Saint Joseph's 2012 Recruiting Targets: Big Men

Yesterday, I took a look at seven players in the class of 2012 that either have interest from the Hawks or have committable offers. Everyone mentioned yesterday was a perimeter player. Today I will look at the big men in the class of 2012 with interest from the Hawks. This list is smaller, but does contain a few noteworthy names.

Devontae Watson: 6'10 center from Lincoln Park High near Pittsburgh. Watson possesses great size at 6'10 and also a 92 inch wingspan. At the moment, his strengths are rebounding and defense, as he is a relative newcomer to the game. I spoke with his high school coach, Mike Bariski, last week. That article can be found here.

Evan Cummins: 6'8 forward from Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts. Cummins has offers and interest from Saint Joseph's, Notre Dame, Stanford, Harvard, Boston University, Davidson, and several other schools. Over the past few months, I have written a number of stories on Cummins. The most recent article, which also profiles teammate Ethan O'Day (who just picked up an SJU offer), is linked here.

Ethan O'Day: 6'8 forward from Northfield Mount Hermon. No, that is not a typo. Ethan is the second player from the same frontcourt with an SJU offer. Lucas Shapiro wrote an article on TheRecruitScoop last week on Ethan, in which Ethan claims to have recently picked up an SJU offer. That article can be found here.

Jaylen Bond: 6'7 forward from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School in Pennsylvania. Jaylen will be doing a prep year at Saint Thomas Moore next year. Jaylen played high school basketball at La Salle Prep, and then at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, with current Saint Joseph's rising sophomore CJ Aiken. Originally a 2011 Pitt signee, Bond has opted to go the prep school route and re-open his recruitment. Since he re-opened, Jaylen has heard from Tennessee, Temple, La Salle, and Saint Joseph's. That list is courtesy of the article from NBE Basketball Report found here.

Donovan Jack: 6'9 forward from Reading Central Catholic (PA). Donovan's name is one that has been on the SJU staff's radar for quite some time. Also a terrific student, the lefty has wide-ranging interest, from Patriot League schools to high-majors. Donovan is getting looks from a number of the Philadelphia schools too, including Temple and Saint Joseph's. Both Coach Martelli and Coach Dunphy have been looking at Donovan since last winter, and both still seem to be looking over a year later.

Blaise Mbargorba: Blaise is a 7-footer who played this past year at Peddie School in New Jersey, after playing the previous season at Saint Benedict's Prep. I have seen Blaise listed at times as a 2011 recruit, and other times as a 2012 recruit. Either way, he is being mentioned here. According to Jay Gomes of NJHoops, the native of Cameroon has offers from Saint Joseph's and Vanderbilt. An article from this past weekend, linked here, has Blaise with interest from West Virginia, Saint Joseph's, Providence, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. The article, written by Dan Martin, provides a detailed look at the type of player that Blaise is and his thoughts on the recruiting process.

With that, the list of 2012 names is at 13. There is a good chance (great chance) that I am also leaving people out. If you know of anyone else getting looks from the Hawks in 2012, please let me know.

Devontae Watson: A First Look

When you stand a shade over 6’10, it is a challenge going unnoticed. For Devontae Watson, a junior at Lincoln Park High School in Midland, Pennsylvania, the days of going unnoticed, and flying under the radar, are coming to a sudden end. I had the opportunity to speak with Devontae’s high school coach at Lincoln Park, Mike Bariski, yesterday afternoon.

According to his high school coach, Devontae is an evolving player who, like many big men, is a relative newcomer to the game of basketball. He did not even play basketball as a 9th grader, and then transferred into Lincoln Park, where he started as a sophomore. At the moment, Devontae checks in at 6’10 ½ and 195 pounds. In addition to his size, Devontae also possesses a tremendous wingspan of right around 92 inches. According to his coach, Devontae, despite his size, runs the court like a six-footer and jumps with ease.

