Shamorie Ponds Won’t Visit Minnesota, Decision Could Come Soon (UPDATED)

Shamorie Ponds won’t take his official visit to Minnesota this coming weekend and could make his decision soon.

“This week’s visit is off,” Thomas Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard told SNY.tv on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-1 Ponds has now taken officials to Providence, St. John’s and Creighton and is expected to pick from among those three.

“Yes,” Shawn Ponds, Shamorie’s father, said by phone Wednesday.

Asked when Shamorie might decide, his father said, “We’re not too sure yet. As soon as I know, I’ll let you know.”

Providence is pitching that Ponds could come in and play significant minutes replacing point guard Kris Dunn, the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year who is projected as the No. 8 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com.

Shawn said the Providence visit this past weekend went well.

“It was real good,” he said. “He would get a lot of playing time. The campus was beautiful, it was nice. And they basically said the sky’s the limit if he works hard.”

St. John’s is obviously the local school and would give Ponds an opportunity to play at Madison Square Garden and in front of family and friends. Like Ponds, head coach Chris Mullin was a left-handed shooter and Mullin would like for Ponds to be a cornerstone of his program going forward, along with recently added forward Kassoum Yakwe.

Creighton offers the chance to remain in the Big East, where he would play for coach Greg McDermott and have the opportunity to visit St. John’s and Seton Hall. Still, Creighton would seem to be on the outside looking in since Nebraska is so far away.

Meantime, whoever lands Ponds should be getting a stud.

“He’s the most improved player in New York City in the last 12 months,” longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski told SNY.tv. “The game is so mental and right now he’s playing with total confidence. He can shoot 3’s, he’s gotta get stronger. He looks like the kind of player who can’t go to the basket but he can.

“He has more shakes than Tom Carvel, more spin cycles than Maytag. He’s a 3-point shooter, too. Right now he’s playing with them offensive confidence. He has tremendous hands. I’ve never seen a player on any level better at guarding the in-bound passer and stealing the pass and scoring layups. He has the best hands since All-State.”

Appearing last week on The 4 Quarters Podcast, Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard compared Ponds, nicknamed Slick, to two former NBA standouts.

“My best analogy is he has a little bit of Kenny Anderson in him and a lot of Nick Van Exel in him because he’s active on defense, he’s crafty with the ball like Kenny, he shoots it like Nick,” he said. “He distributes like Kenny. He has a combination of those two guys. He’s a lefty. You might even throw a little bit of Brandon Jennings in there.”