Naz Reid , the 6-foot-10 Class of 2018 big man from Sports U and Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, recently cut his list to 10 schools and is only now starting to “get serious” about his recruitment, according to RC head coach Dave Boff.
The No. 11-ranked player in the 2018 ESPN 60, Reid now lists a 10 of Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, North Carolina, Rutgers, Seton Hall, UCLA and UConn.
“His recruitment is just really starting to get to a point where he’s got to start making some decisions on a bunch of different things and really start to look at this seriously,” Boff said on The 4 Quarters Podcast.
“Nazi’s a kid who doesn’t really get caught up in all that stuff, but it is now a time, I just spoke to him [Wednesday], it’s coming to a point where he’s gotta get serious about the decision-making process and starting to think about what he’s looking for in a program. He’s got some tremendous national programs looking at him. He also has got a couple of the local schools that he’s excited about, so he’s just got to go through that list and start trimming it down as we move forward.”
Locals Rutgers and Seton Hall made the cut, while St. John’s did not.
Meantime, national powers like Kentucky and North Carolina are interested but have yet to officially offer. Both schools watched him at the Under Armor stop in New York in April and have remained in touch.
“I’ve been in contact with Hubert Davis at Carolina a couple of different times recently,” Boff said. “I speak to the Kentucky guys on a fairly regular basis so certainly both of those programs are extremely interested in him and have been communicating with me pretty regularly since the start of the AAU season.”
Roselle Catholic, of course, produced former Kentucky guard Isaiah Briscoe, who is now looking ahead to the NBA Draft.
As for Reid, he’s been wowing coaches on the AAU circuit with his ability not only to score, but to pass and make his teammates better, too.
“The thing with Nazi, the skills have really been developed over the last couple of years,” Boff said. “I think what’s really happened is he has combined the skills and just the natural ability that he has with a high motor and it seems like there’s more consistency in his decision-making and stuff like that.
“He’s always had a great basketball IQ. I’ve always said he’s one of the smartest basketball players we’ve had. He knows what to do with the ball, where it’s supposed to go, but we worked with him this year on taking less chances and making more high-percentage decisions and it looks like that stuff ist starting to take shape. When he’s making good decisions and playing with a high motor, combined with his size and skillset, I mean it clearly makes him one of the top handful of players in the country.”
