Friar Basketball

Secret’s Out on Samuels

JermaineSamuelsDime

It doesn’t take long to realize what a special talent Rivers has in sophomore Jermaine Samuels. My first glimpse of Samuels was last winter, when the true freshman lit up a Vermont Academy team featuring a number of top 100 players, including 2016 top 50 shooting guard Bruce Brown. For those not as close to the New England recruiting scene, Rivers has been far from a local power, so when they took on Vermont Academy last December I’d hoped to see them keep it close, while getting more familiar with Brown and Samuels. What I saw was jaw dropping. Here’s what I wrote at the time:

In a performance that was as good as any this writer has seen by a freshman over the past five years, Rivers forward Jermaine Samuels exploded in an 85-66 victory over Vermont Academy on Saturday afternoon.

“Exploded” may not be accurate, rather he came off of the bench and methodically picked apart a young, but talented Vermont team, scoring 20 points in the first half (only 16 minute halves) and finished with 30 in the game.

Not familiar with Samuels yet? You’re not alone. True recruiting diehards have been reading about him for the past year or two. The 6’6 Massachusetts native is regarded as one of the best freshmen in a tremendous New England class, and after seeing him in person for the first time today it’s hard to imagine any is better. Living in the same town as Samuels, I’d read a lot about him prior to today and he more than exceeded my already high expectations. This is an absolute star in the making.

The Providence staff is well aware of Samuels — according to the New England Recruiting Report’s Junior Elite Basketball, PC’s staff is one of the few to have offered him a scholarship already (along with URI and Dartmouth).

It didn’t take long for the secret to get out. Boston College and UConn are among the schools to have since offered, and they were on hand — along with Providence, Villanova and others — this past Sunday at Rivers’ open gym.

The New England Recruiting Report has him ranked as the top player in the class of 2017, while he’s an easy top 30 player nationally.

Samuels is certainly one to watch going forward.

* Picture courtesy of DIME

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