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ZAG’S PRIMETIME RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

Adam Zagoria spent Friday night at the Primetime Shootout at the RAC on the Rutgers campus. Zags filled us in on some of the recruiting developments of several Big East targets. Read more below to see who Samardo Samuels hopes joins him at Louisville. Zags also updates the recruiting situation of a pair of Oak Hill standouts as well as getting an update on Keith ‘Tiny’ Gallon whose recruitment has taken a turn with John Brady out at LSU.

You can also check Adam’s blog, Zagsblog for more updates on the action. He talked with Mike Rosario on his All-American honors and reviews St. Benedict’s 68-62 win over St. Patrick. His Primetime Shootout Notes also indicated the Rutgers staff was on hand for St. Anthony’s 71-33 win over John Carroll (MD) where Rosario scored 32. Pitt’s Jamie Dixon was also in the building Watching Travon Woodall and other potential targets.

Adam Zagoria is a staff writer at the Herald News in West Paterson, NJ, where he covers college and prep basketball, football and baseball, as well as the U.S. Open tennis tournament. He also has two popular books published: She’s Got Handle and Ultimate: The First Four Decades on Ultimate Frisbee.

By ADAM ZAGORIA

SAMUELS HOPING FOR ‘REKE
Samardo Samuels is still hoping Tyreke Evans will join him at Louisville
next year.

“I’m still working on it,” Samuels said after scoring 30 points to earn MVP
honors in St. Benedict’s 68-62 victory over St. Patrick at the Rutgers
Athletic Center.

“I talked to ‘Reke last week when we played him (at Villanova). It’s all
about him and him making the right decision on where he’s going to be
successful at.”

The 6-5 Evans out of American (Pa.) Christian is looking at Louisville,
Villanova, Memphis, Texas and UConn, and will announce after visiting
Memphis Feb. 23 for the Tennessee game.

Does Samuels have a gut feeling?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I wish I knew.”

GALLON WEIGHING OPTIONS
With the firing of LSU head coach John Brady, the recruitment of 6-9 Oak
Hill junior Keith “Tiny” Gallon has been thrown into some confusion.

“He got fired, so I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” Gallon said after
Oak Hill routed Piscatway, 81-39. “I have to talk to my momma all over
again.”

Gallon, an agile big man despite his size, had been considering LSU along
with Arizona, Baylor, USC, Georgetown, Syracuse and Texas. He has visited
Arizona, LSU, Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas.

“My favorites right now are Arizona and Baylor,” he said.

Gallon hopes to decide by June.

“By the Amare Stoudemire Camp, I’m thinking about committing to a school,”
he said.

OLIVER HAS OPTIONS
Brian Oliver, a 6-6 junior swing from Delaware, said he’s still adjusting to
playing alongside Arizona-bound point guard Brandon Jennings, who scored 25
points in the win over Piscataway. Oliver transferred into Oak Hill at
midseason to improve his stock with colleges and play against better
competition.

“I like it, it’s a great transition,” Oliver said. “I actually look up to
(Jennings) as a player and a person because he is a good person and
everything.

“I understand that he’s going to take the majority of the shots, so you
understand you’re role on the team and everything.”

As far as Oliver’s recruitment, he lists West Virginia, Pitt, Virginia Tech,
Miami, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Cincinnati, N.C. State,
UConn, Louisville, Clemson, Penn State, Rutgers and Xavier among his leaders
and says he’s “wide open.”

“I may take some unofficials somewhere, I’m not quite sure yet,” he said.

JENNINGS TALKING BIG EAST
Danny Jennings, a 6-8 senior forward from Oak Hill who hails from Staten
Island, will spend a fifth year prepping next year.

He lists Rutgers, Xavier, Memphis, Oklahoma State, St. John’s and Pitt among
his favorites.

He said he likes Rutgers because “it’s a nice school, it’s close to home. My
family would be able to ride over on the bridge” and see him play.

He is also friendly with Rosario and incoming Rutgers big man Christian
Morris.

“The chemistry would be good,” he said.

Still, Jennings is in no rush.

“It’s a process,” he said. “I’m going to keep thinking it over, me and my
parents and my mentor.”

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