By JACK LeGWIN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
Chase Jeter has cut his list to six schools.
“Kansas, Oregon, UNLV, Duke, UCLA, Arizona. Planning on a commitment before July. Thank you to all the schools who’ve recruited me,” Jeter tweeted Thursday.
Jeter, the No. 20 ranked player in the class of 2015 by 247 sports, stands at 6-foot-10 and is one of the best big man prospects in the West.
Jabari Parker officially declared for the NBA Draft on Thursday, ending any questions about whether he might return to Duke to join their loaded recruiting class for a run at the 2015 NCAA championship.
“I am now ready to take the leap to the NBA. It’s a dream come true,” Parker wrote in Sports Illustrated.
Some NBA personnel think the 6-foot-8 Parker is more prepared than fellow frosh superstars Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid and Julius Randle to contribute immediately at the NBA level.
“He is the most ready freshman to step in and help a team next year,” one former NBA executive told SNY.tv Thursday.
By JOHN PAVIA
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK — With Willie Cauley-Stein‘s recent decision to return to Kentucky and put off the NBA Draft for at least another year, the focus has shifted to Andrew and Aaron Harrison as they look to make their decision in the near future. Their respective decisions will affect the two guards committed to play at Kentucky next year, Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker, both of whom are in town for Friday evening’s Jordan Brand Classic at Barclays Center.
The Harrisons started at point guard and shooting guard, respectively, this season for coach John Calipari‘s Wildcats as they made a run to the national championship game against Connecticut as the eighth seed in the Midwest Region.
By BEN BASKIN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK — The No. 1 recruiting class in the nation officially has a nickname.
The Duke Blue Devils much-heralded quartet of center Jahlil Okafor (No. 1 on ESPN Top 100), point guard Tyus Jones (No. 4), small forward Justise Winslow (No. 15), and shooting guard Grayson Allen (No. 21) —all of whom are in New York for Friday’s Jordan Brand Classic — have taken to calling themselves the “Four Quarters.” And they say they are ready to prove why there is all this hype mounting around them.
“I know right after the championship game ended all these polls came out with really early preseason ranking for next year and we were either 1 or 2 or 3,” Allen said after practice Wednesday afternoon at Basketball City in downtown Manhattan. “So I know the expectations are really high and I think that us as a class we can definitely live up to that.”
By JACK LeGWIN Special to ZAGSBLOG Ahmed Hill has
http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=32123139 NEW YORK -- Isaiah Whitehead will miss
By BEN BASKIN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK — Daniel Hamilton is long and lanky — almost as if he has been stretched out with a rolling pin — which is an asset that one cannot teach.
He is one-third of the NCAA champion UConn Huskies’ 2014 recruiting class that also includes junior college guard Sam Cassell Jr. and N.C. state transfer Rodney Purvis.
As the eighth ranked shooting guard in the country, Hamilton is the only UConn recruit on ESPN’s Top 100 list (30th) and the only member of the class invited to New York this week for the Jordan Brand Classic. And even though Hamilton has not formally signed a Letter of Intent, UConn fans should not be worried.
“I’m most definitely going to go to UConn— 100 percent,” Hamilton said after practice Wednesday afternoon at Basketball City in Manhattan. “I’m real anxious [to get out to UConn] , especially after they won that championship.”
