L.J. Rose’s recruitment has been complicated on at least two occasions.
At first, North Carolina was his top choice but fellow point guard Marcus Paige committed to the Tar Heels before Rose could.
Then Rose was mulling Texas and UCLA, but Dominic Artis pledged to the Bruins, mucking the waters even further.
“Texas is my leader right now,” the 6-2 senior-to-be at Houston Westbury Christian said by phone from the Nike Global Challenge in Hillsboro, Ore.
Jerami Grant, the son of former NBA standout Harvey Grant and the Rivals No. 17 power forward in the Class of 2012, is getting close to deciding.
“I cut my list down to six schools,” the 6-foot-8 Grant said by phone from the Nike Global Challenge in Hillsboro, Ore.
“N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, Rutgers and Syracuse.”
Grant tripped to Syracuse last week and said it went well.
“It was nice,” he said. “I definitely liked it. I got to see everything. I talked to all the coaches and [saw] how they felt about me. They said they were really looking at me.
James Robinson, the Rivals No. 8 point guard in the Class of 2012 out of DeMatha (Md.) Catholic, will visit Pittsburgh later this month and then expects to make a decision shortly thereafter.
“I’m visiting Pittsburgh on Aug. 20,” he said by phone from the Nike Global Challenge in Hillsboro, Ore., where he’s playing with Team USA East.
Robinson posted 11 points and six assists as USA East beat Taiwan, 89-79, on Friday.
The 6-foot-3 Robinson is down to a Final 3 of of Pittsburgh, Virginia and Notre Dame. (Miami was crossed off after the recent scandal.)
By ALEX KLINE
The past 24 hours have been big for Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
T.J. Warren, a 2012 in-state forward, made his way to Chapel Hill late Thursday night, and Williams made a bold move the day after Warren had visited rival N.C. State.
“UNC just offered me face to face,” he said by text. The ACC powerhouse was not finished though.
Later that night, Jabari Parker’s mother, Folola Finau-Parker, received an important call. “My wife just had a talk with Roy Williams of UNC,” said Sonny Parker, Jabari’s father. “He made an offer to Jabari.”
Andre Drummond is keeping it close to the vest as far as his future, but said he expects to be back at St. Thomas More this season for a postgraduate year.
“As of right now, that’s the plan,” he told SNY.tv by phone from the adidas Nations event in Los Angeles.
Asked to confirm that he would be in high school this season instead of somewhere else, he reiterated, “The’s the plan.”
The 6-foot-9 Drummond is the No. 1 center in the Class of 2012 per Rivals, and a likely future NBA lottery pick.
Kaleb Tarczewki’s Final 3 has turned into a Final 4.
The 7-footer from Claremont, N.H., said Kentucky is now on his short list along with Kansas, Arizona and North Carolina.
“They’re on the list,” he said by phone from the adidas Nations event in Los Angeles. “They came in pretty late.
“They’ve been coming to a lot of games, so I’ve seen them in the court and I’ve talked to them. You know, Kentucky’s Kentucky. It’s kind of hard to not let them into recruiting.”
Instead of dribbling and driving for the Villanova Wildcats last year, JayVaughn Pinkston was lifting and hauling.
Suspended by Villanova after he was charged with two counts of simple assault and harassment following an off-campus fight, the Brooklyn native worked at a factory near Villanova for a “mailing company” instead of playing ball.
“It made me mature a whole lot,” the 6-foot-7, 260-pound redshirt freshman told SNY.tv Friday by phone from Villanova. “It made me realize that I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life so I had to work hard at basketball.”
Pinkston could not discuss the specifics of the case because it is still pending, but an anonymous eyewitness told the New York Post last November Pinkston became angry after he was locked inside a laundry room at a fraternity house during what the report labeled a “romantic encounter with a girl.”
