St. John’s lost out on Isaiah Whitehead, the Lincoln High School star who chose Seton Hall last week, but the Johnnies seem to be coming on strong with another Isaiah.
The Red Storm recently offered elite junior point guard Isaiah Briscoe of Roselle Catholic (N.J.) a scholarship, and his dad, George Briscoe, said the on-the-rise Queens school has come on strong of late.
By the time he would get to campus, St. John’s would be thin in the backcourt — guards D’Angelo Harrison and Phil Greene IV will have graduated and top freshman Rysheed Jordan may be in the NBA — which could pave the way to Briscoe starting as a freshman much like another New Jersey point guard, Tyler Ennis, will do at Syracuse this year. Furthermore, the prospect of playing at Madison Square Garden for head coach Steve Lavin is enticing.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” the elder Briscoe said in a phone interview with The Post. “[We] definitely [have] high interest, no question. Just as much interest as [we have in] anyone else.”
The 6-foot-3 Briscoe, a consensus top-20 player in the Class of 2015 from Union, N.J., has a slew of suitors, from locals Seton Hall and Rutgers to national powers Arizona, Syracuse, Michigan, Cincinnati, Florida and Memphis. Briscoe visited Rutgers last weekend, and Scarlet Knights coach Eddie Jordan and Seton Hall head man Kevin Willard have been fixtures at Roselle Catholic workouts. Roselle Catholic coach Dave Boff described the three locals as “very active.”
Even as a freshman, playing for nationally ranked St. Benedict’s Prep, Briscoe impressed Boff. It was the second game of his varsity career and he was a role player on a team full of high-major talents, yet Boff couldn’t take his eyes off the youngster.
“I remembered thinking, ‘I can’t believe how under control this kid is playing this early in his career,’ ” the coach recalled in a phone interview. “His strength for his age, his maturity playing at good comfortable speed [impressed me], as opposed to most young kids [who] play fast.”
Three years later, Briscoe still has that keen understanding of the game, and his skills only have improved — which is why the electric point guard has emerged as one of the most coveted juniors in the country. Boff no longer has to enjoy the playmaker from afar, as Briscoe, who averaged 14 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals last year for St. Benedict’s, transferred to Roselle Catholic, the reigning winners of New Jersey’s Tournament of Champions, over the summer.
“Offensively, he’s as complete a package as I’ve been able to coach in terms of the way he handles it, the way he shoots it, he can finish at the rim, he’s almost unstoppable in transition,” Boff said. “Overall, he’s very, very advanced for a junior in high school, and he’s only going to get better as time goes on.”
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Briscoe is just one of many highly recruited players at Roselle Catholic. Junior power forward Chris Silva holds scholarship offers from Syracuse, Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Rutgers and South Florida; junior small forward Pierre Sarr has an offer from Cincinnati; and sophomore point guard Asante Gist has picked up offers from South Florida, Seton Hall and Rutgers.
St. John’s, Iona, Providence and Seton Hall were at Wadleigh High School in Harlem on Tuesday to see junior guard Lenny Kadisha.
Duke has entered into the recruitment of Iona Prep junior sharpshooter Matt Ryan, his AAU coach Chris Alesi said. Duke associate head coach Steve “Wojo” Wojciechowski spoke to the highly ranked Ryan on Tuesday. Ryan, who visited Notre Dame last weekend, will see Boston College this weekend.
In ESPN’s latest team recruiting rankings, released on Thursday, Seton Hall was fourth, behind Ohio State, North Carolina and Maryland, after landing Whitehead, whom ESPN has 20th in its 2014 class, to pair with power forward Angel Delgado, ranked 45th, of Huntington Prep (W.Va.).
Christian Vital, a sophomore point guard from Queens who attends Vermont Academy, landed a scholarship offer from Fairfield on Wednesday. He also holds offers from Boston University, Rhode Island and Holy Cross.