NEW YORK — Playing in front of some 50 credentialed NBA personnel, Nick Richards has been impressive during the first two days of Under Armour Elite 24 practices.
“[Thursday] was better, I could’ve done better [Friday] but now I just gotta get ready for the main game,” the 6-foot-11 Richards out of St. Patrick’s High School told SNY.tv of Saturday’s nationally televised contest (ESPNU, 7:30).
Richards competed on the Nike EYBL circuit with Expressions Elite but wanted to play in the Under Armour game for something new.
“I wanted to represent my hometown New York,” Richards said. “I just wanted to play in a different event, a different environment.”
Nike sent 12 of its top players to the Bahamas this week to compete with the Under Armour game, but Richards said they didn’t speak to him about playing in a competing event.
“They didn’t say anything to me,” he said.
On the recruiting front, Richards says he’s focusing on the same five schools — Kentucky, Syracuse, UConn, Arizona, Indiana — and is in no rush to make a decision.
“Whenever the time is right, I’ll pick a school,” he said Friday. “The same top five schools are working the hardest.”
He added: “I probably will take official visits before the season starts.”
Richards recently told SNY.tv last week that Kentucky coach John Calipari speaks with his family once or twice a week, and that he hopes to visit the campus at some point.
Calipari visited Richards twice this year at St. Patrick’s, a school where the Kentucky coach has found a lot of success. The Wildcats snagged guards Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Dakari Johnson from the New Jersey Catholic powerhouse that also produced former Duke star Kyrie Irving.
“They don’t call me, they call me family,” he said. “They can make me better as a person. They can make me better in basketball and my overall personality as a person, to be honest.”
As for Syracuse, they have been pressing hard to get him into their 2-3 zone.
“They call my family every now and then,” he said. “I don’t really know what they talk about. They probably talk about the same stuff.”
UConn has produced its share of NBA big men, and likely pitches that to Richards.
“It’s basically the same for everybody,” he said.
On Arizona, Richards like assistant Emmanuel “Book” Richardson.
“Yeah, Book keeps it real with me,” he said. “He’s probably the only coach out of all of them that keeps it the most real with me.”
As for Indiana, he said, “Honestly, I like every school right now. I see every one of them could make me better as a basketball player.”
A decision will come when he’s ready.
“Whenever me and my family make a decision, weigh all the options, that’s when I’ll decide,” he said.
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