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

SUMMER IN THE CITY RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

NBE’s Jeff Borzello finished up the month of July exactly where he started it on July 1st, on the campus of St. John’s in Queens (NY). Back at the beginning of the month, Jeff reported from the St. John’s Elite Camp, which was loaded with top area prospects. On Friday, he was back again, this time for the New Heights AAU/Team NJABC co-sponsored Summer in the City hoops event. Again, many top local ballers hit the court, but this time a plethora of high-major coaches, many from the Big East, watched the action.

Jeff spent the time catching up with the players to learn of their recruiting progress from the busy month of July. Many have picked up new offers, interest and have planned some future visits and Jeff worked hard to bring NBE readers the scoop all day long!

Read on to find out who your favorite team is pursuing on the recruiting trail as the latest scoop on 33 players and their recruitment follows below…

10:00 PM (the final) Update:
- Ashton Pankey heard from Maryland just yesterday. Other interested schools include Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Hofstra, USC, Miami, Siena, Fordham and Oregon State. He has offers from Western Kentucky, Houston and Rice, who has been showing him the most interest.

Pankey is wide open, but currently he would rate his three favorites as Rice, Manhattan and St. John’s.

- Mike Poole, a 2010 small forward from St. Benedict’s, missed the action in Vegas because of a sprained ankle and didn’t even bring his sneakers today to give it a go.

Still, Poole told NBE he has offers from Kansas State, Rhode Island, Florida International, Florida, Providence and Seton Hall and interest coming from Duquesne, Binghampton and Arizona. ‘Zona and the Dukes are the latest to express interest.

Poole plans to visit Rhode Island, Kansas State, FIU and Providence.

- Jermaine Sanders out of Rice High School is an impressive 2011 backcourt prospect and he told NBE he has a standing offer from St. John’s and interest coming from Virginia, Miami, Marquette, Villanova and Virginia Tech.

- Chris Gayot is a point guard out of Bayside (NY) Cardozo High School that has garnered interest from Hofstra, Albany, Niagara, Adelphi, Providence and Seton Hall. Gayot is a member of the 2011 recruiting class.

- Oliver Antigua also told NBE today that Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Arizona and St. John’s are the four schools that have really identified 2012 G/F Nkereuwen Okoro as a prospect. Antigua, who coaches Okoro at St. Raymond’s, believes more schools will certainly come along in the future.

- We have not seen much of Kadeem Jack this summer, but today he came in with the Gauchos 16-U squad that showed up well after play had begun.

As far as his recruitment goes, Villanova, DePaul and Florida are new schools showing interest. Others in the mix include Pittsburgh, Arkansas, Miami and West Virginia. He also counts offers from Seton Hall, St. John’s, George Mason and Siena.

Jack would like to visit ‘Nova, Pitt, SJU and SHU, all from the Big East.

- Vaughn Gray told NBE that schools on his list include Oklahoma State, Providence (offer), Houston, Seton Hall (offer), Rutgers (offer), Delaware (offer), Penn State, St. Joseph’s (offer), Temple and Manhattan.

- Jay Wright is another head coach spotted checking out the action.

- St. Peter’s (NJ) Prep forward Ronald Roberts is receiving new interest from Northeastern, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Boston College and St. John’s. He has offers from Rutgers, Temple, St. Joseph’s and Fordham with Penn State, Indiana, Villanova, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Maryland, George Mason, Seton Hall “and a couple others” showing interest.

Roberts has made unofficial visits to St. Joe’s and Penn State.

- Keith Lumpkin is a 6-foot-7, 250+ pound big man from St. Peter’s (NJ) Prep that doubles as a Division 1-A football prospect on the offensive line. Lumpkin has noticed more interest from Providence of late and has seen previous from Seton Hall and Rutgers. At this point, Lumpkin is not sure of which sport he will play in college.

- Kimani Young, coach of the strong New Heights 17-U program spent a few moments with NBE on Jayvaughn Pinkston, telling NBE the full list for the powerful forward also includes Miami and Seton Hall. He also talked about guard Tyquan Goodlett who should see his recruitment really start to blossom in the near future. Goodlett impressed NBE again today with his ability to shoot the basketball, get to the rim and he possesses a very quick handle.

