Win totals increasing each year Ed Cooley has been at PC – 15 to 19 to 23 – a trip to the NIT Quarterfinals followed by a Big East Tournament Championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament 2nd round, updated athletic facilities, scoring and minutes holes at the guard position. That all sounds really good for the Friars’ prospects of bringing in an impact guard or two this Spring as Ed Cooley mentioned was his plan. It sounds really good except they haven’t been able to sell any of the available guards on coming to play at Providence.
First it was Devonte’ Graham.
Graham’s situation was unique in that he couldn’t speak to coaches until he got his release from Appalachian State which didn’t come until early April 2014. While Cooley had made his interest clear to Brewster Academy coach, Jason Smith, it’s hard to compete when Kansas comes calling.
2014 PG recruit Tarin Smith and the St. Anthony Friars won a close game earlier this week as they traveled to Long Island Lutheran who features 2016 PG Devonte Green. Green, the St. Mary’s transfer, had 22 points in the loss. Green is the younger brother of former UNC player and current NBA player, Danny Green. Tarin Smith led St. Anthony in scoring with 14 points and was the only Friar in double figures.
The National Prep School Invitational was last weekend at Rhode Island College. It was unfortunate timing for PC to hit the road as this is always a great event with elite talent and many PC targets played. The PC staff did make it on Sunday after returning home from Chicago and they reportedly watched Brewster Academy (Devonte Graham ’14, Donovan Mitchell ’15, Jarred Reuter ’15) take on Vermont Academy (Christian Vital ’16). For a great recap of the event, here is FriarBasketball.com’s article from Monday. This is a great recap with highlights by Cox Sports.
Here’s a great highlight tape of Jalen Adams via @CoreyPorterTV:
I’ll continue to beat the drum for Tarin Smith (2014). This team needs guards and they will undoubtedly take at least 2 more for 2014. I think Smith is the exact kind of guy that would fit in at PC. He just keeps getting better and seems like a very high character kid. He is #1 in his class academically at St. Anthony and has drawn praise from his legendary coach, Bob Hurley.This is also a great read from the Hudson Reporter on Smith.
On Tuesday night, Isaiah Briscoe announced that he is adding Providence and Gonzaga to his list which already includes Arizona, Baylor, UConn, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Pitt, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Syracuse, UCLA, UVA. Did the list give away that this kid is a special talent? He’s currently ranked as the 20th best player in the entire class of 2015 and the 7th best Shooting Guard in the class by ESPN and Briscoe is ranked 17th overall in the class by Rivals. He does have good enough ball skills to play PG at the next level but his primary value is as a scorer. Eric Bossi of Rivals called him “one of the most explosive scorers in the class of 2015.” Briscoe is listed at 6’3 and 200 lbs and ESPN says he “is physically ahead of his peers…already cut and powerful.” It’s interesting that PC is making a run for Briscoe since they are putting their full court press on 2015 SG Donovan Mitchell but a talent like Briscoe is a talent you can’t pass up on. Based on the quotes from Craig Belhumeur’s article, Briscoe doesn’t exactly seem that warm on PC.
Speaking of Craig’s article, the other PC recruit in that game on Wednesday night at St. Peter’s was 2014 PG Tarin Smith. I’ll continue to beat the drum for PC officially offering this kid. Hall of Fame coach, Bob Hurley, said that Smith is #1 in his class and has already been admitted to Penn and Princeton. In watching Smith play on SNY in the SNY Invitational last weekend, I came away thinking that he would be a great depth/prospect recruit to go along with Kris Dunn and maybe another guard or two that PC would look to bring in for the 2014 class.
Jalen Adams (2015) received an offer from Kansas this week after they watched him play at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield. In a recent Scout.com article, Adams said of the offer “I love it and [I’m] pumped that they are recruiting me and I want to get up there and check it out.” When asked which schools were recruiting him the hardest, Adams listed Uconn, Minnesota, Kansas and Creighton. It seems pretty clear PC is putting all their 2015 eggs in the Donovan Mitchell basket at the moment.
PC continues to be on the prowl for 2014 guards and a new name appeared this week in the form of a Canadian point guard – Kadeem Smithen
More on the 2014 guard front, PC watched Floridian combo guard Richard Lee who seems to have more interest than offers at the moment but the interest is from Northwestern, Alabama, George Mason, Murray State and Virginia Tech. He seems like the kind of guy who could solidify his status as the Spring goes on and teams become more desperate for the services of mid-high major type guards.
PC was out watching 2015 Shooting Guard Arkel Ager-Lamar of St. Joseph’s HS (Trumbull, CT) along with UConn. He transferred to St. Joe’s from Shaker Heights, Ohio and was only recently cleared to practice and play with the Cadets. The 6’6 wing plays his AAU ball with Expressions Elite. Ager-Lamar visited PC unofficially on October 23rd and has interest from a few other Big East programs including St. John’s and Creighton. He also attended UConn’s Midnight Madness the week before visiting PC ahead of theirs.
In other news, JaQuan Lyle is taking an official visit to Oregon this weekend. I wonder if he’ll discuss PC with Joe Young and Brandon Austin?
PC has yet to officially offer Tarin Smith but he is one of the best available point guards left in the class of 2014 and comes out of a legendary program, St. Anthony of Jersey City. I’ve been vocal about PC locking this kid down considering the extreme lack of depth at the PG position for next year.
2014 PG recruit @smittee_ playing in @SNYinvitational championship game at 4pm today on @SNYtv
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