St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin has handed out two of his 10 available scholarships to Maurice Harkless and JaKarr Sampson.
That leaves eight potential scholarships still available.
Among the players the Johnnies are involved with and feel good about are Nurideen Lindsey, Amir Garrett, Phil Greene, D’Angelo Harrison and Dominique Pointer, whom we profiled here.
Several of those players, including Garrett and Lindsey, a guard, could visit Oct. 15 for Midnight Madness.
Garrett tweeted Monday that he wants to come to St. John’s then but has a conflict with his homecoming dance.
Lindsey, meanwhile, says he is likely to visit then.
“I might be down there for Midnight Madness,” Lindsey said Tuesday night by phone.
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard was a schoolboy star at Overbrook High in Philly and is now at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla.
He said he plans to be finished there in June and ready to join a Division 1 program in 2011 because he already has 15 transferable credits.
“By the summer of 2011 I’ll be graduated and ready to go,” he said.
Lindsey is being courted by St. John’s, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Miami and LSU and may visit Oklahoma State unofficially this weekend.
“I might go to OSU on an unofficial,” he said. “I’m probably going to decide tomorrow or Thursday.”
He may also visit LSU in October or November.
As for St. John’s, Lindsey has established a relationship with assistant coach Tony Chiles and lists the Johnnies among his favorites.
“You’ve got Coach Lav that was successful at UCLA and produced almost 13 or 14 pros,” Lindsey said. “They have a bunch of guys that came down from the pro level, guys like Mike Dunlap and Rico Hines, guys that know what it takes to get to the next level. They can prepare you to be better and work on things more than guys who don’t have as much as experience as those guys.
“As far where St. John’s plays every night, Madison Square Garden is a big stage and it’s at the highest level of basketball,” he added. “It’s an attractive place. They make you want to go there.”
LAVIN WATCHES HARRIS
Lavin also spent part of Tuesday watching 6-8 Tyler Harris at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark.
Harris is considering Iowa, Providence, N.C. State, Louisville and St. John’s.
He visited Iowa last weekend and hits N.C. State this weekend and Providence Oct. 15
“We are waiting to speak with Coach [Rick] Pitino in person with Tyler before I decide to make any scheduled visit,” Torrel Harris said. “We are focused on the four schools that have established a good relationship with Tyler. Tyler likes Louisville from what his brother Tobias told him about the school. It’s great that Coach Pitino likes Tyler.”
Visit dates for Louisville and St. John’s are up in the air, with Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 options.
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