One of the most interesting questions of the late summer may be this: Where will Rawle Alkins play basketball next season?
The 6-foot-5 Christ the King star may be forced to leave that school and attend a prep school because he played some varsity basketball games as an eighth-grader in Florida, meaning his high school clock in New York City has expired.
“As of right now, I don’t know where I’m going,” Alkins told the Daily News. “I’ve stopped trying to get in contact with (prep schools) and right now I’m just relaxing and focusing on me and my basketball.”
Sources told SNY.tv that several area prep schools were already working on landing Alkins for 2015-16 and why not? He owns scholarship offers from virtually every major program in the nation, including Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, Villanova, Indiana, Louisville, Cincinnati, N.C. State, St. John’s and more. Duke and North Carolina have also expressed interest.
Alkins, who also runs with the NY Rens AAU program, just recently impressed scouts with his play at the Adidas EuroCamp in Treviso, Italy.
According to the Daily News, “Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello plans on petitioning for a fifth-year of eligibility for Alkins, [but] the CHSAA won’t rule whether or not Alkins can play his senior season as a Royal until its regularly-scheduled Student Eligibility Committee meeting in September, after the school year begins.”
“They stress being a student and not an athlete so they won’t rule on it until September, so Rawle has to make a decision on what he’s doing,” Arbitello said. “I don’t really like the rules; I think it’s ridiculous. You don’t go to school to be an athlete but let’s be realistic; it’s the key component for some people.”
Alkins has said his preference is to remain in New York and play for Christ the King, but it appears as if that won’t happen.
“I’m totally behind whatever he decides to do,” Arbitello told the Daily News. “As his basketball coach, I’d like for him to wait until September to see what happens. But as a friend and somebody who cares about Rawle, he really has no choice but to go to a prep school.”