- One of the stock-risers from Vegas week nationally was another of the St. Peter’s (NJ) Prep products playing with the NJ Playaz program, guard Myles Davis. After being one of the leading scorers of the entire Reebok Summer Championship, Davis has seen his national profile rise greatly and with it has come new recruiting interest from Ohio State, LSU and Virginia Tech. To date, his only offer is from George Mason, more will likely follow from those that are showing interest, including Pittsburgh, Louisville, Villanova, Penn State, St. Joseph’s, Marist and Virginia.
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4:00 PM Update:
- St. Raymond’s head coach Oliver Antigua gave NBE a recruiting update on 2011 big man Joey de la Rosa as he has been offered a scholarship by St. John’s and he has interest from Pittsburgh, Providence, Hofstra, Xavier, UMass and Georgetown.

- Antigua also informed NBE that 6-foot-5 shooting guard Jose Rodriguez has an offer from Hofstra with Drexel, St. John’s, James Madison and Fordham showing interest in him.

- Christ the King (NYC) 2011 point guard Corey Edwards has new interest this month from West Virginia and Providence with George Mason, Arizona, Xavier, Villanova and Marquette continuing to show interest along with offers from St. John’s, Auburn and Rutgers.

Edwards also indicated that he will be visiting Marquette soon and is looking to play in a “‘Nova-type” school in their use of guards.
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3:45 PM Update:
- Bobby Gonzalez of Seton Hall is another head coach here taking in the action.

- Jayon James is looking into either St. Thomas More or Lawrence Academy for next season. Colleges he is considering include Princeton, Brown, Penn, East Tennessee State, Fordham and LaSalle, although he said he’s not talking to many colleges right now. He is playing with Sports University today.

- New Heights big forward Jayvaughn Pinkston mentioned Tennessee, Arizona, Marquette, St. John’s, Rutgers and Villanova. He wants to go to Tennessee on an unofficial visit.

- Germaontown (PA) Academy wing Cameron Ayers listed Davidson, Michigan, Clemson, Georgetown, Arizona and Boston University as schools in his list. He has visited Clemson (they’ve offered), but wants to go back for a football game in early September. He also wants to visit Michigan in the fall.
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3:00 PM Update:
Here is the recruiting update date of the day as the 17-U 1st round games completed and everyone was ready to talk school lists with Jeff Borzello…

- Thomas Edison (NYC) guard Isiah Stokley is going to take a prep year and move into the class of 2010. Currently, his favorite is Seton Hall as he thinks he would be a good fit and he told NBE he wants to “help out the Pirates”…also has interest from Siena, Norfolk state and Binghamton.

- Devon Collier has new interest from Arizona and continues to be recruited by schools such as Villanova, Connecticut, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, West Virginia, Virginia, Marquette and Providence.

- Thomas Jefferson (NYC) guard Dave Coley has interest from Oklahoma and Tennesee to go with prior interest from Kent State, Hofstra, St. John’s and Niagara. He is interested in visiting Auburn, George Mason and FDU.

- Another under-the-radar NYC guard is John F. Kennedy point Naquan Pierce, who told NBE this afternoon that he has offers from Seton Hall and Binghamton. Schools such as Manhattan, St. John’s, Jacksonville and Drexel are showing interest.

Pierce visited SHU earlier this summer.

Iit was good, I liked their campus,” said Pierce of his trip to Seton Hall.

- Desmond Hubert, a 2011 big man from New Egypt (NJ) and the NJ Playaz told NBE that he has new interest from Texas and Kansas this summer to go with prior interest from St Joe’s (offer), Wake Forest, Providence (offer), Penn State (offer), Xavier (offer), Florida and Villanova.

Hubert is planning on visiting Xavier in August.

- Shaq Thomas will not be returning to Mountain State Academy next year and is still undecided on a high school. As for his recruiting, he has offers from Providence, Syracuse, West Virginia and interest from Oklahoma State, Florida, Rutgers and Pittsburgh.

Thomas is planning to visit Providence in August. He had told NBE he will re-classify into the class of 2011 earlier this summer, that will likely be decided for certain once a schools for next year is selected.

- Paterson (NJ) Cahtolic 2012 prospect Kyle Anderson told NBE the newest schools to show interest are Virginia Tech, LaSalle and Tennessee. The 6-foot-7 guard also mentioned he has interest from Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Miami, Kansas and Texas.

- Another large update is comign just before 4 PM!

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2:00 PM Update:
- Philadelphia (PA) Archbishop Carroll point guard Juan’Ya Green is in the Big Apple playing with Team Philly. Green has been impressive this July and that performance has led to new (or increased) attention from Syracuse, Oklahoma, Georgetown and Notre Dame. He has offers from St. John’s, Maryland, Temple and Villanova.

Green indicated that ‘Nova is still his favorite.

