NEW YORK — With a slew of high-major college coaches looking on, Jon Severe led Christ the King into the finals of the Brooklyn-Queens “AA” Diocesan finals and then said he planned to cut his college list fairly soon.
“I don’t have a list, I’m going to do that after my Alabama visit [Feb. 25-26],” Severe told SNY.tv after putting up 23 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Royals crushed Holy Cross, 83-61, at Christ the King. “I’m going to cut it down.”
Severe and the Royals will try to get their third win this season over Bishop Loughlin in Friday’s Diocesan final; Christ the King won both games by one point.
In the first semifinal, Loughlin routed Archbishop Molloy, 85-49, behind a combined 50 points from junior guards Michael Williams (26 points) and Khadeen Carrington (24).
“Every team that plays against us plays their hardest,” the 6-foot-2 Severe said, “so I’m expecting Loughlin to do the same thing. It should be a good game.”
Boston College head coach Steve Donahue, West Virginia assistant Larry Harrison and Rutgers assistant Van Macon were among the coaches on hand watching Severe, Williams and Carrington (Check back Thursday for more on the Loughlin guards).
“I’m blessed to have major D-1 college coaches come see me,” Severe said.
Severe is still considering A-10 teams like George Washington, Fordham and Duquesne, but he is now being courted by BCS schools like Alabama, Purdue, West Virginia, Rutgers and Seton Hall.
He will take his final official to Alabama later this month.
“I just want to check it out, see the experience of going away from home, see how I feel,” Severe said.
Severe said head coach Anthony Grant told him “that they don’t have scorers. They’re a defensive school, so they just view me as a scorer and a play-maker.”
Severe said Purdue would come back and see him again, and that Seton Hall recently offered.
Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello said Severe’s “basketball IQ and his unselfishness are what sets him apart from some other guys.”
Arbitello, for one, believes Severe could thrive a la Speedy Claxton at a mid-major program.
“Speedy went to Hofstra when they were in the America East,” Arbitello said. “They weren’t even in the Colonial. He had a pretty good NBA career, so if you’re good, they’ll find you.
“Maybe playing right away and having some confidence is better than going to a major, major Division 1 school.”
Longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski says Severe is a natural scorer who is beginning to work more on his defense.
“He’s an undersized two guard who in the past was a spot-up 3-point shooter,” he said. “Now he’s so much better playing off the dribble.”
Konchalski added that at the A-10 level, “He can score well enough where he can get on the floor.”
“If he wants to play at that [BCS] level then he’s got to play both sides of the ball and work just as hard as defensively as he does offensively.”
