Maurice Harkless is piling up scholarship offers at an astonishing pace.
The 6-foot-6 Queens, N.Y. native dropped 23 points on the Danny Granger Hurricanes Saturday morning and is averaging 22 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks per game while leading the New York Panthers into the Sweet 16 of the Las Vegas Fab 48.
“He’s blowing up,” Panthers director Gary Charles said by phone. “Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Louisville, everybody wants to get him.”
Nate Blue, Harkless’ mentor, said he believed Kansas was about to offer Harkless, who recently decommitted from UConn but is still considering the Huskies.
“Bill Self, Gary Williams, Mick Cronin, Steve Lavin, Billy Donovan, Kevin Willard, Josh Pastner, Mike Rice have all come to his games,” Blue said, rattling off a litany of high-profile Division 1 coaches.
Blue confirmed a Rivals reports that Harkless would try to visit UConn, Maryland and Cincinnati or Florida in August.
“Harkless is really special,” one D-1 coach said. “He will add strength as he goes but has all the attributes for greatness. Trevor Ariza meets Ray Allen. If he projects, he will be a 10-year pro.”
QUINN COOK MULLING 9 SCHOOLS
Quinn Cook, the No. 4 point guard in the Class of 2011, has trimmed his list to nine schools.
The 6-1 Cook of D.C. Assault is considering Arizona, UCLA, Villanova, Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, West Virginia, St. John’s and Georgetown, he told the Tucson Citizen.
Cook plans to take all five visits in the fall and previously said he hoped to visit UConn and Arizona in August.
“I’m going to take all my five of my visits,” he said last month by phone. “I want to go it done by the fall.”
Cook will play alongside New York native Sidiki Johnson next year at Oak Hill Academy and the Tucson Citizen reported Cook asked Johnson, who normally runs with the MetroHawks, to play with D.C. Assault in Vegas.
“It’s good to establish that chemistry early,” Cook said. “Oak Hill will have a lot of new guys. We’re going to be senior leaders on the team. We played together at Pangos (last month). I am a little familiar with him but now a lot more familiar with him.”
Cook helped the USA U17 national team win a gold medal in Hamburg, Germany, averaging 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 7.4 assists.
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