Not much has been heard on the Jermaine Lawrence recruiting front in recent weeks, but that appears to be changing now.
The 6-foot-10 forward from Pope John in Sparta, N.J., took an official visit to UNLV last weekend and heads on one to Cincinnati this weekend, his coach, Jason Hasson, told SNY.tv.
“He said he liked UNLV a lot,” Hasson said. “He loved the atmosphere of the game and the fans. He also thought their style of play fit him very well as they really like to get out in transition.”
Cincinnati hosts Alabama Saturday in the Big East/SEC Challenge.
Lawrence is a New York native and the Bearcats have had a number of New Yorkers in recent years, from Lance Stephenson to Sean Kilpatrick and Jermaine Sanders.
Lawrence recently cut his list to those two schools plus St. John’s and Syracuse and plans on signing in the spring.
“He could be very good but more than anything else, he needs experience, he needs playing time,” New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said. “He needs a lot of repetitions on the court in situations. He’s gotta learn to play hard all the time. When he does, he can be really a factor on the boards, especially on the offensive boards. And he changes ends as well as any big man you’ll find. He’s gotta build up his strength, his stamina and learn to play every possession.”
