I'm very excited to announce a new feature to VU Hoops, where each week on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (I still haven't decided yet, so bear with me) we'll take a position by position look at how our current basketball recruiting cycle is shaping up.
There's been some discussions about doing one of these for 2014 as well, so let us know what you think about that.
I'll be reviewing a max of 3 prospects at each position (though I do I reserve the right to expand this at my own discretion) and we can use the comments to flag any other potential targets and discuss recruiting, because this is one of the topics that makes the offseason go by faster.
A couple things to note before we kick off the inaugural edition:
- If you see a ($) after any article, that means the article is behind a pay-wall. I won't be taking content from those articles, but will merely be calling them out to our community in case you do have a paid subscription to that service.
- This isn't my day job - I follow as many people on Twitter as I possibly can and try to read as much as my time allows - if I've missed something or my information is out of date, let me know.
- Opinions are always welcome. Chatter is what we want, so don't be shy to get involved.
Let's take a look at our first big board!
Villanova has 2 seniors on the roster this season in Mouphtaou Yarou and Maurice Sutton, and have 12 scholarship roster players (Dylan Ennis will be taking a redshirt year). 'Nova will be targeting anywhere from 1 to 3 prospects for the 2013 recruiting class.
Point Guards
With Tony Chennault, Ty Johnson and Ryan Arcidiacono on campus this fall (and Dylan Ennis joining the following season), point guard is not a huge position of need - however there are players that if they were interested, we'd certainly welcome with open arms.
Target | Hometown | High School | Trending | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rysheed Jordan | Philadelphia, PA | Vaux Roberts | Jordan has already taken an unofficial visit to 'Nova but Jay Wright has some serious competition for his signature with Pittsburgh,Georgetown, Kansas and Syracuse all heavily involved. VUSports recently spoke to him at the Reebok Breakout event. ($) | |
Andrew Harrison | Fort Bend, TX | Travis | Everybody's first choice at PG has listed Villanova all throughout his recruitment, but it would be a huge surprise to most everyone if John Calipari didn't land this big fish, along with his twin brother. |
Shooting Guards
A priority in this class with only Achraf Yacoubou & James Bell capable of playing the 2 this season until Ennis is eligible, Jay Wright would really like to add a high-end scorer.
Target | Hometown | High School | Trending | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Allerik Freeman | Charlotte, NC | Findlay Prep | Perhaps the #1 target for 'Nova in this cycle, Freeman has had good things to say about the Wildcats for a long time. They're fighting the big boys now though with Kansas, Ohio State, UCLA and Duke all extending offers. He'll take official visits to all 5 schools in the fall. He held his own against Aaron Harrison recently at the AAU Super Showcase ($). | |
Terrence Samuel | Brooklyn, NY | South Shore | Samuel is likely Plan B in case Jay Wright misses on Freeman. He's definitely more than a consolation prize however, as he's a consensus Top-100 player across he board. | |
Aaron Harrison | Fort Bend, TX | Travis | Similar to his brother, he's listed Villanova as an option for a long time. But it'll be nearly impossible to beat UK. He and his brother both appear to be on the one-and-done path, something Villanova historically has had little success with. |
Small Forwards
There isn't a huge need here with the recent addition of Mislav Brzoja from Croatia, in addition to James Bell, Darrun Hilliard, and even JayVaughn Pinkston's capability to play the 3.
Forwards
Unless you're all dying to see the 4-guard lineup rolled out on a consistent basis, we could use some beef up front.
Centers
With Markus Kennedy transferring, Mouph set to graduate and only Daniel Ochefu waiting in the wings, it's imperative that Jay Wright add a big body up front.
And for our bonus today, Alex Kline of The Recruit Scoop had an interesting tweet yesterday:
Villanova will have a major in-state visitor on campus this Friday - bit.ly/OpyhUs ($)
— Alex Kline (@TheRecruitScoop) August 1, 2012
Any guesses as to who this could be?