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Recruiting Rankings: July 17

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With the July Live Period in full swing, we’ve expanded our rankings to ten players for this week.

Kevin Farrahar’s Recruiting Rankings for July 17:

1. Donovan Mitchell, Brewster Academy, 6’3 combo guard, class of 2015: It’s going to be a stomach churning couple of months for Providence fans waiting for Mitchell, who has been the top 2015 target of Ed Cooley for two years now. Evan Daniels tweeted that he hadn’t seen a guard dominate a game like Mitchell did in “a long time” after his 28/7/6/6 performance on Wednesday. It came in front of Rick Pitino. He’ll visit both Louisville and Indiana this summer. Kevin McNamara writing “the fact that he has yet to commit poses major questions for the coaching staff” was enough to shake my confidence here. Hold on tight, Friartown.

2. Terance Mann, Tilton School, 6’5 SG/SF, class of 2015: Love that Mann can beat you in a lot of ways — he’ll score, but also puts up big rebounding numbers as he did early on at the Peach Jam. BC’s Jim Christian was tracking him at the Peach Jam this week, and it will be interesting to see if the Friars can get him on campus in August after a cancelled visit a few weeks ago. A lot of upside here.

3. Jarred Reuter, 6’8 PF, Brewster Academy, class of 2015: Reuter has been a tough one to peg. This is a young man who has been a relevant name on the New England recruiting scene for quite some time: from St. Mark’s to Tabor and now Brewster. He’s been quoted twice in the last week saying that Providence is one of the schools most heavily pursuing him. Barring a commitment from someone else over the next month, it would be surprising if PC didn’t make his list of 5-7. Could this be the next URI/PC battle?

4. Braxton Blackwell, Christ Presbyterian Academy, 6’6 SF, class of 2016: A force at the Adidas Uprising who continues to do damage alongside Kobi Simmons for the Atlanta Celtics. Was named to Adidas Unrivaled All Stars earlier in the week.

5. Jalen Brunson, 6’1 PG, Stevenson High School, class of 2015: Reading between the lines on this one. Cooley said he’s actively recruiting kids from his USA Basketball experience, and there are only a handful of them in the class of 2015 (most were 2014 commits). McNamara tweeted about the possibility of either Isiah Briscoe or Brunson. Had heard Briscoe was a no-go, and he didn’t list the Friars when he cut things down, but if you’ve been reading McNamara long enough you know he doesn’t just float names. Keeping an eye out on this superstar point guard from Illinois. Local fans will remember his father Rick, who starred at Temple alongside Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie, and was a McDonald’s All American out of Salem, MA in the early 90s. He was MVP of the All American game, along with Chris Webber.

6. Alex Illikainen, Grand Rapids (MN), 6’9 PF, class of 2015: Timing could be key here. The versatile big man said he’s keeping a close eye on who commits where because he wants to play right away. He’s been a high priority for Richard Pitino at Minnesota. Ranked #110 in Rivals’ latest top 150, released at the end of June. He’s playing for a very good Howard Pulley team in this week’s Peach Jam. He’s put up nearly 11 ppg on the EYBL circuit heading into this week’s finals.

7. Jermaine Samuels, Rivers School, 6’5 SF, class of 2017: 2017s don’t make many headlines while the race for ‘15s is in full force. He’ll grab headlines before long, however. Haven’t seen many more polished freshmen scorers over the past five seasons.

8. Rawle Alkins 6’4 SG, Christ the King, class of 2016: Providence offered Alkins a scholarship earlier this week. Brooklyn native is a top 50 players in the class of 2016.

9. Antonio Blakeney, 6’4 SG, Oak Ridge High School, class of 2015: Blakeney didn’t make Team USA’s u18 group that Ed Cooley coached, but I was told he was extremely impressive in trials, despite not making the team. A monster recruit who can pick wherever he wants to go. Roy Williams recently offered, as did Kentucky.

10. Dupree McBrayer, 6’3 SG, St. Patrick High School, class of 2015: Stock riser who will prep next season. St. John’s is showing a lot of interest.

Craig Leighton’s Recruiting Rankings for July 17:

1. Donovan Mitchell, Brewster Academy, 6’3 SG, class of 2015: Donovan is one of those players who has really exploded during the July Live Period. Tons of high majors are trying to get on board, and he seems to be listening to all of them. Having said that, the Providence staff has continued their perfect record of having a member of the coaching staff see Donovan’s AAU team play every game during the April and July Live Periods over the past two years. Once again the PC coaches were front and center this past Wednesday night as three members of the PC staff saw Mitchell have an incredible first game at the UA Finals in Georgia:

 · 19h

I haven’t seen a guard dominplayers will the Huskies wind up bringing in at his position. ate a basketball game like Donovan Mitchell just did in a long time. 28 points, 7 assists, 6 steals and 6 boards

 

2. Alex Illikainen, Grand Rapids (MN), 6’9 PF, class of 2015: Alex is at the Peach Jam this week with his Howard Pulley AAU team. Howard Pulley won their first game today defeating Meanstreets 57-53 with Illikainen scoring seven points and grabbing four rebounds in 23 minutes of action. The key for the Friars in landing Alex will be to get him on the PC campus during August.

