ESPN updated their class of 2017 Top 25 rankings Thursday.
To see the entire top 25, click here.
PC Recruits:
With the Friars getting a recent commitment from a member of the class of 2017 in Javon Taylor, let’s take a look at another member of the rising sophomore class with a Providence offer: Simon Wright.
Providence was the first school to offer 2017 Simon Wright from Minnesota. Wright plays for the Howard Pulley (Nike EYBL) team on the grassroots circuit which is the same program that Providence recruits Alex Illikainen, Amir Coffey and Jarvis Johnson all play for. While Illikainen and Johnson are somewhat recent additions to the Howard Pulley program, Wright has “known Amir since I was in kindergarten. Him and my older brother have played on the same team since Amir was in 1st grade, and he is also my high school teammate.” Coffey is a member of the class of 2016.
Being a rising sophomore, Wright played mostly with the 15U Howard Pulley team during the AAU season but he did play up with the 17U EYBL team for two tournaments including the AAU Super Showcase in Louisville during the final July live period. “I feel my [AAU] season went really well. I played my best ball in July when it counted.” Wright has grown over the last year and tells me he is now 6’6 and 190 lbs and said “I see myself playing either the 2 or 3 [in college].”
Continue reading Getting to Know 2017 Simon Wright
This will be the last of three live evaluation periods in the month of July where college coaches are allowed to attend and evaluate recruits. These three live periods are so critical as coaches can start to really focus on specific targets and maybe even have a new player catch their eye so they can offer and get involved. I’ll be taking a look at some of the major grassroots events that are in this third live period and giving you a list of PC recruits that will be in attendance at each one. This will be a working document so if/when I see a name that PC is recruiting at one of these events and I don’t have the player listed I will add him. Also, if you want to keep track of where Ed Cooley and the rest of the PC staff is during this live period, click here.
Note: All teams are 17U unless otherwise noted.
This is likely where you will see Ed Cooley and the PC staff spending a lot of time because Donovan Mitchell will be at this event. Mitchell isn’t the only one though and the staff will likely be able to go between the Fab 48, the Adidas Super 64, The 8 Tournament and the Las Vegas Classic as the events are all within easy driving distance of each other.
Game times are local to Vegas.
Continue reading PC Recruiting Guide to the Third July Evaluation Period
With the way these July live evaluation periods are from Wednesday through Sunday each of these weeks, I thought it would be best to change around the weekly recruiting updates from Friday’s to Monday’s until these live periods end. To see the preview that I put together and updated throughout the second live period, click here. This recap looks similar to the preview except I give some info from each event and how the recruits played. To see where Ed Cooley and the rest of the PC staff were during the second live period, click here.
Continue reading Second July Live Evaluation Period PC Recruiting Recap
This will be the second of three live evaluation periods in the month of July where college coaches are allowed to attend and evaluate recruits. These three live periods are so critical as coaches can start to really focus on specific targets and maybe even have a new player catch their eye so they can offer and get involved. I’ll be taking a look at some of the major grassroots events that are in this second live period and giving you a list of PC recruits that will be in attendance at each one. This will be a working document so if/when I see a name that PC is recruiting at one of these events and I don’t have the player listed I will add him. Also, if you want to keep track of where Ed Cooley and the rest of the PC staff is during this live period, click here.
The Peach Jam is the culmination of the Nike EYBL circuit and acts as the playoffs. Only 24 teams qualify and there is a play-in game Wednesday to determine that 24th team. I could write up a big preview of this event but the guys at D1Circuit.com have done an absurdly good job at putting together this preview so I would be doing a disservice to try to write anything further. This is an absolute must read for all recruiting junkies especially because, as you’ll see below, there are a TON of PC recruits at the Peach Jam this year.
Continue reading PC Recruiting Guide to the Second July Evaluation Period
I’m excited to finally launch a new site feature: Friar Crystal Ball.
First some housekeeping.
You can find the link to this new site feature on the left side of the top menu just below the page header. Clicking on the “Friar Crystal Ball” link will take you to the main page which shows recent picks by class. Or if you are looking for a specific player and know what class he is in, you can hover over the link and you will have 3 options to click: Class of 2015, Class of 2016 and Class of 2017.
All the players listed are PC recruits and all of the people making picks are PC writers/bloggers/insiders. I want to thank Richard Coren, Steve Hartnett, Danny James, Kevin San and our friend FriarTV for being willing to participate and help enhance this site feature.
In addition to this new site feature, there is a site feature that has was launched a couple months back that I haven’t publicized too much but now that the first July live period is upon us, I think it’s a good time to remind you that the “Where is Cooley and the Staff?” feature is also on the top menu and I’ll do my best to keep that updated as I find out where our hard working coaching staff is throughout the month of July and beyond.
A new name in the class of 2015 for Friar fans is a player who is also new to New England prep basketball. Andrew Robinson, along with twin brother Aaron, decided to do a prep year at Putnam Science Academy this upcoming season. Andrew is the more heralded prospect and he is the one that PC is showing increased interest in. The Robinson’s older brother is former Syracuse guard, Billy Edelin.
The 6’5 wing player had offers from Binghamton, Delaware, Drexel, LIU-Brooklyn, Marshall, Robert Morris, Siena and Towson after his last season at Springbrook in Maryland. He averaged a team high 17 ppg for the Blue Devils and also pulled down 6.4 rpg last season. Since announcing in late April that he will be prepping at PSA this year, he has received interest from Providence and Dayton. After speaking with a couple people familiar with his game from high school and watching some of the highlight tapes (see below), it seems like Robinson is athletic enough to play in the Big East but needs to hone his ball skills and increase his quickness. It should also be noted that Andrew is not just talented on the court. He had a weighted GPA of 4.04 at Springbrook and was the sports editor for the school newspaper.
In the July live period he will be at the Reebok Classic Breakout Camp from July 8th-11th then at the Hoop Group Summer Jam Fest from July 18th-20th.
The other new name is in the class of 2017 and will also be making his New England prep basketball debut this upcoming season. Hamidou Diallo is a 6’3 shooting guard from Flushing, NY. He runs with the NYC Jayhawks on the AAU circuit where he led the 15U team to the Elite 8 at the Pittsburgh Jam Fest during the April live period. He attended URI Elite camp on June 27th and attended NERR Elite 75 camp on June 30th and got an offer from Fairfield while on a recent visit there with another PC target from PSA, Mamadou Diarra. Diallo is young and still growing into his body but he’s a name that will likely become more familiar over the next couple of years to those that follow New England prep basketball.
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