Eric Bossi over at Rivals.com released his final ranking for the Class of 2014 today. Three of the 4 members of Providence’s committed Class of 2014 are in the final top 90 with the lone member not in the top 150 being recent PG commit, Kyron Cartwright.
The Northeast Hoops Festival was played last weekend in Hanover, MA. ESPN’s Adam Finkelstein recapped the event and mentioned a few PC recruits that were there. On 2015 Cheick Diallo: “[the] combination of sheer size and talent is obviously staggering, but equally impressive is the…motor..as..[he] play[s] tremendously hard on both ends of the floor.” On 2015 Jarred Reuter: “This was as good as Brewster Academy and New England Playaz big man Jarred Reuter has looked in quite some time. He logged major minutes to showcase his improved conditioning, was as assertive as he’s ever been going to the rim and seems to be figuring out how to best utilize his wide and powerful frame to create space and cause mismatch problems.” On 2017 Makai Ashton-Langford: “recently reclassified Makai Ashton-Langford (Mass Rivals) solidified [himself] as [one] of the best point guard prospects the Northeast region has in the 2017 class.” On 2017 Tomas Murphy: “ew England Playaz forward Tomas Murphy wasn’t necessarily at his best after missing time during the high school season with injury, but there wasn’t another ninth-grader who made as many plays that translate to the next level, as he combined jump hooks over both shoulders with rhythm 3s.”
The So-Cal Hoop Review was played last weekend. ESPN’s Joel Francisco mentions some of the elite players in the field. PC recruit 2015 Bennie Boatwright is mentioned under the “Best Shooters” category by Francisco:
Bennie Boatwright 2015, PF, 6-8, 210 pounds
Boatwright is a gawky 4 who is still growing and could reach 6-10. His jump shot is smooth and his range is around 25 feet. He isn’t overly bouncy or quick and he struggles handling the ball against pressure. In addition, he needs to learn to affect the game more consistently in rebounding and defense.
Paschal Chukwu will be playing in the Jordan Brand Classic Regional game today at 4:30pm at the Barclays Center. To see the full roster of players in this game, click here. There are a good amount of future Big East players that will play so if you are in the area, it might be worthwhile to skip out of work and head to the Barclays Center for this one.
Kyron Cartwright is expected to sign his National Letter of Intent with PC today.. The Spring signing period began on April 16th and goes through May 21st.
Devonte Graham has named his final 5 and PC made the cut. He has scheduled 3 visits already and he hasn’t been clear on whether he will take all 5 visits. It looks like NC State will be tough to beat but I’ll never count Ed Cooley out. The visits that are planned so far are to Kansas (April 18-19), N.C. State (April 20-21) and Virginia (April 25-26).
PC received some good recruiting news minutes after the final buzzer sounded in Dallas on the 2013-2014 season Monday night – Kyron Cartwright announced he was going to be a Friar next season. His commitment adds more depth to the point guard position for PC next season. Kris Dunn was the only point guard on the roster and coming off a second shoulder surgery it was crucial for Ed Cooley to have some insurance. To read more about Cartwright’s commitment and some quotes from him, click the links below.
More interesting recruiting news came about on Tuesday this week when coveted 2014 point guard Devonte’ Graham announced on Twitter that he got a release from his National Letter of Intent to App State by new coach, Jim Fox. Graham is now officially one of the best available players left on the board in 2014 after having a break out year under Jason Smith at Brewster Academy. A number of high majors are involved and have already spoken to Graham since his release. Thursday night had Cooley joined by Nebraska’s Tim Miles and Virginia’s Tony Bennett at Brewster for a workout. Friday it will be Kansas’ Bill Self along with coaches from Cincinnati, Florida and Virginia Tech. Graham would be a great fit at PC because of his shooting and playmaking abilities but the competition is obviously stiff. Ed Cooley and Providence has a legit chance with Graham and will likely be one of the teams on his final list before deciding.
This means the floodgates will open for the young man who is the best point guard available for the Class of 2014. The competition will be stiff for the Friars but Ed Cooley is a fixture at Brewster already as he is recruiting 2015 Donovan Mitchell and he and Brewster coach Jason Smith have a good relationship. Cooley will be joined by Virginia’s Tony Bennett and Nebraska’s Tim Miles on Thursday when the trio of high major head men will finally be able to interact with Graham now that he is released. Kansas’ Bill Self will be at Brewster on Friday. The reason coaches aren’t already at Brewster is because the current recruiting calendar has us on the tail end of a dead period which means no on campus or off campus in person contact. The dead period ends at 12pm Thursday.
12:01pm April 10th begins the Devonte’ Graham period for a host of schools.
Eric Bossi over at Rivals.com released his updated ranking for the Class of 2015 today. There are a number of PC recruits/targets within the top 150 but one noticeable snub was 2015 commit Ryan Fazekas. I have a feeling he will be in the top 150 after the AAU season finishes though. He has been trending up ever since committing to PC in October.
The playoffs are upon us in the NEPSAC! There are a bunch of Friar recruits and targets in the NEPSAC and seeing them play in crunch time and win or go home games is a great tool to find out more about them as players. You can be sure that Coach Cooley and staff will attend more than a few of these games over the 3 days of the tournament. Click here to view the full brackets and click here for a preview article from NERR.
Here is a list of Friar recruits/targets that Coach Cooley and staff will keep an eye on:
pcbb1917.com - Providence College Basketball 