Friar Basketball
Home / Recruiting News / A Look at Updated NERR Rankings

A Look at Updated NERR Rankings

Bede

The New England Recruiting Report recently updated their rankings for the classes of 2016 and 2017. Those rankings can be found here (2016) and here (2017).

Three takeaways:

1. Changes atop 2017. Last summer NERR came out with their Elite 75 Rankings — a rating system of players across New England regardless of class. As they explained when the rankings were first released in June 2014, “the Elite 75 rankings are not about what players have done to date or even where they are going next year. Instead, they are about taking a long-term view of the future.”

The list, which included prospects from the classes of 2014-2017, had young guns Jermaine Samuels (Rivers) and Tomas Murphy (Northfield Mount Hermon) as the two top players in the class of ’17.

A year later Putnam Science guard Hamidou Diallo sits top the 2017 rankings and is followed by point guards Makai Ashton-Langford (who received a UConn offer over the weekend) and Tremont Waters. Samuels is 4th, Providence native Kimani Lawrence is up to 5th after a strong summer, while Murphy, another Rhode Islander, sits at #6.

Spots 7-20 show how difficult rankings can be, as there isn’t much separating many of these prospects. Providence offer Wabissa Bede (#9) has seen his stock take off this summer. He excelled under the radar at North Andover (MA) High School, but will be on the big stage next season at Cushing alongside Ashton-Langford (#2), Lawrence (#5) and 6’6 Jarrod Simmons (#8). Bede attended PC’s Elite Camp this weekend and was offered by the Friars in recent weeks.

Aaron Wheeler of St. Andrew’s also attended the Elite Camp, where he received an offer from PC. He’s ranked 12th in New England, behind a pair of New England Playaz products in the versatile Jerome Desrosiers and 6’3 Kellan Grady. Grady and Desrosiers will team with Murphy at Northfield Mount Hermon next season after playing together all summer under John Carroll with the Playaz.

Further down the list come some familiar names in Bishop Hendricken guard Justin Mazzulla (#15), the bouncy Jordan Hardwick (#23) and PC verbal Javon Taylor (#20).

2. Frontcourt Depth in 2016. Omari Spellman sits atop the 2016 rankings, despite missing time due to injury this summer. The 6’9 wide body is a top 20 player nationally who has pledged to Jay Wright at Villanova. Spellman used to team with another monster of a big man in 6’10 Jordy Tshimanga at the MacDuffie School. Spellman is transferring to the always terrific St. Thomas More next season.

Friar fans need no reminder of how far and how quickly Wenyen Gabriel (#2) climbed this summer. The 6’9 New Hampshire native was not seen as a top 100 prospect heading into the spring, but landed offers from Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas after a big time July.

Gabriel is followed by a pair of truly outstanding guards in Mustapha Heron (Sacred Heart, CT) and Bruce Brown (Tilton), in the 2016 rankings, while the rest of the top 10 is littered with big men.

The tireless Mamadou Diarra (#5) is committed to UConn, #6 Tyrique Jones is a powerful and athletic inside presence who will play for Chris Mack at Xavier, Notre Dame Prep’s Chris Baldwin (#7) enjoyed a very good summer with the Mass Rivals, while Eddie Ekiyor (New Hampton, #8) and Kevin Marfo (Worcester Academy, #9) are both potentially punishing interior players at the next level.

Tshimanga comes in at #13, and it will be interesting to see what happens to his stock now that he’s the main attraction inside at MacDuffie.

Other notables include Mass Rivals and Putnam Science shooter Saul Phiri at 18, New Hampton big man Jimbo Lull at 21, Arkel Ager-Lamar at 24, and 6’10 St. Andrew’s shooting forward Terrell Brown at 25.

3. The 2017 Point Guard Watch. I’d gone back and forth in this space a bit regarding the top point guard in the class of 2017, initially calling it for Ashton-Langford before being wowed by Waters with the New England Playaz in May at the Providence Jamfest and then in June at Zero Gravity.

Ashton-Langford has terrific size and incredible speed for the position, while Waters is shorter, but runs a team with maturity beyond his years. Waters is also an outstanding shooter.

While those two are ’17 New England headliners at the 1, Bede and Mazzulla may be two to keep a close eye on over the next year from a Providence perspective. Bede’s Cushing team should be the most talented NEPSAC Class AA team heading into the upcoming season.

Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

You must be logged in to post a comment Login