NEW YORK — Rawle Alkins has some ambitious plans for his college recruitment.
The 6-foot-5 2016 guard wants to visit every school on his list. That list was recently cut to 10 schools before he added Arizona back to make it 11.
Of course, high school prospects are only permitted five official visits that are paid for by the schools. They can take as many unofficial visits — which they themselves pay for — as they want.
“Every school on that list is going to be visited,” Alkins, recently projected as the No. 14 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com, said Friday after practice at the Under Armour Elite 24 Game. “It’s 10 visits.”
Alkins said in July that he planned to visit Kentucky for Big Blue Madness on Oct. 16, and he may well end up taking that visit. But he said he can’t promise anything until he picks a prep school for the 2015-16 season.
“It’s not definite,” he said. “I don’t know as of right now. My main focus as of right now is prep school. I have to find a school. Once I find a school that’s when I’ll get my visits planned up.”
After winning three straight Catholic city championships, Alkins saw his eligibility expire at Christ the King because he played eight games at the varsity level as an eighth-grader in Florida.
He has visited various prep schools — including Brewster (N.H.) Academy, New Hampton (N.H.) and Vermont Academy — but said he has yet to make a decision.
“I don’t know right now,” he said. “It’s really difficult, it’s kind of like picking a college.”
As for colleges, Kentucky, Indiana and St. John’s are among those working the hardest, but he remains wide open at the moment.
“As far as me, my concern is not the past,” he said. “A lot of coaches try to sell me on the past, like they win and all that stuff. It doesn’t matter to me because I feel like anywhere I go I’m going to win so it’s just really how I’m going tot be living, how’s the school, whatever school is going to prepare me for wherever I need to go.
“Wherever I go I feel like winning is the only option.”
Photo: Kelly Kline/ Under Armour
