Recruiting Insider: 9 Local Basketball Players to Watch
Saturday, January 18, 2014
This is Part 1 of a 3 part series on the latest college basketball recruiting news in the Rhode Island area. A huge thank you to Brian Flinn of Future150.com for providing some invaluable recruiting updates and expertise and helping GoLocalProv deliver premier recruiting information to basketball fans throughout the state. Part 1 of this series focuses in on local players to keep an eye on in the coming years. Ranging from freshmen to seniors, Division 1 commits to highly sought after underclassmen, these 9 players are a part of the "boom" in basketball talent in the Northeast United States.
St. Andrew's has a proud basketball history, and the Barrington-based prep school is the first place to look for hoops recruits in the Ocean State. The Saints have at least 4 future Division 1 players on this year's roster, led by Class of 2014 stalwarts Henry Bolton and Bonzie Colson.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBolton is a 6'2" guard with great athleticism and the ability to play either guard spot. He had offers from URI, Temple, Sienna, and Old Dominion among others, but elected to commit to Utah State and join the Aggies next Fall. Colson is an efficient 6'5" player who has the versatility to do a little bit of everything on the court. He was courted by Florida State, Pittsburgh, and Georgetown among others, but ultimately decided to commit to Mike Brey's Notre Dame Fighting Irish and play in the ACC.
The talent pool at St. Andrew's isn't limited to the senior leaders. Class of 2015 guard Chancellor Ellis is a highly sought after shooter and figures to find a role at a major conference school in a couple of years. The 6'5" Ellis is reportedly being recruited by Florida, Oregon State, UCLA, and Arizona among others.
"He’s getting high major looks because of his shooting ability,” said Flinn. Future150 has Ellis in its Top 150 prospects in the Class of 2015.
The best prospect currently on the Saints is only a sophomore, but Terrell Brown is the player Flinn calls "the next name as far as a can't miss guy" in Rhode Island basketball. Brown is in the 6'9"-6'10" range and runs the floor like a gazelle. He's an above the rim player that can shoot 3-pointers and has the ability to score with either hand around the basket. He's ranked in Future150's Top 50 prospects in the Class of 2016, but Flinn believes Brown has the upside to be a Top 25 player in his class when it's time to sign with a Division 1 powerhouse in 2 years.
Another Rhode Island native who is already highly sought after years before making a college decision is Prout freshman phenom Tomas Murphy. Murphy comes from great bloodlines (check out this GoLocalProv profile for more details) and he's one of the most highly regarded freshman in the country according to Flinn. Murphy is in the Class of 2017, but could reclassify to the Class of 2018 if he leaves Prout to attend a prep school in the future.
Sem Kroon is a big man with Rhody ties, and he'll be taking his 6'10" frame and Ivy-League academics to Yale next year. The former Rhode Island Hawks AAU standout is a "throwback" big man in Flinn's eyes, possessing a nifty back-to-the-basket post game that he uses to pour in points on offense. An under the radar prospect, Kroon would have had plenty of offers from mid-major schools had he waited until this spring to sign, but the Ivy League academics and athletics combination was an easy sell for the Greenwich, Connecticut native.
In addition to the players with ties to Rhode Island, there is a trio of elite prospects with Massachusetts ties in the Class of 2014. Woburn native Goodluck Okonoboh is one of the best shot blockers in the entire class, according to Flinn. Okonoboh is Future150's #32 prospect in the Class of 2014 and headed to UNLV next Fall. Abdul Malik-Abu (ranked #44 in the Class of 2014 by Future150) is headed to North Carolina State, and the Boston native is an easy kid to root for because of his blue-collar playing style and relentlessness as a rebounder.
But the most pertinent elite player out of Massachusetts has to be Weymouth native Jared Terrell. Terrell is ranked #36 in the Class of 2014 by Future150 and was heavily recruited by both URI and PC. According to Flinn, URI was the favorite to land his services as a student-athlete but he shocked the majority of national recruiting analysts by picking Oklahoma State over the Rams. The 6'4" Terrell is well developed physically and ready to contribute right away as a freshman, and Flinn speculates that the success of point guard Marcus Smart (currently a sophomore, and a projected Top 10 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft) at Oklahoma State was the selling card for the Cowboys to swipe Terrell from the grasp of Dan Hurley and URI.
The Northeast is quickly becoming a big piece of the national recruiting puzzle in college basketball, and these 9 players are certainly names to know and watch in the coming years.
Part 2 of this series will focus on the recruiting outlook for both URI and PC going forward.
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Follow Brian Flinn @BFlinnFuture150