3. Jarred Reuter, Brewster Academy, 6’8 PF, class of 2015: Jarred returns to my list for the first time in awhile after he was quoted several times this week saying that Providence was one of the schools recruiting him the hardest and that there is a good chance the Friars could wind up in his final top five list of schools. This is a prime example of how you find out which players are really being recruited the hardest by a school during the July Live Period. Jarred and his New England Playaz AAU team got off to a really good start this week winning their first two games in the Under Armor Finals in Georgia.

4. Jalen Brunson, Stevenson High School, 6’1 PG, class of 2015: Can Jalen become the second top ranked point guard in the country to commit to the Friars in the last four years? Hey, why not? Ed Cooley was emphatic in the taping of his last radio show that he was going to be recruiting some of the players that he coached on the National U18 team and Jalen Brunson would be a great start. Currently ranked as the no. 1 point guard in the country by ESPN. Jalen and his Mac Irvin Fire team will be playing at the  Nike Peach Jam this week.

5. Braxton Blackwell, Christ Presbyterian Academy, 6’6 SF, class of 2016: Braxton and his Atlanta Celtics AAU team will be playing this week at the NY2LA Summer Jam in Wisconsin. Braxton remains the Friars top target in the 2016 class and he continues to mention in interviews that the Friars are one of the schools recruiting him the hardest.

6. Terance Mann, The Tilton School, 6’6 SF, class of 2015: Terance is a big time athlete who is going to spend time at both the SG and SF positions at the next level. His recruiting has changed recently as he no longer seems like a lock to go to Georgetown. The Friars are now showing serious interest and hopefully he will be visiting Providence in early August. He is playing this week at the Peach Jam with his BABC AAU team. You can see a replay of his first Peach Jam game against Team Scan by clicking here.

7. Jermaine Samuels, Rivers School, 6’6 SF, class of 2017: Jermaine is playing this week at the Hoop Group Summer Classic and at the Hoop Group Summer Jamfest with the Expressions Elite 10th grade team. He is one of the Friars top targets in the class of 2017 and his upside is huge.

8. Jared Wilson-Frame, Believe Prep, 6’5 SG, class of 2015: Jared is another example of a player that the Friars have been recruiting for quite some time who is now moving near the top of the PC staff’s list as the July Live Period unfolds. Wilson-Frame is also playing with the Expressions Elite team at the Hoop Group events this week and stated yesterday that the Friars are one of the schools currently recruiting him the hardest. Jared is a 6’5 SG with a really solid frame and a very nice outside shot:

9. Tomas Murphy, 6’9 PF, Northfield Mount Hermon, class of 2017: Tomas is “playing up” this week with the New Playaz U17 team and is more than holding his own at the Hoop Group Summer Showcase. The RI native remains one of the Friars primary targets in the class of 2017.

10. Steven Enoch, Norwalk High School, 6’9 PF, class of 2015: Steve has decided to shut it down for the rest of the July Live Period to rest an injured knee. It looks like he is UConn’s to lose but the question is what other players will the Huskies wind up bringing in at his position?

Some Others to Watch: (not an all inclusive list)

Drew Edwards, 6’3 SG, Calvert Hall (MD), class of 2015

Kimani Lawrence, 6’6 SF, New Hampton Prep,  class of 2017

Bruce Brown, 6’3 PG-SG, Vermont Academy,  class of 2016

Terrell Brown, 6’8 PF, St Andrew’s (RI), class of 2016

Seedee Keita, 6’10 PF, Vermont Academy, class of 2016

Ernest Aflakpui, 6’9 PF, Archbishop Carroll (PA), class of 2015

Ricky Council, 6’4 SG, Northern High School (NC), class of 2014

Prince Ali, 6’8 PF, The Sagemont School (FL), class of 2015

Montaque Gill-Caesar, 6’6 SF, Huntington Prep, class pf 2015

Malik Beasley, 6’4 SG, St. Francis (GA), class of 2015

Jeremy Miller, 6’9 PF, New Hampton, class of 2015

Mamadou Diarra, 6’9 PF, Putnam Science Academy, class of 2016

Aaron Falzon, 6’8 PF, Northfield Mount Hermon, class of 2015

Notes:

The Friar staff has obviously been busy this week, and will continue to be throughout the weekend. As of Thursday morning, they had at least eight reported new offers this week.

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