St. John’s continues to push ahead for what could be a gigantic 2016 recruiting class.
The Johnnies have already landed Brooklyn (N.Y.) Thomas Jefferson guard Shamorie Ponds and remain strongly in the mix for Hutchinson (KS) Community College wing Bashir Ahmed.
This week they will continue their pursuit of Thon Maker and Rawle Alkins.
St. John’s assistant coach Barry “Slice” Rohrssen will visit the 7-foot Maker again today (Tuesday) at Orangeville Prep in Ontario, Maker’s guardian, Ed Smith, told SNY.tv. As first reported here last month, Rohrssen jumped into the Thon Maker Sweepstakes by visiting Maker last month. Indiana assistant Chuck Martin will also visit Maker this week, as the Hoosiers and Arizona State also continue their pursuit.
“We’ve known Slice since UK as he was the one who visited us last year,” Smith said then. “He feels that with Chris Mullin being a former [NBA] GM and a Hall of Fame member, the experience in dealing with an elite player like Thon is there. He also pointed out that New York City is a 45-minute flight from Toronto and Thon would be near his brother.
“New York is a major market and he feels if you get a Thon and a Rawle Alkins it would be special in turning around St. John’s.”
Speaking of Alkins, Rohrssen will be at Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God Academy on Wednesday to see the Brooklyn guard, Word of God coach Brian Clifton said.
Mullin will be at Big East Media Day, which takes place at Madison Square Garden.
Alkins recently cut his list to eight schools — Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, N.C. State, North Carolina, UNLV and St. John’s. He has recently visited N.C. State and St. John’s, and hosted coaches from Indiana, UNLV, North Carolina, N.C. State and St. John’s at Word of God.
This week he jokingly Tweeted that he had committed to Buffalo, but that was not the case.
Sorry guys people at my school was playing with my phone ain’t nothing wrong with buffalo great program but no i am not really committed
— Rawle Alkins (@Iam_RawleAlkins) October 9, 2015
