Adonis De La Rosa, a 6-foot-11 center from Christ the King in New York, is planning visits to both St. John’s and South Carolina this month, Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello confirmed to SNY.tv.
He may visit South Carolina Feb. 13 but no definite dates have been set for either visit.
St. John’s has no signees for the Class of 2014 yet and has made De La Rosa a priority.
Purdue, Wake Forest, Florida State, Seton Hall, SMU, Georgetown, Fordham and Hofstra have also been involved for De La Rosa.
De La Rosa has a big upside after getting down to about 250 pounds.
“He’s lost about 40 or 50 pounds,” Arbitello said recently. “He [could] lose another 30 when he gets to college. He has great hands, great feet. He’s a post player. The way the game has evolved in college, he’s not one of these 6-10 real athletic guys but he is a 6-11 back-to-the-basket guy that teams have a tough time defending because they don’t see it a lot.”
According to the Daily News, De La Rosa is currently serving a two-game suspension for a flagrant foul against Rutgers-bound guard Mike Williams of Bishop Loughlin.
De La Rosa sat out Christ the King’s 76-48 win over Holy Cross on Tuesday but can return Sunday against Loughlin in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Class AA playoffs.
