Brandon Sampson, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound shooting guard from Baton Rouge (LA) Madison, will trip to St. John’s this weekend for their Red Storm Tip-Off and will then head to USC the following weekend.
Sampson will visit St. John’s along with local targets Cheick Diallo of Our Savior New American, a 6-9 forward, and Isaiah Briscoe of Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, a 6-3 guard.
“He did an official to LSU, he did an official to Cal and he’s going to take an official to St. John’s this weekend,” Madison coach Jeff Jones told SNY.tv.
Sampson said he’s also considering UCLA and Texas A&M.
Lavin has made Sampson a priority, as he needs several guards to enter the program following this season, when a slew of players will graduate or leave.
“He likes Coach Lavin and he’s built a relationship with him,” Jones said. “He’s been recruiting him for two years now since his freshman year. He likes the idea of playing in a major conference, he likes Coach Lavin and Coach [Tony] Chiles. They’ve done a good job of recruiting him and establishing a relationship with him.
“He’s seriously considering them.”
Sampson also likes Cal, LSU and USC.
“He likes Cal,” Jones said. “He likes Coach [Cuonzo] Martin and coach [Yanni] Hufnagel. Coach Hufnagel recruited him at Vanderbilt, coach Martin recruited him when he was at Tennessee. And what’s not to like about California? Beautiful weather. And he likes the idea of playing in the Pac-12.
“And he likes LSU. What can you say, it’s the home school. Coach [Johnny] Jones, coach [David] Patrick, they’ve done a godo job recruiting him. They have the hometown mood there so he likes LSU for those reasons.”
In terms of USC, Jones said, “Coach [Andy] Enfield has come in and really done a great job in a short period of time, making up a lot of ground. Again it’s that Pac-12 Conference and Los Angeles, California. For a 17-year-old kid, there’s a lot to like, beaches and all that good stuff.
“All of those coaches, St. John’s, LSU, Cal and USC have done a great job of building and establishing a relationship with him, so this weekend will really be big for him to get up there and really get a chance to see St. John’s. He’s seriously considering them.”
Jones says Sampson has a huge upside.
“Man, he could be a program-changer,” he said. “He’s one of the few player’s who’s gotten better and better every year and he’s still tries to get better. He’s a hard worker. Very skilled shooter, but very athletic. PLays well above the rim. Whichever one of those programs he chooses, they’re going to get one heckuva player.”
Jones said Sampson likely won’t decide until late.
“He says the spring but I’m not sure,” he said. “You know how kids are. Eery day somebody’s popping off the board, so you never know. Initially he said he would wait until the spring.”
