It’s been awhile since I last put out a recruiting update post, but that doesn’t mean Ed Cooley and his staff haven’t been on the trail searching for players for 2016 and beyond. In fact, Cooley was on the recruiting trail on Wednesday as he traveled North to Brewster Academy for 2016 forwards Alpha Diallo and Taurean Thompson. Cooley and his staff have also kept an eye South and have arranged an official visit with 2016 big man Isaiah Whaley. Associate head coach Andre LaFleur was down on Long Island on Sunday to take in action at the Shooting Stars Showcase event held at Long Island Lutheran.

Cooley at Brewster

A day after dropping his first home game of the season, Ed Cooley hit the road to New Hampshire. Cooley’s destination was Brewster Academy and he intended to see two players. One player — Taurean Thompson — was at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Saturday to see the Friars beat down St. John’s. The other — Alpha Diallo — is a player that had a breakout summer on the adidas Gauntlet circuit with the Colorado Hawks.

Kevin McNamara reported on Twitter that Thompson, a 6’9 big man from New Jersey, has “sincere” interest in Providence after there was some question whether the Friars would be considered for the suspected Syracuse leaning Thompson. Thompson is the most highly rated recruit that Providence is involved with for 2016 right now and he would fit well with Cooley’s philosophy at Providence of versatile big men. He has a developing mid-range game and runs the floor very well. To date, Thompson has taken official visits to Syracuse and Xavier. He also has offers from Arizona State, NC State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. Joe’s, Seton Hall and Temple, among others.

Diallo is a player whose offer list included just Manhattan prior to the 2015 spring grassroots season. He was excellent with the Colorado Hawks on the adidas Gauntlet series and the offers started to flow in — mostly still from mid-major programs — in early May 2015. He didn’t get his first high major offers until Boston College, Rutgers and Seton Hall came calling in September. Those schools were followed by Florida, Indiana and Miami in October and Utah in December. The Friars became the latest school to offer the Denver native when Cooley tripped to Brewster on January 6th. Friar fans may recall seeing Diallo play on TV this summer when he teamed with top Friar recruit Wenyen Gabriel on Team Africa at the adidas Nations camp. Diallo went for 30 points and 13 rebounds in that final game televised on ESPNU.

Whaley to Visit Friartown Officially

Isaiah Whaley is a player Providence began recruiting back in June. Jeff Battle made the connection with the North Carolina native who attends Evelyn Mack Academy. Whaley and some of his teammates and coaches from Evelyn Mack took in Providence’s Late Night Madness festivities back in October, but Whaley has now scheduled an official visit to come back and see the Providence campus a little closer. Whaley tweeted out that he would visit Providence on January 23rd. The tweet has since been deleted. The Friars do play at Villanova at 12pm that day and when I asked Whaley to clarify the date he confirmed the visit would be “around [the 23rd].” If he is indeed intending on visiting that day, it would mean that the visit would likely take place that afternoon or evening when the Friars return from Philadelphia. Whaley is a long and athletic big man and would provide help defending the rim, though he needs to add strength to be able to compete in the Big East.

LaFleur at Shooting Stars Showcase

Associate head coach Andre LaFleur was spotted at Long Island Lutheran on January 3rd taking in the action at the 3rd annual Shooting Stars Showcase. 2017 Jordan Tucker and his Stepinac program were competitng that day, but my suspicion is that LaFleur was eyeing some younger players from the class of 2018 that were also in action. Kyle Murphy, a 6’5 sharpshooter from Chaminade, also played that day and led the Flyers to a 4-point win over Boys & Girls. Murphy attended Providence’s Elite Camp in August.

Notes

• 2017 Tomas Murphy also attended the St. John’s game with Thompson on January 2nd. Murphy has been to a few Providence games this season, mostly sitting with his dad.
• Providence has recently expressed interest in another 2016 big man. This one hails from California. Robinson Idehen is a project on the offensive end, but has the length and skill to block shots and rim-run for dunks in transition.

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