Two years ago, Kyrie Irving was the top pick in the NBA Draft. This June, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went second overall.
Is Karl-Anthony Towns, the 7-foot, 245-pound man-child out of St. Joseph’s-Metuchen, the next New Jersey-bred dynamo NBA teams will salivate over?
Based on his ranking — No. 1 in the Class of 2015 by virtually every recruiting website — and slew of scholarship offers at the age of 16, the answer could be yes.
“Karl will be the next one, clearly,” said Ed Bright, his AAU coach with Sports U/Team IZOD. “Karl is a program-changer.”
The Piscataway, N.J. native, a dominant shot-blocker and rebounder with guard skills and limitless range, has over 20 high-major Division I scholarship offers already, said his father, Karl Towns. He has taken visits to Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky and played on the Dominican Republic National Team, coached by Kentucky’s John Calipari, in the London Olympics.
Towns, however, does not plan to let the hype get to his head. He’s more concerned with winning a state championship than he is in awe of who is recruiting him. He has a 4.3 grade-point average and was class president last year.
“The best part is he’s just a humble kid,” said Karl Towns, a star in his own right at Monmouth.
Despite a brilliant freshman season in which he averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks per game, Towns wasn’t a household name in recruiting circles until the spring. He often played up on the AAU circuit, but during the Boo Williams Invitational, played at the 15U level and opened eyes of the coaches and scouts in attendance.
“It was the start of everything,” Karl Towns said.
Towns said he is thrilled to have his name mentioned with former St. Patrick stars Irving, the Cavaliers point guard out of Duke, and Kidd-Gilchrist, the Kentucky swingman drafted by the Bobcats. But before he begins to think about which college to attend, before he can dream of the NBA, he has a sophomore year to focus on.
“You can’t worry about the future if you can’t make the most out of the present,” he said.
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Christ the King shooting guard Jon Sever e recently picked up a scholarship offer from Duquesne, he said, and will take an official visit to St. Bonaventure the weekend of Nov. 9. He has taken official visits to Rhode Island and UMass and said he will likely pick a school shortly after the visit.
Canadian import Andrew Wiggins of Huntington Prep (W. Va.) reclassified into the Class of 2013, vaulting the 6-foot-8 swingman into the top spot of the rankings. He could complete Kentucky’s historic recruiting class.
Elite 6-foot-10 junior Chris McCullough of The Bronx and Brewster Academy (N.H.) said Syracuse and St. John’s are at the top of his list, though Louisville, West Virginia, UCLA and Pittsburgh also are heavily involved.
Iona received a verbal commitment from speedy 5-foot-11 point guard Dwayne Daniel of Lawrence (L.I.), he said, and Hofstra added 6-foot-4 wing Gervelle Kidd of Hargrave Military Academy (Va.), according to a source.
Nationally ranked power forward Austin Colbert of Gill St. Bernard’s in New Jersey added Villanova to his final list, which also includes Illinois, Miami and Seton Hall. The Pirates missed on 6-foot-5 wing Garland Owens of Massanutten Military Academy (Va.) when the senior picked Boston College.
The St. John’s women picked up a major recruit yesterday when electric Bishop Ford point guard Aaliyah Lewis picked the Red Storm over Seton Hall and Virginia Tech, she announced at a press conference at the Brooklyn school.