This athletic ability has made the transition into organized basketball easier for Watson, but his coach maintains that his best days are ahead of him. Shot-blocking and rebounding are Devontae’s strengths at the moment, and his offense is a continual work in progress. Devontae’s go-to move on the offensive end is a jump hook to his right, but his repertoire will continue to expand this off-season and into his senior year.

As mentioned earlier, shot-blocking is one of Devontae’s greatest assets. Lincoln Park took on Philadelphia’s Math, Civics, and Sciences in March for the PIAA Class A championship. In the first half of that game alone, Bariski said that Devontae had nine blocks. In the second half, MCS made adjustments and stopped taking the ball into the paint. Devontae finished that game, a 70-55 loss, with an unofficial tally of 13 points and 13 rebounds.

According to Bariski, his star junior is also a very nice kid. Although he is nice, polite, and respectful, his coach explained that he also has a mean streak. He is not the type of player that will get pushed around and not push back. As a senior this coming season, Devontae will take on more of a leadership role, one that his coach thinks will come naturally.

Although still a newcomer to the game, college coaches are certainly taking notice of Devontae’s potential. At the moment, Devontae has at least six scholarship offers. Four of the scholarship offers are from schools in the Atlantic 10: Saint Joseph’s, Temple, Dayton, and Duquesne. Cleveland State and Robert Morris have also extended Devontae scholarship offers. Akron is another school that may have just offered Devontae. Both Penn State and DePaul are also keeping a close eye on him.

This summer, Devontae is playing AAU ball with the King James Shooting Stars. Two other highly-regarded Pittsburgh-area players, juniors Sheldon Jeter and Tyler Scott, are on the same AAU team. Over the AAU season and summer months, Devontae is likely to continue opening eyes with his athletic play. As his recruitment continues to intensify, and as he looks to take home a state championship next season, you can check back here for updates.

Photo Courtesy of http://duphoops.blogspot.com/

PIAA Boys' Basketball Round-Up

On the campus of Penn State, three games are down, with one to come this evening. The city of Philadelphia is 3-0, with Math, Civics, and Sciences, Neumann-Goretti, and Imhotep Charter all taking home state championships.

In the Class A championship game yesterday afternoon, MCS Charter downed Lincoln Park 70-55. Sophomore Jeremiah Worthem was the story of the day for MCS, as he took charge in the second half and led his team with 22 points and 12 rebounds. For Lincoln Park, senior Chaquille Pratt led the way with 27 points. Junior center Devontae Watson contributed 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots for Lincoln Park. Saint Joseph's and Temple are two of the schools heavily recruiting Watson. According to Rick O'Brien's article in the Inquirer (linked here), both SJU's Phil Martelli and Temple's Fran Dunphy were in attendance for the game.

Watson is not the only player that Temple and SJU were looking at. Jeremiah Worthem, who scored his 22 points on an array of jumpers, drives, and emphatic fast-break dunks, has also been offered by both schools. According to Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (linked here), Martelli offered the sophomore a scholarship after the game. Rick O'Brien's article states that Worthem has offers from SJU, Temple, Drexel, and Rice. That interest, and those offers, are only going to grow as Worthem's stock continues to increase.

Last night, Neumann-Goretti won their second consecutive Class AAA title 55-45 over Montaur. Montaur actually held the lead late in the third quarter before Neumann upped the defensive intensity and just about ran Montaur off the court. The Saints had a balanced scoring attack, but the spark plug for them down the stretch was 6'2 freshman guard Ja'Quan Newton. Newton scored 13 second-half points, mostly coming off steals and fast-break opportunities. He was a terror on the defensive end, doing everything in his power to shut down Devin Wilson and the other Montaur guards. Helping Newton out were Derrick Stewart (14 points and 10 boards) and Johnny Davis (12 points). Neumann lost four starters from last year's state championship team, but still returned to Happy Valley this weekend, and they will return home state champs once again. With four of their five starters returning next year, they will be prohibitive favorites to win Class AAA yet again. Rick O'Brien's article on the game can be found here.

