The 4 Quarters Podcast: Fran Fraschilla, Andy Borman and the Recruiting Round Up
Adam Zagoria and Josh Newman are back
Adam Zagoria and Josh Newman are back
Cheick Diallo is on the brink of making his college announcement.
The 6-foot-9 forward from Our Savior New American is expected to announce Tuesday or Wednesday, a source told SNY.tv. It remains unclear if Diallo will simply Tweet out or his decision or hold a press conference.
With Brandon Ingram set to announce Monday, Diallo likely did not want to overlap with his decision.
Diallo maintains his original list of five schools — Kentucky, Kansas, St. John’s, Pitt and Iowa State — the source confirmed.
Rutgers has landed a commitment from JUCO forward Deshawn Freeman of Hutchinson (KS) Community College.
I just committed to play ball at Rutgers. ?????
— Deshawn Freeman (@Cant_Guard33) April 27, 2015
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound North Carolina native averaged 19.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 55 percent. He will have two years of eligibility beginning in 2015-16.
“Deshawn chose Rutgers because of the opportunity to play and contribute to day one,” Hutch assistant Jay Cyriac told SNY.tv. “[Assistant coach] Greg Vetrone lived up to his reputation as a tenacious recruiter and was relentless.
By MATT JESSEN-HOWARD
INDIANAPOLIS — Rawle Alkins, the 2015 shooting guard from Christ the King and the NY Rens, is off to a hot start on the Adidas Gauntlet circuit, averaging 24.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists according to adidasuprising.com. His motivation for this success is twofold.
“Winning as a team is important,” he told SNY.tv. “Obviously, we would like to win a championship, but you know personal goals for everyone are to get schools to look at them and get scholarships.”
Scholarships have come in bunches for the consensus four-star prospect. Alkins holds offers from Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (FL), Minnesota, N.C. State, Rutgers, Seton Hall, South Florida, St. John’s, and Villanova. Coaches from Cincinnati, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Minnesota, Rutgers, and St. John’s attended his Saturday morning game against Team Loaded Virginia.
Kassoum Yakwe's stock is exploding. The 6-foot-7, 205-pound
St. John’s coach Chris Mullin continues to work toward transforming his roster for 2015-16 and beyond.
Mullin and his staff on Tuesday will host both uncommitted Burlington (N.J.) Life Center shooting guard Malik Ellison and transferring Pittsburgh small forward Durand Johnson, sources confirmed to SNY.tv.
Ellison is also considering Rutgers, California, Minnesota, South Carolina, Temple and Wake Forest, but with Minnesota recently landing Philadelphia (PA) Constitution guard Ahmad Gilbert, St. John’s could now be in good position to land the 6-6 Ellison, the son of former No. 1 draft pick Pervis Ellison.
The 6-6 Johnson averaged 8.8 points and 1.4 rebounds last season at Pitt. He is graduating from Pitt on Sunday (today) and will then visit West Virginia Monday before visiting St. John’s, sources confirmed.
If the NBA Draft were held today, Kentucky could have all seven of its eligible players drafted, according to DraftExpress.com.
That would break the record of six, set by Kentucky in 2012.
Aaron Harrison had previously not been on the mock draft, but with guys like Jakob Poeltl of Utah, Kris Dunn of Providence and Caris LeVert of Michigan opting not to declare, Harrison is now listed at No. 60 — or Mr. Irrelevant — in the 2015 Draft.
“When someone withdraws from the draft, everyone behind that person moves up a spot,” Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com told SNY.tv. “There were around 15-20 guys who almost certainly would have had a strong chance to get drafted who elected not to enter this draft, which caused a lot of guys to move up. There will be a few international players who will withdraw at the deadline on June 15th that will move up some guys even further.”
Kentucky’s picks now look like this:
