Connecticut Recruiting, Georgetown Recruiting, Louisville Recruiting, Marquette Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Providence Recruiting, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Syracuse Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting, West Virginia Recruiting

RUMBLE RECRUITING REVIEW: SU & UCONN

It was a busy weekend in New York City with the 2009 Rumble in the Bronx kicking off Friday evening and running into Sunday afternoon. Many of the top players on the Big East recruiting radar hit the Big Apple for an exciting weekend of hoops.

Always a terror on the recruiting trails led by their Hall of Fame coaches, Jim Boehiem and Jim Calhoun who have prepared many players for a future NBA Schedule. Over the weekend there were plenty of players expressing interest in Syracuse and Connecticut, lets take a look:

SYRACUSE:

Trevor Cooney, a 2011 prospect out of Delaware playing for Rumble champion Team Final, named his current schools of interest as Boston U, Delaware, Syracuse, Villanova, Ohio State, Rutgers, Texas and Maryland. He has been to Delaware and ‘Cuse, ‘Nova and Maryland and would like to see Ohio State and get a sense for what a Big 10 school is like.

Shaq Thomas will most likely decide on a college this August. However, he is planning to re-classify into the class of 2011 when he picks his new school for 2009-2010 as he is not returning to Mountain State Academy. The colleges on his list are Syracuse, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Florida, Providence, Seton Hall and Rutgers.

New Heights/St. Anthony’s forward Devon Collier told NBE he has offers from West Virginia, St. John’s, UConn, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Seton Hall out of the Big East.

Elite 2012 prospect DeJuan Coleman, who was a high school teammate of Brandon Triche at Jamesville-DeWitt HS near Syracuse (NY) this past year, lists Syracuse, Ohio State, Georgetown, Rutgers, Kansas, Kentucky and LSU, according to Jeff Borzello.

Class of 2011 high scoring guard Shabazz Napier of the NE Playaz told Jeff Borzello that Syracuse, Connecticut, Memphis, Kansas and Kentucky represent his top 5 and he is heading to the UVA elite camp and possibly the Xavier elite camp this summer.

One of the hottest prospects of the spring, J.J. Moore, will have plenty of Big East coaches checking him out this summer. His list already sounds like that of an elite prospect with Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Marquette, St. John’s, Rutgers, Oklahoma and Florida recruiting him. Moore mentioned favorites as Louisville, Pitt, UConn, Syracuse and Marquette. He plans to visit UL, UConn, Marquette and Providence.

Led by Carson Desrosiers, the Mass Rivals avoided the upset theme of the opening night and got past the BC Eagles, 76-74. The BC Eagles missed a potential winning free throw in the last seconds of regulation.

Desrosiers lived up to his previous hype with a very strong performance, finishing well inside and stepping out with a strong face-up game for a 6′10 player. Has the ability to lead a fast break handling the ball and dishing off for a lay-up. Very versatile for a young big man.

Earlier this week in anticipation of the Rumble, Desrosiers updated NBE on his recruitment, including filling us in about a couple visits from last month.

“I visited Purdue about a month and a half back and Marquette the day after,” said Desrosiers. “I enjoyed both. The campuses were at the opposite ends of the spectrum, with Purdue being in a college town and Marquette being in the city.”

The Boilermakers and Golden Eagles join Arizona State, UNLV, Stanford, Georgia Tech and Big East schools Syracuse and Providence to form his top eight schools, but he indicated more schools are still coming after him, which on Saturday he told NBE Florida was a new school entering the mix.

Class of 2011 star Michael Gilchrist, the eventual Rumble MVP, rattled off a school list of Villanova, Memphis, Indiana, Georgetown, Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville and Seton Hall on Friday night.
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CONNECTICUT

Following a big win for the Gauchos, Doron Lamb would tell NBE that Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, St. John’s, Connecticut, Louisville, Arizona, UCLA and Rutgers were schools in the mix. He has visited Louisville and plans to see Kentucky, Kansas and Oklahoma in the relatively near future.

Another player in the class of 2012 that is getting some strong college interest already is Alex Murphy. The younger brother of Florida-bound Erik Murphy and son of former Big East player Jay Murphy of Boston College, young Alex told NBE he already hears from Florida, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Rutgers, Boston College, Providence, Arizona and Connecticut.

Russ Smith and the Juice All-Stars played well again, following up the win over NJ ABC with a late comeback to defeat Team Odom LA. His school list is a long one and has plenty of time to sort things out as he moves to South Kent for next season. The schools mentioned today were Notre Dame, St. John’s, Connecticut, Louisville, Providence, Seton Hall, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Stanford, South Carolina, Central Florida, South Florida, LaSalle, George Mason and VCU.

Keala King of Cali Supreme, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who attends Dominguez High in Compton (CA) plans visits to Cal and Stanford and also has offers from Arizona, Washington, Georgia Tech, Connecticut, Kentucky and Oregon State. King was VERY impressive all weekend and left a very positive impression with his play.

Another of the New Heights/St. Anthony’s big men is Ashton Pankey, who will take the advice of his legendary high school coach Bob Hurley and hit several camps this summer for more exposure. From the Big East, the power forward counts offers from Providence, West Virginia and St. John’s with UConn and Pitt looking.

The other New Heights/St. Anthony’s frontline forward, Devon Collier told NBE he has offers from West Virginia, St. John’s, UConn, Pitt, Syracuse and Seton Hall out of the Big East.

Class of 2011 high scoring guard Shabazz Napier of the NE Playaz told Jeff Borzello that Syracuse, Connecticut, Memphis, Kansas and Kentucky represent his top 5 and he is heading to the UVA elite camp and possibly the Xavier elite camp this summer.

One of the hottest prospects of the spring, J.J. Moore, will have plenty of Big East coaches checking him out this summer. His list already sounds like that of an elite prospect with Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Marquette, St. John’s, Rutgers, Oklahoma and Florida recruiting him. Moore mentioned favorites as Louisville, Pitt, UConn, Syracuse and Marquette. He plans to visit UL, UConn, Marquette and Providence.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the best player seen Friday by Jeff Borzello was Kyrie Irving. Playing with the Roadrunners, who will have their work cut out for them in pool play tomorrow with Team Florida standing in their way. The boys from down south were cruising past Team Albany tonight, leading 46-11 at one look.

On the recruiting front, Irving mentioned his recent visits to Connecticut and Indiana and he is very interested in visiting Notre Dame and Texas A&M in the near future when he can. In all, Irving said he is considering 10 schools and also mentioned Duke, Virginia, Kentucky and Florida by name tonight.
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