Providence Recruiting Update: July Recap, Stock Risers & Wenyen Gabriel

The three live evaluation periods of July are now in the books and the Providence coaching staff logged some heavy frequent flier miles tracking their coveted recruits. Ed Cooley spent much of his time sitting front and center at all Mass Rivals games. Rivals features a number of Providence targets but the grand prize in 2016 is Wenyen Gabriel. Gabriel got the Donovan Mitchell treatment in July. More on that later. Some other Friar prospects took some major steps forward and the influence of newly-hired assistant coach Jeff Battle is becoming more clear as new names are added to Providence’s stable of targets.

Recapping the July Live Periods

July started off with bang because the playoffs of the Nike EYBL were on the docket at the Peach Jam in Augusta, SC. adidas also hosted a similar playoff-like event to culminate their Uprising Gauntlet series. Under Armour, who would host their finale during the second live period of July, held an All-American camp in Charlotte, NC filled with players from their UA Association circuit. Those 3 events alone accounted for over 50 Providence recruits.

The second live period put Under Armour’s UA Association circuit on center stage as they hosted their Finals in Atlanta. adidas had their own All-American camp held on Long Island and Brian Blaney was in attendance there all 3 days and was at every single one of Gabriel’s games in addition to shadowing Tomas Murphy and some of the over 15 Providence recruits in attendance. Blaney would head north from Long Island to attend the Hall of Fame Invitational in Springfield, MA and be joined there by Cooley who was on campus hosting a basketball camp from Wednesday-Saturday that week. There were other events during this second live period like the Peach State Summer Showcase, CP3 Live hosted by Phenom Hoop Report, Fullcourt Press Cream of the Crop Challenge, the Ty Lawson/Victor Oladipo All-American Camp and camps hosted by Hoop Group. Following this second live period Providence made 2016 point guard Tony Carr’s final 5 list.

The third live period that just concluded on Sunday evening at 5pm was chiefly based in Las Vegas with a number of events hosting the majority of Providence’s recruiting targets. adidas had another large event that culminated in a showcase game between Team Loaded NC and Indiana Elite and a championship game between Team Loaded VA and Mass Rivals being televised on ESPNU. Cooley, undeterred by recent interest from blue bloods like Kentucky and Duke, continued to hound the Mass Rivals and Wenyen Gabriel. The Vegas swing is also unique from the other parts of the July schedule because players routinely play with different grassroots programs and grassroots teams can be entered in and play in multiple events around the Vegas area. Rivals fell short by 2 in the finale against Team Loaded VA but Gabriel’s rise to elite levels continued.

Players on the Rise

Aside from Wenyen Gabriel who has exploded in July, a number of other Providence targets have seen their reputations trend upward this month. Here are 6 guys — 3 from the class of 2016 and 3 from 2017 — that are on the rise after their performance in July.

2016 Quentin Jackson

Jackson ran with SEBL coached by his father during the July live periods. Prior to that he was running with Stackhouse Elite on the adidas circuit. The 6’4 point guard from North Carolina had received interest from the Friars early in July and ultimately was offered by Providence last week. Jackson is still fairly new to the point guard position after making the full-time transition last fall ahead of his junior season at Carlisle School. His father played point guard for NC State and spent some time on Sidney Lowe’s staff when Lowe was coaching the Wolfpack.

2016 Kevin Marfo

Marfo ran with BABC and plays at Worcester Academy after transferring from Bergen Catholic in his native New Jersey and reclassifying from 2015 to 2016. His rise really began during the spring live periods in April and most of his recent offers are from May and June but he had a very good showing for BABC at the Peach Jam putting up 12.2 points/game, 7.2 rebounds/game, 1.5 steals/game and 1.2 blocks/game.

2016 Davion Mintz

Mintz is a bit of a sleeper but the more I see of him and the more I talk to people that have seen him the more I love this kid. Jeff Battle watched him during July and Mintz appears ready to move up into some recruiting services rankings after his play in July. He runs with the Charlotte Nets who are not a shoe company grassroots team which could help Providence in that he might stay off some teams’ radars. He’s a 6’4 guard from North Carolina and seems to be the kind of player — both in size and skill set — that Battle covets to mold into a top point guard.

2017 Wabissa Bede

Bede was offered by Providence in early June after taking an unofficial visit to the campus with some of his Mass Rivals teammates. The Friars became Bede’s first high major offer with his first offer coming from New Hampshire. Hmm. That sounds familiar. Anyway, Bede was named MVP of the entire Hoop Group Elite camp during July’s second live session and could be seen running the offense of the Mass Rivals during critical possessions of their championship game on ESPNU even though the more highly touted Makai Ashton-Langford was on the floor as well.

2017 Aamir Simms

Simms impressed me when I saw him live at the adidas All-American Camp on Long Island during the second live period. He is long and athletic but is still polishing his skills. He ran with the 16U version of Team Loaded VA but easily could have played up with the 17U team if that team weren’t so loaded with talented big men. Corey Evans of NY2LA tweeted that Simms is the next player from Virginia to blow up behind other Providence targets Chris Clarke (2015) and Javin DeLaurier (2016).

2017 Tremont Waters

Another player that was impressive in my first chance to see him live was Waters. He deferred early on at the adidas All-American Camp to Ashton-Langford but when there was a big shot to be taken it was Waters who had the ball in his hands. He nailed a jumper to win the final game of the night on day 1 of the camp and there was no question that he was going to take that last shot. Waters, like Bede, is undersized at the point guard position but both players are winners who can run a team.

Recruiting Not First-Come, First-Served

I know I touched on this in my last recruiting update post last week but the quote from Donovan Mitchell’s mother following her son’s commitment to Louisville seems to be ringing true and must be giving Cooley some form of deja vu: recruiting is “not first-come, first-serve.” Cooley and Providence offered Gabriel his first high major scholarship back in mid-July 2014. The Friars were also the first team to recruit him as a small forward instead of the a power forward.

It’s clear that Cooley and his staff have been ahead of the curve on a number of recruits since arriving in Providence in May 2011. Gabriel is the latest to blow up and have the big boys come swooping in late to steal a commitment from the Friars. While Gabriel hasn’t pulled the trigger on a school yet he did receive offers from Kentucky, Kansas and Duke all in the last 3 days. That doesn’t bode well for Providence’s chances. Cooley and his staff aren’t going to mope or whine about it being unfair or wrong that a school can slip in at the end and supercede a relationship that has existed for more than a year. They understand that recruiting is a fluid situation.

A quote from Cooley’s radio show last October about how they would deal with losing Rodney Bullock to a knee injury applies really well to this situation.

“I coach with what’s dealt to us and we deal with it from there. I know our fans can get frustrated at certain things and people complain about certain things but if you complain you don’t believe so put your big boy panties on and grow up…I’m going to deal with what we have, not what we don’t.”

 

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917

About Author

pcbb1917

FREE
VIEW