- Shaq Duncan is an athletic, but skinny big man (6’8, 190 lbs) with Team NJABC’s 17-U squad. He is mostly being recruited by smaller schools, but Connecticut, St. John’s and Seton Hall have shown interest in him at times. He is listing offers from Robert Morris, St. Francis, St. Peter’s, Nebraska, Temple, Drexel and LaSalle with LSU, George Mason and VCU showing interest.

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1:30 PM Update:
John Calipari did not stay too long. He left the gym following Long Island Lightning’s contest earlier, where he closely watched Sidiki Johnson in action, and it looks as though he is taking in some of the Big Apple’s sites according to his Twitter page at UKCoachCalipari where he added a twitpic of the Empire State Building.

For those who do not know, you can follow NBE on Twitter as well. Just go to Twitter.com/nbeblogger and begin to follow!!

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1:15 PM Update:
- Sports University and St. Anthony’s BF Derrick Williams has been solid all summer long. Boston College is a new program showing interest of late and he is also getting increased interest from Richmond and VCU with Virginia and Providence also recruiting him, too.

Richmond, UVA and PC are currently his three favorites. He visited Richmond and Virginia earlier this summer and would like to take another trip to Richmond.

- Malik Thomas of Wadleigh (NYC) High School has new interest from Albany and Siena and offers from Hofstra and Long Island. Seton Hall, Drexel, FDU and Eastern Kentucky continue to show interest as well. He has visited SHU just prior to the July period began and would like to visit Drexel in the near future.

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12:45 PM Update:
- Myles Mack ripped the nets for 25 points in NJ Playaz 16′s victory over Abyssinian. The 16-U Playaz are playing in the 17-U South Bracket here at SJU.

As for his recruitment, Mack told NBE that he is getting new interest from Pittsburgh, Providence and Syracuse. He also continues to field interest from Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Fordham, Drexel and Xavier.

- Mack’s teammate with the Playaz and at Paterson Catholic, Derrick Randall, is receiving new interest from VCU and St. Joseph’s. He has an offer from St. John’s and is hearing from Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech as well.

- Rutgers, Marquette and Villanova have also sent members of their staff to check out the action. Strong showing of high-major coaches today!

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12:00 PM Update:
- Many coaching eyes are fixed on the Long Island Lightning/Team NJABC contest in the 16-U East Bracket.

- Class of 2011 Forest Hills (NY) High School small forward Maurice Harkless tells NBE this morning that he has offers from Connecticut, Hofstra, Duquesne, Fordham, Arizona and West Virginia, among others. He has been to the campuses of UConn, WVU and St. John’s and wants to visit Connecticut and West Virginia, again, along with Syracuse and Washington, who are showing interest.

- Sidiki Johnson, 6-foot-8, class of 2011 BF/C out of St. Raymond’s and the Long Island Lightning program indicated this morning to NBE that he has picked up new interest from Oklahoma State this month and “more colleges are calling my father.” Sidiki mentioned interest from Kentucky, Arizona, Providence, St. John’s and Virginia Tech. He is looking to visit Va Tech, PC and “all the schools showing me interest.”

- Boys and Girls (NYC) High School shooting guard Mike Taylor is here today, but not with his usual team the Metro Hawks, instead Taylor is teammed up with Maurice Harkless on the Sponge Tech Elite squad. As for his recruitment, Taylor told NBE that he has new offers from West Virginia and Virginia to go along with previous offers from Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Villanova, Indiana and Maryland. He is also receiving interest from Louisville, Marquette, Georgetown, Florida State, Oklahoma and Illinois.

Taylor indicated that he would like to visit Pittsburgh in August.

- Pittsburgh, Duquesne and Auburn also have staff represented here watching the action.

- Shaq Stokes, still with Metro Hawks, says that Syracuse, Seton Hall and Auburn are showing the most interest and he would like to visit Arizona.

- Virginia is the latest school to come into the building.

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10:45 AM Update:
- The star power of the coaching fraternity seems to be spread out greatly on this final day of the July open evaluation period. With events continuing in Orlando and Los Angeles and others in Chicago, Chantilly (VA) and here in Queens, among others, coaches are scrambling to get their last look of the summer at their top targets and in their hopes to find an undiscovered gem. Making that lasting impression on a recruit is key, and it looks like the schools are out in full force to do so.

- Head coaches spotted early on included Norm Roberts of St. John’s and Bruce Pearl of Tennessee. Assistants in the gym early included reps from Seton Hall, Fordham, Tennessee (doubling up with Pearl), Arizona, Penn State, Temple, St. Bonaventure and Kentucky.

- Add Boston College and St. Joseph’s to the schools represented and it looks as though John Calipari has taken time off from the family vacation on the Jersey shore to hit the recruiting trail on this last day of July!

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