The July live recruiting period came to a close Sunday, which means the hard part is only beginning for college basketball coaches: evaluating and landing high school prospects. It was a busy month, and it created several interesting storylines for the Class of 2015 and beyond as the season slowly nears.
St. John’s positioned to land monster class
Steve Lavin and Co. have earmarked 2015 as a big year, with several open scholarships to be filled. The Johnnies are in the mix with several elite prospects, most notably New Jersey point guard Isaiah Briscoe, a consensus top-20 recruit who would replace Rysheed Jordan – expected to enter the draft after his sophomore year – and Long Island big man Cheick Diallo.
Odds of landing both five-star recruits are long. Diallo also has Kansas, Iowa State and Kentucky on his list. But Briscoe is said to be intrigued by St. John’s and the possibility of playing his home games at MSG, and has St. John’s among his final seven, a list that also includes Louisville and Arizona.
Lavin has also made inroads with Louisiana shooting guard Brandon Sampson, Georgia combo guard Malik Beasley, California point guard Tyler Dorsey and Donovan Mitchell, a native of Elmsford, NY, who attends prep powerhouse Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. The St. John’s coach is known as a closer – and we’re getting into the late innings.
National landscape wide open
While Kentucky has virtually owned the top spot in recruiting since John Calipari arrived in Lexington (aside from 2014 when Duke nudged the ‘Cats to No. 2), this year appears to be wide open. Just four of Scout.com’s top 21 have picked schools – second-ranked player Ben Simmons surprisingly is headed to LSU — and many of the top players haven’t even begun to cut down their lists.
One duo to watch is Diamond Stone and Malik Newman, top-10 prospects who have talked about going to school together, much the way Duke freshmen Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones did. The 6-foot-10 Stone, from Milwaukee, has narrowed his list to Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Newman, a skilled 6-foot-3 combo guard from Mississippi, has a long list that also includes Kansas, UConn and Kentucky. At the moment, Syracuse is in fine shape, with commitments from talented New Jersey duo Malachi Richardson and Moustapha Diagne.
Locals stock rising
Several players from New York and New Jersey had mammoth months in July, from Briscoe leading the New Jersey Playaz to the prestigious Peach Jam title to Gill St. Bernard’s Tyus Battle, a rising junior from New Jersey, scoring scholarship offers from Kentucky, Arizona and Louisville, to Mitchell emerging from underrated to highly rated. Christ the King’s Rawle Alkins, a rising junior and the Big Apple’s jewel, was offered by Kansas and Louisville after a mammoth month.
Then are the two New Heights standouts, point guard Ty Jerome of Iona Prep and forward Nakye Sanders of Tottenville, hauling in a number of scholarship offers. Jerome picked up Virginia, George Washington, St. Joseph and Temple; Sanders landed Seton Hall, St. John’s and Duquesne. They led New Heights 16U team to a big month, including the Under Armour Finals crown in Atlanta.