The Isaiah Whitehead sweepstakes has taken a surprising turn — possibly to the Hoosier State.
Indiana recently offered the star shooting guard from Lincoln High School a scholarship after incoming shooting guard James Blackmon de-committed. The Hoosiers will play host to Whitehead on an unofficial visit tomorrow — as first reported by The Post. It’s the first of what figures to be several visits the highly ranked rising senior will take to a variety of schools in the coming months.
“I’m looking forward to going to see them,” Whitehead said. “They were No. 1 in the country for [several] weeks last year. They have a legendary coach, their fan base is crazy, they have a great campus.”
Talent evaluator Tom Konchalski said Whitehead, a consensus five-star recruit ranked 12th in the nation overall by Scout.com, is “about as good as anyone from the city since Lance [Stephenson],” referring to the Indiana Pacers guard.
Whitehead plans to commit by November, before the start of his senior season. His recruitment has picked up steam lately with Indiana joining the fray of top schools that includes Syracuse, Minnesota, UCLA and Arizona.
While the tail end of the recruiting process can be difficult for prospects, with coaches and reporters lighting up their phones and fans hounding them on social media, Whitehead said he is enjoying it.
“I knew it was going to pick up a lot after the summer and spring I had,” he said. “ It’s good that a lot of schools want me. It’s not limited.”
Recently Indiana has come on strong. Coach Tom Crean and assistant Kenny Johnson speak to Whitehead frequently while Arizona assistant Emmanuel “Book” Richardson and Minnesota coach Richard Pitino are often in communication with his mom, Ericka Rambert.
* Whitehead’s high school teammate, Lincoln forward Desi Rodriguez, a rising senior, landed a scholarship offer from Southern Miss.
Wheels Academy forward Tyshawn Myles and Cardinal Hayes duo Chris Robinson and Nathan Ekwu visited Central Connecticut State on Thursday.
Iona Prep guard Ty Jerome picked up a scholarship offer from Princeton, which joins several mid-major programs interested in the soon-to-be junior. Archbishop Molloy point guard C.J. Davis visited Lehigh Monday.