Jalen Coleman Cuts to 6; Planning Visits
By ADAM ZAGORIA & JOHN PAVIA Jalen Coleman,
By ADAM ZAGORIA & JOHN PAVIA Jalen Coleman,
Thon Maker, the No. 1 player in the Class of 2016, took two college visits this week and has several more tentatively planned for later this summer, his guardian tells SNY.tv.
Maker, who will decide by January whether or not to reclass to 2015, tripped to Kansas on Monday and Missouri on Tuesday.
He will head to Duke on Monday, and then visit Arizona and UCLA after the adidas Nations event on the West Coast in August. Ed Smith, Maker’s guardian, said trips to Kentucky and Indiana are also in the works.
As for the Kansas visit, Smith said, “It was a very good visit overall. We had a chance to meet the staff and get an idea of how Coach [Bill] Self would use Thon, similar to Markieff and Marcus Morris. It would be similar to that. He would move him around in offensive sets, but defensively there’s a lot of things he could do with him also.”
By JOHN PAVIA
Special to ZAGSBLOG
UNION, N.J. — Being the only player from the Class of 2016 at the Nike Point Guard and Big Men Skills Academy did not slow Malik Monk down as he continued to impress with his play at the marquee event.
Monk, a 6-foot-4 guard, spoke to SNY.tv after the final session about what he had learned after his three days at Kean University under the tutelage of NBA guards like Kyrie Irving, Michael Carter-Williams and Trey Burke, as well as the esteemed John Lucas.
“I really learned just to slow down as a point guard and become a leader,” he said. “That will help my game a lot because sometimes you’re in a rush and you’re not being a leader on the court, but this helped a lot.”
Isaiah Briscoe has trimmed his list to seven schools and is targeting a fall decision, as first reported by SNY.tv.
George Briscoe said his son, a 6-foot-3 combo guard from Roselle (N.J.) Catholic and the Playaz Basketball Club, is now considering UConn, Villanova, Louisville, Arizona, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Rutgers.
After cutting his list, Briscoe went out and dropped 61 points in a Tri-State Classic Game in New York City.
“He wants to visit Louisville, Arizona and UConn by the summer, but we don’t have any dates set,” George told SNY.tv by phone. “It’s going to be in August.”
Briscoe, ranked No. 20 in the Class of 2015 by ESPN.com, has already taken local visits to St. John’s, Seton Hall and Rutgers.
After initially planning to play summer league with the Philadelphia 76ers, former Seton Hall standout Fuquan Edwin will now join the Oklahoma City Thunder in Orlando, his agent told SNY.tv Friday.
“I was actually looking forward to [the Sixers] too but as of right now with pro basketball it’s a business so you try to figure out what situation is best for you and I trust in my agent [Joel Bell] a lot and I know he knows what he’s doing,” Edwin told SNY.tv by phone Friday. “If he feels OKC is the best fit then we’re going to work with that.”
Edwin worked out for the Thunder, among other teams, and believes they like his game.
DeAndre Kane and Roscoe Smith went undrafted Thursday night, but both will get a shot with the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league team in Las Vegas next month, SNY.tv. has learned.
Kane’s agent, Andy Miller, informed SNY.tv, while Smith’s father, Brian, did as well.
The 6-foot-4 Kane, 25, averaged 17.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 steals last season for an Iowa State team that lost to eventual national champ UConn in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden.
The 6-8 Smith averaged 11.1 points and 10.9 rebounds at UNLV after transferring from UConn and sitting out a season.
Carlton Bragg, a 6-foot-8 2015 forward from
