Isaiah Briscoe, the top Class of 2015 prospect in New Jersey, is down to three schools.
Rutgers and Seton Hall didn’t make the final cut, but St. John’s, Kentucky and UConn did and the 6-foot-3 point guard out of Roselle Catholic is expected to announce his choice next week.
Tyus Battle, the top Class of 2016 prospect in the Garden State, recently cut his list to 11 schools.
Neither Rutgers nor Seton Hall made the list for the 6-6 combo guard from Gill St. Bernard’s, but both Kentucky and UConn did, along with other traditional powerhouses like Duke, Syracuse, Florida and Michigan. (For more on Battle, watch the SNY documentary, “The Battle Plan.”)
This is really nothing new for New Jersey’s top Division 1 programs. I’ve covered recruiting in the state for 15+ years and time and again, we’ve seen Coach K, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim and others come in and take the top Garden State players out of state.
JR Inman, a former Rutgers standout now with the Westchester Knicks D-League team, says he remembers the same thing happening when he chose Rutgers in the mid-2000s out of St. Joe’s-Montvale.
Jersey guys like Andrew Bynum (NBA), Tyrell Biggs (Pittsburgh), Brandon Costner (N.C. State) and Lance Thomas (Duke) could have stayed in state, but chose not to.
“If all of those guys had come to Rutgers, we probably would have been like a Top 25 team in the country,” Ingram told SNY.tv Wednesday at Westchester Knicks’ media day.
“So it’s just getting the young players to understand that we have enough talent right here to make it special but that’s the hardest part.”
In 2008, Mike Rosario came to Rutgers as a McDonald’s All-American out of St. Anthony, and was joined by St. Benedict’s Prep big man Greg Echenique in what was considered a huge coup for then-coach Fred Hill.
But within a couple of years, Hill had been fired, Rosario left for Florida and Echenique departed for Creighton. Both ended up making the NCAA Tournament with their new schools.
It will always be a chicken-and-egg type of situation for Rutgers and Seton Hall, especially Rutgers.
Those programs won’t win consistently until they land top recruits, and they won’t land top recruits until they win consistently.
“I think it’s just convincing the kids that Rutgers and Seton Hall is a place where you can get both a good education as well as have the exposure for those who have NBA as well as overseas aspirations to come and further their career,” Inman said. “So I think that’s the hardest part, trying to convince the local products not to have to go far to get that same experience.”
Inman said he believes Eddie Jordan’s presence at Rutgers should help keep the top kids at home — at least theoretically.
“Having a coach like an Eddie Jordan who has NBA experience can help get over that hump a little bit from a recruiting perspective because they can say, ‘Hey, I’ve done it,’ and certainly I’ve done it here,” Inman said. “And if you come with another group of special kids, the potential is there to do it, too. So I think it’s only a matter of time before we get back on top. It’s been since ’70s since Rutgers had some NCAA experience.
“Every now and then they’ve had good teams but to get that consistency you definitely have to start out with one core group of guys and try to build from there.”
With the NCAA early signing period set to run Nov. 12-19, Rutgers has twos commit from Florida point guard Corey Sanders, the No. 10 point guard in the Class of 2015 according to the 247Sports composite rankings, and Kejuan Johnson, a 6-6 power forward from Hargrave (VA) Military.
But Rutgers will need more than that going forward to compete with the Michigans, the Michigan States, the Ohio States and the Wisconsins of the Big Ten.
“In order for a school like Rutgers to get where they need to, they are going to have to have a special class,” Inman said. “I say three to five recruits. Out of those five at least three are going to have to be Top-100 prospects so they’ve definitely got their work cut out for them but it is possible and Rutgers does have a solid foundation and they’re in a power conference and they have all the ameniites and things they need to be that prestigious.”
Jordan knows what time it is and though he tried for both Briscoe and Battle, in the end it wasn’t enough to make the cut.
“We still have to get that real major guy and if that happens, then obviously other kids at that level will come,” he told Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com. “All kids want to play for a winner and they all want to go to where the attractions are. At the same the time, want to make sure we do things right and are diligent and honorable as well.”
As for Seton Hall, Coach Kevin Willard landed a stellar six-man recruiting class for 2014 that was highlighted by McDonald’s All-American Isaiah Whitehead, the Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year.
Willard and his staff deserve credit for recruiting and landing local players like Whitehead, guard Khadeen Carrington and forwards Angel Delgado, Desi Rodriguez and Ismael Sanogo.
And while Seton Hall ideally would have followed up by adding some 2015 pieces like Briscoe or his RC teammate Chris Silva (South Carolina), so far they have not landed anyone in that class.
“When you’re at a school like Seton Hall, I think you really have to focus on the type of kid that wants to stay local,” Willard said last month at Big East media day. “Again, different kids want to get away. No matter what, New Jersey and New York kids, most of them have always gone away but ..I found some guys that really wanted to stay home and we focused on that. I think you really gotta be selective. If a kid’s taking a visit to UCLA, Stanford and Hawaii, you know he’s not going to be a kid that really wants to stay at home.”
This much is certain for now.
Neither Briscoe nor Battle will be playing his college ball in New Jersey.
