#pcbb Weekly Recruiting Update 10/24/14

With 2015 point guard Justin Robinson committing to Virginia Tech on October 12th Friar fans have been wondering if Ed Cooley and his staff have any other targets in the class of 2015 or would they just hang on to that scholarship and move on to the 2016 class. The reality is that a coaching staff can never stop recruiting and college rosters can change at seemingly any moment so hanging on to the scholarship might mean they use it on a midyear transfer or a spring commitment. With that said, there doesn’t appear to be any targets in 2015 that Cooley and his staff have zeroed in on after Robinson. Memphis wing LaGerald Vick announced his commitment to Larry Brown’s SMU Mustangs on Wednesday and Vick will also reclassify to 2016. Vick had gotten some late interest from the Friars in August and even scheduled an official visit to Friartown but that visit was ultimately cancelled. Davon Dillard was a name being mentioned in late August but I haven’t heard much of anything about him since he transferred from Bowman Academy (IN) to basketball factory Our Savior New American (NY).

Some of Ed Cooley’s strategy for recruiting in the class of 2016 may have been revealed following an October 5th article by Adam Zagoria in which 2016 Christ the King standout Rawle Alkins told Zagoria that Cooley said he is only recruiting two players in the class of 2016 while he and associate head coach Bob Simon visited Alkins at his school:

Providence coach Ed Cooley also made his pitch to Alkins last Thursday.

His message?

“Just how they love me,” Alkins said. “They’re only recruiting two people in that class, that’s me and Braxton Blackwell. They said how when you see Providence, you see a family, a team that’s working hard. They’re not the most known team but he can promise me that he’s going to come out on top against all those top teams. Providence has a great fan base. They have really good support and they would love for me to go there as a combo guard, point guard or shooting guard.”

Alkins would go on to say he has no favorites at the moment and is open to hearing what all the different schools chasing him have to say.

One the futures front, Cooley and his staff hosted a number of top 2016 and 2017 players for their Late Night Madness event on October 17th including 2015 commit Ryan Fazekas who attended PC’s Madness event for the second straight year. To go along with New England prep stars like Bruce Brown (Vermont Academy), Terrell Brown (St. Andrew’s), Jordy Tshimanga (MacDuffie School), Kimani Lawrence (Cushing Academy), Tomas Murphy (Northfield-Mt Hermon), Jermaine Samuels (The Rivers School) and Friar commit Javon Taylor (Beaver Country Day), Providence also hosted Seton Hall Prep standout and top 50 national recruit in the class of 2016 Temple Gibbs.

Gibbs arrived in Providence early in the day on Friday and was able to spend some quality time with the players, coaching staff and Cooley himself – Gibbs attended Providence’s Media Day – before taking in the festivities and concert by rapper Big Sean. I had one coach tell me that he realizes getting the kids to campus is a good thing but he almost wishes they would come for a practice instead of Madness because at Madness they don’t get to spend a lot of time, if any, with Cooley. The more time a recruit spends with Cooley the better as building relationships is obviously one of his strengths as a recruiter. You can read my story from earlier this week about why an event like Late Night Madness is important by clicking here.

As for recent events on the court:

The New England Hoops Festival was held from October 18th-19th in Massachusetts and a number of Providence recruits played in both the underclassmen and varsity divisions.

“For Expressions] highly talented freshmen Preston Santos rejoined the mix on Sunday and played a critical role in their trip to the championship while twin brothers Charlie and Charles Mitchell were spark-plugs off the bench with their relentless motors.

[For New England Playaz] Jared Simmons is another notable newcomer.

Expressions Elite’s 10th grade team played up an age division and still rolled over the competition. Jermaine Samuels was up to his usual tricks.

This weekend also gave us our first look at next year’s BABC squad, albeit fairly short-handed this weekend. Bruce Brown and Terrell Brown continued to anchor the perimeter and interior as was expected.

Javon Taylor, Mass Rivals – Taylor played up with the 11th graders and continued to show the combination of size, handle, and playmaking ability that has everyone so intrigued with his celiing.

Follow me on Twitter: @pcbb1917

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