Seton Hall commit Aquille Carr is openly talking about playing professionally overseas next season, which might explain why the Pirates are looking at other guards in the Class of 2013.
“Seton Hall is still my choice right now,” Carr, who has a 1-year-old daughter to support, told the Baltimore Sun in this well-done piece. “But I’m thinking about a lot more stuff that I could advance to. I think I’m ready to make it like my job. If you know about basketball, you know what that means. By the end of the season, everybody will find out.”
Carr, nicknamed “The Crimestopper,” says he has studied the path taken by current Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings, who skipped college to play a year professionally in Italy after he failed to qualify. Jennings ultimately became the No. 10 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, when he was famously bypassed by the Knicks. The 6-1 Jennings is currently averaging 18.9 points and 6.1 assists for the Bucks.
“His path is similar to mine,” Carr told the Sun. “He grew up in a hard city, sort of like mine. I think that was the right way for him to do what he had to do. Now he can provide for his family more. I think that could be a possible way for me to provide for my family.”
Of course, Jennings is 6-1 and Carr is 5-6, and at this point it’s hard to imagine Carr ever getting drafted.
Carr also has a domestic abuse charge on his resume, which Jennings never had. As the article points out, Carr was accused of throwing his daughter’s mother, Treshonda Williams, to the ground last August and kicking and punching her.
“It was a dark and depressing time for him,” Princeton Day (Md.) coach Van Whitfield told the Sun. “A moment of real reflection. It forced him to look at what he had done. It forced him to look at his associations. It forced him to understand that not everyone who appears to be with you is actually with you.”
At any rate, it sure sounds like Carr — the Rivals No. 15 point guard in the Class of 2013 — may never step foot on Seton Hall’s campus. He hasn’t signed his Letter of Intent, and thus isn’t bound to the Pirates.
That, of course, could certainly explain why associate head coach Shaheen Holloway was watching 2013 PG Emmanuel Owootoah of Cordia (Ky.) on Friday night.
The Pirates have former Texas transfer Sterling Gibbs lined up to play the point next season, but could now potentially use another guard in the backcourt.
Owootoah, a Canadian, went for 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals as Cordia lost.
“Seton Hall loves him and will be back with the head coach [Kevin Willard] for regionals,” Cordia coach Rodrick Rhodes told SNY.tv.