Moments ago, Imhotep Charter's Class AA game came to an end. They too will return to Philadelphia state champs, after a resounding 67-34 win over Greensburg Central Catholic. Greensburg kept the contest close at the beginning but just didn't have the talent or depth to deal with Imhotep.

Tonight, Chester will look for the Class AAAA state title against Mount Lebanon.

Image of Jeremiah Worthem above from Christopher Weddle of the Centre Daily Times.

Pittsburgh Junior Attracting Philadelphia Attention

For Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli and Temple assistant coach Dave Duke to be sitting next to one another watching a high school basketball game is nothing new. In fact, for a number of reasons, most notably the proximity of the two schools to one another, Temple and Saint Joseph's find themselves duking it out for a number of players. The fact that the two coaches were sitting at a gym in Pittsburgh is the part that is most surprising. Last Tuesday night, the two coaches both found themselves in Pittsburgh, watching 6'10 Lincoln Park junior Devontae Watson.

In front of the two coaches, Watson had 31 points, 22 rebounds, and 11 blocks. According to The Beaver County Times (here), both Temple and Saint Joseph's have offered the junior center a scholarship. Temple and SJU have also both offered 6'6 wing Sheldon Jeter from Beaver Falls High School in Pittsburgh.

Another article on Watson can be found here courtesy of Maxpreps.com.

A video clip of Watson can be found here.

February 1st Odds and Ends

Instead of putting up a number of short articles, I decided to include everything in here. The topics range from the Hawks' roster on Wednesday to Justin Crosgile's departure from the team to local high school hoops to SJU recruiting.

On his Hawk Talk radio show Monday evening, head coach Phil Martelli announced that the starting line-up tomorrow night at Richmond will have a different look. Tay Jones, Langston Galloway, Daryus Quarles, and Idris Hilliard will remain in the line-up, but freshman forward CJ Aiken will be replaced by fellow freshman Ronald Roberts. In Saturday's loss to Temple, Roberts had 17 points and 3 rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time.

News broke yesterday that Saint Joseph's sophomore Justin Crosgile is taking a "leave of absence" from the team to take care of personal issues. A link to Dick Jerardi's article can be found here . The sophomore guard from New Jersey was averaging just under 5 points per game for the Hawks. It remains to be seen when, or if, Crosgile will return to the team.

Head coach Phil Martelli spent Sunday on the road recruiting. Martelli was one of several coaches in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Basketball Classic. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Martelli was there along with son, and current Rutgers assistant, Jimmy Martelli. Coaches from Wisconsin, Temple, West Virginia, and Robert Morris were also in attendance according to the Post-Gazette (linked here ). Who was Martelli watching? The sophomore and junior classes in the Pittsburgh area feature a number of talented players. The biggest name in the area is 6'3 sophomore guard Geno Thorpe, who the Wisconsin coaches were on hand to watch. In the junior class, some of the bigger names playing yesterday were 6'7 forward Sheldon Jeter, 6'9 wing Devontae Watson, and 6'10 forward Barnett Harris.

Locally, Saint Joseph's Prep head coach Speedy Morris got his 600th win as a high school coach last night. The Prep throttled West Catholic 70-31 behind 23 points from junior Gene Williams and 15 points from sophomore guard Steve Vasturia. On Sunday, in the PrimeTime Shootout, Trenton Catholic defeated Friends' Central 69-61, despite 23 points from senior guard Devin Coleman. I wrote a piece on Coleman Friday that can be found here .

This Sunday, the Hakim Warrick Classic will take place at Philadelphia University. At noon, Neshaminy and Penn Wood face off. At 1:45, Saint Anthony (NJ) and Friends' Central will play. The day's final game, between Lower Merion and Shabazz(NJ), is a 3:30 tip. Those game times are from the Scholastic Play by Play website linked here . I will be on hand covering the games. Solid planning by the event organizers to have the games early in the day so everyone can make it home for the Super Bowl.