Sports

From four to more: Kareem Canty opens it up

Kareem Canty isn’t in a rush to pick a school after all.

After a lengthy meeting with Long Island Lightning director Dana Dingle, the 6-foot-1 Harlem native opted to open up his recruitment instead of committing this week, as was originally planned.

“He was getting stressed, these guys are persistent, they kept calling him and the kid starts getting overwhelmed, the kid doesn’t know how to deal with it,” Dingle said. “I wasn’t aware of that.”

Though Lightning coach Abdu-Allah Torrence was assisting in Canty’s recruitment, the heady point guard was basically running it himself. On Monday he changed his number, handing off the responsibility of setting up visits and gauging interest to Dingle and Torrence.

“I’m happy and relieved,” said Canty, the dynamic pass-first point guard who recently finished up a postgraduate year at Bridgeton Academy, is ranked seventh among points guards in the Class of 2012 by Scout.com and plans to prep next year at either South Kent (Conn.) or Brewster Academy (Mass.). “I was gonna commit, to get all the stress off my back. I was dealing with everything, but now that I have someone who’s been though it and knows how to deal with it, I’m going to be OK.”

When Canty trimmed his list to Xavier, Florida State, Seton Hall and Miami, Dingle said certain schools backed off, programs such as UCLA, Washington, Virginia and Baylor that interested him.

“Don’t limit yourself,” Dingle said was the gist of the talk. “He’s one of the best point guards left in the country.”

Canty had seen Seton Hall and Xavier, was scheduled to visit Miami this week, but said he couldn’t make it down there. He was still going to pick a place before changing his mind. Now, Dingle said, Canty will take a series of visits in August and decide before the early signing period in the fall.

“It’s wherever I can get to the next level at the school,” he said.

Canty said Xavier, Seton Hall, Florida State and Miami are still in the mix, especially Xavier, which he came close to committing to during his visit there.

“They’re still up there, but it’s not gonna be as easy for them as it was,” he said.

UCLA, which is looking for a point in the Class of 2012, certainly interests Canty, as does Washington. Dingle thinks the conference would be a perfect fit.

“He’s a kid that would excel in the Pac 10,” Dingle said.

zbraziller@nypost.com