Top basketball recruit and MSU target Brian Bowen to announce college decision Saturday

EAST LANSING – Brian Bowen tweeted that he will announce his college choice on Twitter at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The Saginaw native and five-star basketball recruit listed Michigan State among his five finalists in February.

Texas, Creighton, Arizona and North Carolina State also are among his top choices. However, a number of schools reportedly have made late pushes, including Louisville, Oregon, DePaul and Florida State in recent weeks. The Spartans appear to be out of the picture for Bowen after he visited Louisville earlier this week and enrolled, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo began recruiting Bowen, a 6-foot-7 swingman, before he started his first two years of high school playing for Saginaw Arthur Hill. The McDonald’s All-American spent his last two years at La Lumiere School in Indiana, where he was prep school teammates with MSU signee Jaren Jackson Jr.

Bowen is ranked No. 13 nationally in the class of 2017 according to ESPN.com, the highest-rated uncommitted player remaining in its top 100. He is No. 18 according to 247Sports.com and Scout.com, and No. 20 by Rivals.com.

The Spartans have one open scholarship remaining for this fall after signing Jackson and Xavier Tillman, who already has enrolled for summer classes at MSU.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.