after seeing what happened this year going to the Final Four.”

California: “Coach [Mark] Fox coached my brother, so obviously I know him really well. He’s a great coach and I am really interested in seeing what he has there. I believe in him and what he’s going to do with that program. It’s the top public school in the country too.”

Duke: “Duke has, out of the bluebloods, recruited me the hardest and Coach K has said he really believes in me. Coming from one of the top college basketball coaches, that means a lot. And with Duke, they always change their style of play depending on the players they have. I trust that they would find a way to make it work.”

Gonzaga: “Coach [Mark] Few and the whole coaching there are great. I developed a really good relationship with coach [Roger] Powell when he was recruiting me as an assistant at Vanderbilt. With their bigs, they have had a lot of guys like me that can shoot and dribble.”

Michigan: “Coach [Juwan] Howard obviously has the most experience of anybody on any of the coaching staffs at the professional level. He played 15 years or so in the NBA at my positions. He’s told me he wants to build it up big there and I can be the start of it. When I found out coach (John) Beilein was leaving, I thought I was done with Michigan. When Coach Howard got the job, I thought it was good for him but I wasn’t sure it would be for me. I started talking to him and I really liked what he was saying and how he was straightforward and honest about everything. I really like him.”

North Carolina: “It’s a little like Gonzaga where it’s a big man’s school. If you look at

Luke Maye
, he was undersized for the position but he still won ACC Player of the Year. He was just a great big and fun to watch. I like how they use their bigs in transition and run the floor and that’s what I do well, so I think I could fit into their system. They dropped off for a little bit because they said they were finishing their 2019 class, but they are back on me hard.”

The only visit that is set in stone right now is an official visit to Gonzaga on Oct. 5. He plans to take an unofficial visit to Auburn and official visits to California, Duke, Michigan and North Carolina.