Friar Basketball

Recruiting Journal

Bruce Brown

It’s hard to believe, but this week will mark the fifth anniversary of Friarbasketball.com. I spent some of this past weekend looking back on articles from the sites’s first few months, and it’s pretty remarkable how the coverage of both Providence and recruiting has changed since 2009. There are just so many more resources now.

At the end of every season we evaluate how we covered the past season and try to come up with fresh ideas to keep the site evolving (the additions of Craig Belhumeur in 2011 and Craig Leighton the following season being the most significant, of course). While we’re always looking forward, this season I am taking one step back, returning to the site’s roots in seeing as much prep basketball as possible.

I’d wanted to start my own site well before 2009, but wasn’t going to do so until I knew I could provide something that wasn’t already available. So I saw an obscene amount of prep basketball — big tournaments, hole in the wall games and everything in between. With the Friars struggling on the floor that’s where I thought the story was and that’s where I aimed to carve out my niche. I didn’t want to just know about Providence’s recruits, I wanted to see all of their future opponents and NBA prospects as well. And I wanted to have opinions of my own on these recruits, not relying on the reports of others. I brought my camera along with me to share what I saw (pre-HD days, but the names in some of these videos are staggering).

With the program’s improvement and the Friars expanding their recruiting reach well outside of New England, the focus here shifted some. The story under Keno Davis and in Cooley’s first season was what was to come — the past two years it’s been what’s happening in front of us. There is no more looking for the savior recruit, the savior is down about 120 pounds and in a suit on the sideline.

Our coverage of New England has been solid thanks to Craig Leighton’s undying interest in the next big thing, but I wanted to get back to seeing as much local talent as I could — get back to the first Brewster Invitational I attended in ’09 when I drove six hours round trip twice in two days to see four teams that featured more talent than I could have imagined at the time (Will Barton, CJ Fair, Melvin Ejim, Naadir Tharpe, Cleveland Melvin, Georges Niang, Gerard Coleman, Goodluck Okonoboh were just a few of the D1 recruits playing).

Since late-November I’ve seen three prep tournaments run by the New England Recruiting Report. Here are some early impressions.

Can’t Miss Kids

The Scholar Roundball Classic on Saturday night featured two of the top prospects in the region — the best two I’ve seen this year in Bruce Brown and Jermaine Samuels. Samuels’ Rivers team shocked Brown and Vermont Academy at this event last December. That was my first glimpse of Samuels, a true freshman at the time, and his performance was mind-blowing. He scored 30 points (20 in the first half) in a big time upset.

Samuels had offers from just Providence, URI and Dartmouth at the time. Six months later he was ranked among the top 25 players in the class of 2017.

On Saturday night Samuels showed flashes of why he’s so highly regarded, albeit in a losing effort against Vermont this time around. He’s a 6’5 wing; a superior shooter from both deep and medium range who seeks out contact at the rim and finishes through it. Samuels looks every bit as good, if not better, than Ricky Ledo did as a sophomore. If a sure thing exists at his age Samuels is it.

Still, the night belonged to Bruce Brown. My first look at Brown was in an AAU matchup between his BABC team and the Mass Rivals backcourt of Kaleb Joseph and Jalen Adams in March 2013. He was an unknown then, took off at Vermont Academy last year, and was outstanding Saturday night. He scored with his back to the basket, was terrific in transition, and shot the ball well from deep. He’s just as effective on the defensive side of the ball where he twice blocked Samuels’ jump shot and deflected 4-5 passes. Brown also threw down a pair of alley oops with authority. He defines non-stop motor.

I’ve seen Brown 5-6 times over the past year and I can’t remember seeing him play a bad game — a rarity for a player so young. Brown very well could be as good as Donovan Mitchell. He’s an uber-competitive defender, lives in the paint and his shot has improved.

Tracking PC Targets

At the Hoop Mountain Classic last weekend Providence offered Brown’s teammate Tyrique Jones — a 6’7 power forward in the class of 2016. He was very quiet in Vermont’s victory over Rivers this past Saturday night.

Hoop Mountain offered a chance to see a number of Friar recruits. It was my second look at monstrous Jordy Tshminga of the MacDuffie School. The lefty is all of 6’10, 250 pounds, but he was quiet in a walkaway win over Brimmer and May which was disappointing after he was very impressive the first time I saw him this fall — a 21 point, 12 rebound output at the National Prep Showcase in November. The 2016 center finishes well at the rim — mainly below it.

Unique McClean, Tshminga’s teammate is as great an athlete as you’ll find at 6’2, but he struggled with turnover issues in both games I attended. MacDuffie also features Omari Spellman, a 6’9 power forward who is ranked in the top 20 nationally. Spellman was outplayed by Auburn commit Danjel Purifoy at the Showcase and the two got into it a bit. Purifoy’s 29 point effort might have been the most impressive I’ve seen to date. He scored in every way.

Brimmer and May has 6’3, 2018 combo guard AJ Reeves who showed flashes in a loss to MacDuffie, while Commonwealth Academy has a pair of promising prospects in the bouncy 6’7 2017 forward Jordan Hardwick and the physical Hassahn French (6’7 PF, 2017). Commonwealth played an uninspired game against Bill Crothers at Hoop Mountain.

Hamidou Diallo of Putnam Science Academy blew up at the game I attended at the Showcase, with the Providence staff offering the 6’3 2017 guard following their win over Jaquan Lyle and IMG Academy. Heading into this season he had offers from mid-major schools, but now Providence, Iowa State and others are in pursuit.

Mamadou Diarra, Diallo’s Putnam Science teammate, is a tenacious rebounder who PC has reportedly shown interest in as well.

Finally, Cushing’s Makai Ashton-Langford has proven to be a terror in the open court. The 2017 point guard is in the early stages of learning how to run the show for Barry Connors at Cushing, but he has the potential to develop into one of the top players in all of New England. Like Kaleb Joseph and Jalen Adams before him, Ashton-Langford is playing for Mass Rivals on the AAU circuit and Cushing during the regular season. His teammate (and Providence native) Kimani Lawrence is a 6’5 wing who has done much more of his damage inside than on the perimeter when I’ve seen him.

Notable Names Seen Along the Way

Adrian LaFleur, the son of PC assistant Andre Lafleur, caught fire from deep in Marianapolis’ overtime loss to Cushing. He finished the afternoon at Hoop Mountain with 26 points and was instrumental in leading his team back from 20 down to force overtime.

South Kent has two of the most exciting players in the region in Tremont Waters and Travis Atson. Atson had everyone buzzing throughout the National Prep Showcase in New Haven, while Waters is a big scorer in a small body.

Jared Wilson-Frame is at Notre Dame Prep and was relatively quiet, while Massachusetts big man Chris Baldwin played well at the Prep Showcase.

5’8 Providence native Kealan Ives is prepping at Putnam Science this year and has the look of a fine get for Rider. He’s a vocal leader and a true point guard.

(Related Article: National Prep Showcase)

 

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