re: Basketball recruiting 2014: Updated 9-6-12: Added Mike Thomas

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With the July evaluation period over, Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi can take a step back -- and a breath -- and answer some reader questions in this week's basketball recruiting mailbag.

Australian ballers Ben Simmons and Dante Exum have made names for themselves this summer. Where would they rank in the classes of 2015 and 2014? -- Joe, Los Angeles

There is no question that Simmons and Exum -- who both attend the Australian Institute of Sport -- have made scouts, recruiters and coaches take notice.

Let's start with Simmons. At around 6-foot-8, Simmons is already pretty polished as a low post and perimeter scorer. He has excellent size, good athleticism and a high basketball acumen.

Watching him at the Pangos All-American camp in June, it was hard to come up with five prospects in the class of 2015 who would rank ahead of him if the level of play he showed in Long Beach is something he can do regularly.

Of course, Simmons is still very young, needs strength and has had very limited exposure in the United States so we need to see if he was a one hit wonder or a true potential phenom.

A class of 2014 prospect, Exum created a pretty sizeable buzz at the 17 and under world championships at the beginning of July. Then, the 6-foot-5 combo guard was very good at the Adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas and he replicated that effort at Adidas Nations (where Simmons shined as well). He's at least a four-star prospect and a very conservative estimate would put him into at least the top 50 -- if not a bit higher -- for the class of 2014 at this juncture.

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