As he closes in on the final few months of his career at legendary St. Anthony’s High School, Georgetown-bound guard Jagan Mosely has a lot on his plate.
ROSELLE, N.J. — Georgetown coach John Thompson III was in Newark last week to watch the Blair Academy-St. Benedict’s Prep game and on his way out of town he happened to meet up with his future guard Jagan Mosely at Newark Penn Station. Mosely was on his way from practice in Jersey City to his home in Marlboro, N.J.
The two chatted for a few minutes and the conversation covered both the 6-foot-3 Mosely’s future with the Hoyas, and how the St. Anthony’s guard could facilitiate recruiting efforts for the Class of 2016.
“He was in Jersey watching St. Benedict’s and we just met up and we were just talking about the future there and we also talked about Taurean Thompson as well, too,” Mosely said after going for 11 points and 4 rebounds as St. Anthony’s remained perfect on the season with a 60-42 win over Bishop McNamara (MD) on Saturday at the PrimeTime Shootout at Roselle Catholic. The Friars (21-0) are ranked No. 4 nationally by USA Today.
Georgetown recently offered the 6-10 Thompson — a New York City native who transferred from St. Anthony’s to Brewster (N.H.) Academy before the season — and then watched him this past week at Brewster.
“Oh yeah, I’ve been talking to Taurean,” Mosely said. “He has an iPad and I think he has four schools [on his list] so there’s competition: Seton Hall, Georgetown, Providence and Syracuse.”
Asked how close the two were, Mosely said: “Oh, we’re real close, since freshmen year we’ve been close. But he doesn’t have a phone so it’s kind of hard to reach him.”
Mosely is Georgetown’s lone commit in the Class of 2016, and he would love to see them add a big like Thompson.
“Because Bradley Hayes is graduating,” he said. “They usually have two bigs. Next year it’s only Jessie Govan, so it would be a big deal to get [Thompson].”
On top of the recruiting discussion, Mosely also talked with his future coach about his role next season with the Hoyas, who are currently 14-12, 7-6 in the Big East and fighting desperately to secure an NCAA Tournament bid.
“[He said] just to keep working every day and to get better,” Mosely said. “If I want to be a lead guard, to work on my ball-handling and decision-making.”
Georgetown will only have one point guard on the roster next season in current sophomore Tre Campbell, and Mosely hopes to see key time at the point.
“I think I’m more of a combo guard right now but I need to be transformed into a 1 I think,” he said.
Legendary St. Anthony’s coach Bob Hurley believes Mosely can sometimes be “too good of a teammate when he actually should be the go-to guy at times.”
“He’s highly athletic, can finish at the rim, can make the 3 so that you have to actually guard him out there and he’s very strong,” Hurley said of Mosely, who is averaging 13.5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
As for Mosely’s future at Georgetown, Hurley said: “He’s gotta be a combo now. He knows how to play so I think he can play both positions. I think he’ll wind up playing more 1 in college, but it’s hard on this team because our strength is all these little guys and he becomes the four man so it’s a weird lineup. But it’s a very effective lineup because you gotta guard these guys.”
The little guys include 6-foot senior guard Juvaris Hayes, 6-foot junior guard RJ Cole, 5-11 senior guard Asante Gist (Eastern Kentucky), 6-1 senior guard Shyquan Gibbs (NJIT) and 6-3 senior guard Jaleel Lord (Merrimack).
So far that guard-dominated lineup hasn’t lost a game all season, but you wouldn’t know it by Hurley’s behavior on the sidelines at times. With the Friars up 24 points and 4 seconds left in the second quarter on Saturday, he was furious at a couple of his players for not executing a play properly.
That’s how you get into the Naismith Hall of Fame and get to be more than 1,000 games over .500 for your career.
“Coach said the focus is to be undefeated in the state tournament, that’s the only time we want to be undefeated,” Mosely said.
Some observers criticize St. Anthony’s for not playing the top national opponents — like Montverde Academy, Findlay Prep, Huntington Prep, Oak Hill Academy, etc. — and instead playing a regular diet of New Jersey teams with the occasional holiday tournament or out-of-state opponent.
Asked if would have liked to play some tougher opponents, Mosely said; “Of course, everyone loves playing against competition. You can measure yourself and see how good you really are but at the end of the day we’re just playing teams in New Jersey to win the TOC.”
St. Anthony’s is ranked No. 1 in New Jersey and remains the favorite to win an 11th TOC title when they tip off the state tournament on March 3. Their biggest test is expected to come in the Non-Public B state final — likely against either St. Patrick’s or Roselle Catholic — on March 8.
“If we lost in the season it wouldn’t be the end of the world,” Mosely said. “We just want to be undefeated in the state tournament.”
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