clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Villanova basketball recruiting: Bridges, Booth & Delaney having nice seasons

Your weekly Villanova basketball recruiting roundup.

By Chris Lane
Josh Verlin, City of Basketball Love

Happy Friday everyone! To ring in 2014, I'll be posting an in-season update for the Villanova signees (Mikal Bridges and Phil Booth) and verbal commitments (Tim Delaney) every Friday morning. We'll also sprinkle in any prospects updates that we're seeing that may not warrant a full post of its own.

Good? Good.

Mikal Bridges

Bridges and Great Valley Patriots are off to a scintillating 8-0 start to the season, with Bridges starting off his senior season in style. Bridges recorded his 1000th career point on December 20th in a win over Archbishop Wood, and is currently averaging 21 ppg, with a season-high of 32 against Perkiomen Valley

Last week the Patriots won the Great Valley Holiday Tournament by defeating Upper Moreland 53-25 in the opening game, before taking down Upper Dublin 65-39 in the finals. Bridges recorded 15 points in the semi's, and 16 points in the finals to lead the way.

Bridges and Great Valley were scheduled play at home against Sun Valley tonight, but with Sun Valley schools closed it looks like the game will be rescheduled. They are also scheduled to play Oxford at home on January 7th.

Philly.com currently ranks Great Valley 5th in Class AAAA.

Phil Booth

Booth and the Mount St. Joseph Gaels have amassed an 14-3 record so far this season, while posting a 5-2 record in the MIAA. They currently sit in 4th place, with two of their losses coming against St. Frances Academy and John Carroll School.

Last week in the Benedictine Capital City Classic, Booth and MSJ went 1-1, getting upset by Trinity Episcopal 68-63 (Booth finished with 16 points) and then beating Walsingham Academy 75-47 in the third place game. Booth recorded 19 points in the victory.

Booth is back in action on Monday January 6th at home against Mount Carmel, and again on Wednesday the 8th against McDonogh. Both games are at home.

Tim Delaney

Delaney at the Pitman Panthers are off to a very good start in the forward's junior season, where they were ranked 18th by nj.com in the most recent poll. Pitman is off to a 4-0 start, with Delaney averaging 19.2 ppg.

Delaney had a strong showing at the Pitman Holiday Tournament. He posted 21 points and 10 rebounds in an 85-52 win over Kingsway on December 27th, before dropping 20 and 8 the very next day in a 74-41 win over Glassboro. and he'll be back in action tomorrow at Penns Grove at 12:00 pm.

Recruiting Notes

Some odds and ends to keep satisfied through the long winter. 2016 Neumann-Goretti point guard Vaughn Covington is claiming some interest from Villanova. Covington is at the same school as Ja'Quan Newton, and 2017 super-prospect Quade Green.

Brian Flinn has also reported that 2016 guard Jabri McCall from Martin Luther King says he has heard from Villanova.

Staying within the Philadelphia area, 2015 point guard Traci Carter is claiming an offer from Villanova. Carter was at powerhouse Roman Catholic last season, and many are considering him to be the top PG available in the Philly area for 2015.

ZagsBlog is reporting (H/T MikeJ.) that 2015 point guard Haanif Cheatham is looking to visit Villanova in the summer. Check out that quote inside from Cheatham about why he's interested in Villanova - playing well is one of the strongest recruiting tools.

Per a source, Brian Ewart is reporting that 2015 Temecula, CA point guard Justin Simon has very strong interest in Villanova, and wants to know if Jay Wright & Co. are interested before cutting down his list. Simon, rated 3 or 4 stars depending on the service, is blowing up right now and could be a nice fit for Villanova with his skillset.

That's all for this week - anything else you have found, post it in the comments!

More From VU Hoops