Evan Cummins Taking Visits

In early August, I wrote about a new name on the recruiting front for the Hawks: Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) junior Evan Cummins. Cummins, a 6'8 forward, impressed the Saint Joseph's coaching staff enough over the summer that they extended an offer his way. Over the past couple of days, Evan has taken in two college campuses.

On Saturday, Cummins was in South Bend for the Notre Dame-Stanford football game. Today, Evan is on an unofficial visit to Northwestern University.

Northfield Mount Hermon coach John Carroll informed me last week that Evan still has an offer on the table from the Hawks. He also added that the SJU coaching staff was in contact with him prior to the open period, reiterating their interest in his star junior.

Evan's name is one to continue to keep an eye on in the coming months.

Horne Likes the Hawks

The 2012 recruiting class in the Philadelphia area is one of the strongest in recent memory, with players like Amile Jefferson, Savon Goodman, Daniel Ochefu, and Ryan Arcidiacono all picking up acclaim and offers left and right. While these four players, consensus top 50 players nationally, have spent all summer in the spotlight, other local players are trying to make a name for themselves as well. One of those players is 6'4 Life Center Academy wing Andre Horne.

Andre began his high school career at Philadelphia's Roman Catholic before transferring to Hodgson's Tech in Delaware for his sophomore season. This year, Horne will be at Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, joining a tremendously talented team featuring stud senior guard John Johnson, a Pitt commit, and star wing LaQuinton Ross, a 2011 Ohio State commit. If Life Center Academy sounds familiar to Hawk fans, it's probably because current SJU freshman Daryus Quarles spent his junior year there.

In the interview with Premo Hoops linked below, Andre Horne talks about his game and the recruiting process. When asked to list his favorites at this point in time, he goes with Pitt, Florida, SJU, and Virginia Tech.

Stay tuned over the coming week as I continue to look at Horne and a couple other new names in the 2012 recruiting class.

Premo Hoops- Andre Horne

Juan'ya Green to Niagara

A few months back, I decided to take an in-depth look at a number of 2011 recruits that Saint Joseph's appeared to be actively recruiting. Since then, Aaron Brown has popped to West Virginia, Andrew Nicholas to Monmouth, and Chris Wilson to Saint Joseph's. The latest name to come off the board is Archbishop Carroll's 6'3 guard Juan'ya Green. On Thursday, the talented guard gave a verbal commitment to Joe Mihalich and the Niagara Purple Eagles.

Green chose Niagara after cutting his list down to four schools, according to Chris Vito of the Delco Times (link here). Those four schools were Boston University, Temple, George Mason, and Niagara. Early on in the recruiting process, he had significant interest from schools like Villanova and Maryland. While his stock has slipped a bit, Green is a tremendous pick-up for Niagara. He has size at the point guard position, is a solid decision-maker, and sees the court very well. In addition, Green is very heady with the ball, rarely turning it over and constantly getting his teammates involved.

The Hawks are one of the schools that recruited Green fairly heavily over the past year. He will instead be headed to New York, and pairing up in the backcourt with fellow 2011 Philadelphia guard commit Ameen Tanksley. An article on their relationship, and the impact that made on the decision, from the Daily New is linked below.

Green and Tanksley to Niagara

Photo Courtesy of CapitolHoops.com

Jefferson and Goodman Host the Blue Devils

Two of the top forwards nationally in the junior class happen to be from Philadelphia. 6'7 combo forward Amile Jefferson attends Friends' Central and 6'6 small forward Savon Goodman attends Academy of the New Church. Both players hosted the reigning national champion Duke Blue Devils today. Today, September 9th, happens to mark the first day of the open contact period. During this period, players typically schedule in-home visits, like the ones that both Amile and Savon have today with Duke.

A Year Later

On this Labor Day, I figured I'd take a minute to thank everyone that has visited the site over the past year. The very first entry on this site was now just over a year ago, and in that year, Hawk Hill Hardwood had over 40,000 hits. For a site that primarily deals only with Saint Joseph's hoops, that's pretty impressive. So thanks to everyone that has visited over the past year. While the Hawks struggled last year on the court, better times seem to be just ahead.

In the year since I started this site, quite a bit has happened, and I have been fortunate enough to get to speak with a number of coaches, players, and parents.

Thanks to Langston Galloway's coach, Carlo Maggio for talking to the site about his star guard, and current SJU freshmen. The same thanks go out to Daryus Quarles' Paulsboro coach Byron Dixon, Pat Swilling Jr's coach Scott Thompson, and Ronald Roberts' Saint Peter's Prep coach Mike Kelly. Mike Kelly continually updated me, and therefore all readers, about Roberts' recruitment throughout last season.

On the player front, I got a chance to speak with freshman guard Langston Galloway, and his father Larry, after he signed his LOI with the Hawks back in November. After his son's spring commitment to the Hawks, I also got to interview former NFL star Pat Swilling Sr. for the site.

It has been a extraordinarily interesting year off the court for the Hawks. Chris Wilson, who spent this weekend on campus for his official visit, is currently the lone member of the 2011 recruiting class for the Hawks, joining Hofstra transfer Halil Kanacevic. The Hawks are likely to continue to recruit that class, as well as moving forward into the 2012 class.

Thanks to everyone who has visited the site over the past year. Please continue stopping by, as hopefully this is just the beginning for the site.

Chris Wilson Visiting Hawk Hill; Local Schools Have Visitors

Almost exactly a month after becoming Saint Joseph's first verbal commitment in the 2011 class, North Carolina point guard Chris Wilson will make his first visit to Hawk Hill. According to Scout.com, Wilson will be on campus this weekend, September 4th and 5th. It surprised a number of people to learn that Wilson signed with the Hawks without ever setting foot on campus. This weekend, he will get a chance to do so, and do so on an official visit. The 6'3 point guard is currently the lone member of the 2011 SJU recruiting class. Will others follow? At the moment, everything is quiet, and that is probably to be expected after the significant 2010 class the Hawks reeled in.

Temple is getting an official visit today from 6'8 senior power forward TaShawn Thomas, out of Texas. According to Eric Bossi's twitter (here) Thomas is at Temple today and will be taking an official over the weekend to Houston.

Over on the Main Line, Villanova is getting an unofficial visit today from Christ the King (NY) junior guard Omar Calhoun. According to Adam Zagoria's twitter (here) the star junior guard is at Nova today after visiting Seton Hall yesterday.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of this site. I'll have some new, and hopefully interesting, stuff up then.

Arcidiacono Picks Up Nova Offer

Over the weekend, Neshaminy junior guard Ryan Arcidiacono picked up yet another offer. This one came from Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats. According to VUHoops.com, Ryan was extended the offer during an unofficial visit to the campus over the weekend. Arcidiacono shot up the rankings this summer with tremendous play on the AAU Circuit, beginning at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. With offers from Florida, Villanova, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Temple, Saint Joseph's, and a plethora of others, Ryan will likely see his stock continue to rise this season at Neshaminy.

Yesterday, Rivals.com released their top 150 rankings for the 2012 class, and Ryan checks in at number 45. He is one of many Philadelphia-area ballers on the list. Daniel Ochefu, Amile Jefferson, and Savon Goodman all also earn spots in the top 40 nationally. It will be interesting to see if any of those four big names stay local in 2012. Temple, Villanova, and Saint Joseph's are all involved with at least one of the players, to varying degrees.