St. John’s coach Steve Lavin scored his third big recruiting coup Thursday when combo guard D’Angelo Harrison of Fort Bend, Texas chose the Red Storm over Marquette, Baylor and Oklahoma State.
Harrison’s commitment just might be the start of bonanza week for the Red Storm.
Harrison, a 6-foot-2, 180-pounder from just outside of Houston, joins combo forward JaKarr Sampson and small forward Maurice Harkless of Queens as part of Lavin’s 2011 class, which is shaping up to be one of the best in school history.
“He scored over 40 points in about 20 games over the summer circuit,” Harrison’s AAU coach and family adviser, Terrel Harrison told The Post. “He knows where the basket is.”
Lavin, in a text message on Monday, told The Post he was embarking on the most challenging recruiting trip of his career. Lavin is prohibited from commenting on specific recruits until the university receives a signed letter of intent, but sources said he hoped to have three more commitments this week.
“I think it’s pretty impressive what he [Lavin] has done,” Eric Bossi, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com told The Post.
“Clearly he came in with reputation of being a recruiter from his UCLA days, but I don’t think anyone would have thought he’d have this much success so quickly,” Bossi said. “To a get a kid from Houston to buy into St. John’s is impressive.”
The Red Storm are the favorite to sign scoring guard Nurideen Lindsay of Philadelphia and are in the running for California small forward Amir Garrett, center Norvel Pelle of Compton, Calif., and North Carolina small forward Dominique Pointer, who has narrowed his list to Michigan and West Virginia.
Harrison is the ninth-ranked shooting guard in the nation, according to Rivals.com. He and Lindsey would give St. John’s outstanding flexibility in the backcourt because of their versatility.
Bossi said if St. John’s gets all the above-mentioned players, it would be one of the great recruiting coups of all time.
“They’re all Top 50 players,” he said.
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St. John’s is hoping to announce the addition of highly respected, veteran coach Gene Keady at tonight’s Red Storm Tip-Off. Keady, the long-time Purdue coach, is one of Lavin’s mentors.