Jaren Sina’s recruitment remains in flux after he met Saturday with Indiana head coach Tom Crean and also spoke with new Northwestern coach Chris Collins.
The Gill St. Bernard’s point guard recently re-opened his recruitment after Bill Carmody was fired at Northwestern. He is still considering Alabama, Northwestern and Seton Hall, with both the Sina camp and Indiana feeling one another out.
“Right now there’s just a small choice of schools that we’re staying in the loop with,” Mergin Sina, Jaren’s father and coach, told SNY.tv Sunday.
Mergin said the Indiana meeting went well but it remains unclear if the Hoosiers will have an open scholarship for Jaren.
“They’re in a situation right now where a couple players might be entering the draft and some spots might open up,” Mergin said, referring to Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo. “It depends on who leaves and who doesn’t. They have two or three guys who could graduate and that might go to the league.”
Indiana has six commits from the Class of 2013, and already has freshman Yogi Ferrell at the point.
Still, Mergin said that Crean became interested in Jaren after watching Gill St. Bernard’s freshman shooting guard Tyus Battle.
“Tom Crean saw him play over at the school while he was watching Tyus,” Mergin said. “I think he’s looking for a guard that can shoot the ball, a combo a little bit. Right now we’re at the stage with Indiana where we don’t know if we’re going to move along with this on both sides.
“We’re kind of late in the game.”
Meantime, Collins spoke Saturday evening by phone with Jaren. Collins remains the associate head coach at Duke — which faces Louisville today in the Elite Eight – until the end of the NCAA Tournament.
“He spoke with Jaren for a bit,” Mergin said. “He called him a couple times. They talked about the Northwestern situation.”
The recruiting calendar coming up includes a Dead Period from April 4-11 and again from April 15-18, meaning a meeting would have to work around those dates.
“I think during the home visit we’ll have a lot of questions for him and he’ll have questions for us,” Mergin said. “We’re waiting for that moment.”
Alabama, to which Sina initially committed in 2011, and Seton Hall, the local school, both remain strong contenders.
Mergin said Jaren was “very close” to committing to Seton Hall before the Northwestern commitment “and they made a decision to sign somebody else.”
With Aquille Carr now headed overseas, Seton Hall now needs guards and Mergin said coach Kevin Willard would utilize Jaren and Texas transfer Sterling Gibbs together in the backcourt.
“Coach Willard was talking about he’s very favorable of having two point guards on the court that can handle the ball and play off the ball as well,” Mergin said.
“Jaren’s done that at the high school level with me and feels comfortable playing on or off the ball.”
FREE THROWS
Roselle Catholic PG Hakim Saintil did not commit to Rider and St. Louis remains his top choice, head coach Dave Boff told SNY.tv….Kentucky point guard Ryan Harrow will transfer to Georgia State, according to CBSSports.com, which would appear to open up a scholarship for 6-1 Madison Central SG Dominique Hawkins. Harrow will reportedly seek a waiver to play immediately, which would give him two years of eligibility at Georgia State.
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