Chris Clarke, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Virginia Beach (VA) Cape Henry Collegiate School, is down to seven schools and will next visit UConn Sept. 5-7.
Along with UConn, Clarke is considering, Florida, Iowa State, Tennessee, Creighton, Minnesota and Virginia Tech.
Clarke averaged 12.5 points this summer with Boo Williams on the Nike EYBL circuit, and 14.7 points at the Peach Jam. He made the ZAGSBLOG All-Peach Jam 2nd Team after leading Boo to the semifinals.
Reigning national champion UConn is his first visit.
“He likes the academic side of it,” Cape Henry Collegiate coach Mark Hall told SNY.tv by phone Friday. “Obviously, he likes Kevin Ollie. A great coaching staff. Glen Miller is out there as well. The whole coaching staff is from UConn, they’ve won multiple national championships.
“I’m pretty sure a program like that, he would want to play there, but he’s going to take his visits and evaluate that situation. He’ll make a decision for the early signing period in November.”
Hall declined to list any other visits for Clarke at this point, but said his upside is big wherever he lands.
“He’s a combo guy,” he said. “He plays the one through four. At the college level, they’re recruiting him as a wing. Wherever he goes, he’s going to be a high-energy guy. It depends on what program. If it’s at UConn, I don’t see him being an immediate impact guy with some of the talent they have there, but some of the other schools he could be an impact guy. He has to work through that situation.
“But he handles the ball really well. People say he can’t shoot the 3. He can shoot the 3, he just hasn’t taken a high-percentage number of 3’s. He’s a guy who can get to the rim at will. He’s shown that for the past several years and really blossomed this past summer.”
