It’s been less than a week since the news broke that 2017 point guard Makai Ashton-Langford was re-opening his recruitment after comitting to UConn in September. Thursday was the first day coaches could hit the road and visit with recruits after the dead period that it put up around the Final Four and, predictably, Ed Cooley trekked up to Brewster Academy to visit with the top-35 point guard. Many Friar fans were getting manic over the fact that no news was coming out about a player who had Providence in his final two schools before choosing UConn but, Cooley left Brewster with an official visit date set for the Worcester native to come see the Providence campus. Adam Finkelstein tweeted out that Ashton-Langford will be on the Providence campus this weekend to take that official visit. Finkelstein also broke the news of Ashton-Langford requesting his release from UConn last week.
The rumor mill had been buzzing that 2017 point guard Makai Ashton-Langford was considering re-opening his recruitment after signing a binding National Letter of Intent with UConn in November. On Friday, it became a reality. ESPN.com’s Adam Finkelstein reportedthat the top-40 recruit out of Brewster Academy was in fact asking UConn to be released from his NLI. The rumor mill began it’s buzzing after Glen Miller, longtime assistant coach and lead recruiter for Ashton-Langford for the Huskies, left the program last week. A reportby Gavin Keefe of The Day indicated Miller was asked to leave. UConn is now looking at the possibility of losing one of their prized 2017 recruits in Ashton-Langford and two current players, Vance Jackson and Steven Enoch, to transfer since the news of Miller’s departure.
Providence seemed to be on the back burner of Jalen Adams’ recruitment these last few months and there was a growing suspicion that the 2015 guard liked UConn more and more. I’m not surprised by this commitment though I am a little surprised of the timing. I thought he might wait until after the July live period but it appears he didn’t want to wait.
Adams and Donovan Mitchell seemed to be two top PC targets at one time but then the focus of the PC staff shifted towards Mitchell and away from Adams. Maybe they had a feeling he was UConn-bound all along and didn’t want to waste resources but in the last year, he has really made a name for himself nationally and has risen up recruiting boards.
Chukwu is going to have the biggest adjustment of any player on this list when it comes to the level of competition, but his ability to block and changes shots at the rim will be his most immediate impact at Providence. He’s very aggressive patrolling the paint from the weak side, but he also utilizes his shot-blocking prowess to make up for his current lack of strength when defending the ball on the block. While he’s going to need to get stronger, he has an ability to utilize his size and length in order to recover with a block — even when pushed farther under the rim than he would ideally like.
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?
pcbb1917.com - Providence College Basketball 