Cincinnati Recruiting, Connecticut Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting

SHAQ STOKES TRAVELING FAMILIAR PATH

Class of 2011 Guard Already Has Attenton of Villanova, Cincinnati, others

From New York City to the New Jersey prep schools and into the Big East would not be a unique path to travel. One would only have to look at Villanova freshman Corey Fisher as one that travelled the exact path recently, playing at St. Patrick’s prior to moving on to the Big East. Seton Hall point guard Eugene Harvey came out of NYC and moved to St. Benedict’s in Newark before finding a home in the Big East. The next blazing the same trail could be Shaquille ‘Shaq’ Stokes, a 5’10 point guard from New York City who just completed his freshman season playing for Kevin Boyle at St. Patrick’s in Elizabeth (NJ).

Alex Schwartz recently caught up with Stokes and gives us an update on his early recruitment.

When Shaq Stokes is interviewed, you can’t help but notice the theme that develops regarding his favorite conference. His favorite player is Carmelo Anthony, an NCAA coach he admires the most is Jim Calhoun, the path from NYC to St. Patrick’s to the Big East that Corey Fisher took has influenced Stokes’ young career and a player he patterns his game after is Kemba Walker.

It is still a long way off before this 2011 recruit enters the world of college, but he has an idea of at least which conference his future destination will likely be in, “Yeah, I think . . . a Big East school, [but] only time will tell,” says Stokes.

The interest between Stokes and Big East schools is definitely mutual. Even though he just completed his freshman year of high school competition, Stokes has already received interest from Cincinnati and Villanova of his favorite conference as well as UCLA, North Carolina State and Xavier as well.

He has always had a fondness for another Big East program as well, “I like Connecticut because the coach [Jim Calhoun] is tough-nosed,” stated Stokes, who lists listening and not following directions as his biggest weaknesses at this early stage. No question, Jim Calhoun will cure a player of that ailment quickly, or they will not last long at UConn.

While UConn is a favorite of Stokes’, following the path of Corey Fisher has already brought him to St. Pat’s. “[It] was to follow Corey Fisher,” Stokes said of the reason he left NYC and enrolled at St. Patricks, “because he came out of New York City, . . . [and] it’s a great school to go to.”

Could Fisher’s influence bring Stokes to Jay Wright in the future? “I like Villanova [because it's] a guard-oriented school. Corey Fisher, he goes there. . . . I like the college, I went . . . there on a visit.”

While Stokes is very familiar with Connecticut and Villanova, Cincinnati is another school showing early interest and he wants to get to know the Bearcats program more. “I really don’t know what to say about Cincinnati,” Stokes remarked. “I don’t really know about them, . . . [but] I would like to get to know about them. . . . I know they had a great guard [in] Nick Van Exel.”

For this spring and summer, Stokes is back in New York City and running with the always tough Metro Hawks AAU program’s U-16 squad. You can rest assured you will be hearing much, much more on Shaquille ‘Shaq’ Stokes in the future and very well could see him in the Big East when the time comes.

Alex Schwartz is the President and Writer of Northstar Basketball. Visit his site for complete interviews and other player updates from his travels around the AAU and high school basketball circuit.

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