NEW YORK — A slew of high-major college coaches were on hand at Basketball City for Day One of the first NCAA live period of 2017, but none made a bigger first impression than the new Georgetown coach.
Patrick Ewing, all 7 feet of him, made his recruiting debut on the Under Armor Association circuit on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, not far from where he spent the bulk of his NBA career with the Knicks in the 1980s and ’90s. He wore a collared white shirt, a black leather jacket and a blue Georgetown baseball cap.
Ewing, who was hired April 3, is now looking to recruit a whole new generation of players, many of whom were born about the time he was wrapping up his career in the early 2000s.
Less than half an hour before the first game tipped on Friday night, Ewing landed his first recruit when Canadian point guard Jahvon Blair verbally committed to the Hoyas, as first reported by ZAGSBLOG.
“I’m excited to work with the entire coaching staff and play for Patrick Ewing Sr. ” Blair Tweeted.
Ewing took that momentum into watching 7-foot-1, 243-pound Class of 2018 big man Moses Brown of New Heights, the No. 6 player in the Class of 2018 per ESPN.com. He was flanked by new assistant and former Seton Hall coach Louis Orr. Georgetown also hired former Hoyas assistant Robert Kirby to Ewing’s staff.
Malcolm Brown, the player’s father, said he was familiar with Ewing’s career and the fact that Georgetown had developed big men like Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo. Malcolm Brown told ZAGSBLOG that his son will definitely visit the Georgetown campus.
But Moses Brown was less familiar with Ewing’s career and said he did not notice Ewing sitting courtside.
“No, I didn’t see him,” Brown said.
Told that Ewing played for the Knicks and was a Hall of Famer, Brown said, “Yeah, Hall of Fame player.”
Among the other coaches on hand for Brown were assistants from Louisville, Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Maryland, UConn and St. John’s.
“They all working equally,” Brown said. “Every coach is recruiting me just about the same.”
Brown said he spoke with Louisville head coach Rick Pitino and assistant Jordan Fair two days ago.
“They just putting me as a priority, just like everyone else,” he said.
Brown also met this week with Kentucky head man John Calipari at Archbishop Molloy, while assistant Tony Barbee was in attendance.
“I never seen him before in person so I was like, ‘Woah, that’s Coach Cal and I gave him a handshake, he gave me a huge, we took pictures and stuff,'” Brown said. “Just talking about how their play style is, how would I fit into their system.”
Kansas assistant Norm Roberts also met him at the school
“He talked about their play style, how would I fit in over there, how I would fit into their offense and defense,” he said.
Brown spoke with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski on Thursday.
“He was talking about how I go to Molloy, I’m a good kid and I could fit in at Duke,” he said.
Maryland assistant Bino Ranson, Arizona’s Book Richardson, UConn’s Dwayne Killings and St. John’s Matt Abdelmassih were among those also on hand.
“[My goals are] to get stronger, more athletic, being able to finish in contact, stuff like that,” Brown said.
As for Ewing, he will remain a major storyline and curiosity as he winds through his first spring and summer on the recruiting circuit.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that difficult,” Ewing said of the recruiting process on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption. “It’s all about selling yourself, selling your program. This is a great University, I think I’m a very good coach. I’m just going to have to go out there and sell myself.”
Of course, recruiting can get complicated, and it’s also a lot of hard work in less than glamorous locations.
“Wait ’til he finds out the agendas that come with each kid,” one D-1 head coach joked.
SID WILSON SAYS FOUR WORKING HARDEST
New Heights wing Sid Wilson played well alongside Brown in the team’s first game and said four schools are working the hardest: Texas, Maryland, Florida and Syracuse.
He broke down each school:
Texas: “I have a great relationship with them, the whole coaching staff. I took a visit down there last summer, it was wonderful, I loved it.”
Florida: “They showing me a lot of love. They sent three of the coaches to my open gym [at Brewster Academy], that was real big. One of my teammates [Mike Okauru] committed to Florida, he told me a lot about how they train and get players together.”
Maryland: “Me and coach Bino are real cool. They talk to me a lot. I like the program a lot.”
Syracuse: “Hometown favorite school. Me and coach Red [Autry] have a good relationship, I’ve known him since the eighth grade.”
Wilson said he’s open to other schools, though.
“My recruitment’s wide open,” he said.
TEAM RIO OUTLASTS SPORTS U
In the main event of the evening, Team Rio outlasted Sports U, 60-57, in the Battle of New Jersey.
Mike Rice, who last month coached The Patrick School to the New Jersey Tournament of Champions title, coached Team Rio to the victory.
The game was a rematch of the last year’s 16U final won by Sports U and featured a Who’s Who of coaches.
Villanova’s Jay Wright, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, Virginia’s Tony Bennett, Seton Hall’s Kevin Willard, Rutgers Steve Pikiell and assistants from Duke, Kentucky, Arizona , St, John’s, Butler, Cincinnati and many others were on hand.
“It’s definitely bragging rights, to go back home” said Team Rio 109 star Scottie Lewis. “They said that they were going to come out here and bully-ball us. I’m always up so I’m always watching and always looking around. I knew this game was big for rus to come out strong and make a statement right away and It think that’s exactly what at we did.”
The game featured at least half a dozen high -major kids, with Sports U 2018 point guard Jahvon Quinerly, shooting guard Luther Muhammad and big man Naz Reid, along with 2019s Lewis and Bryan Antoine. Antoine played very well while Lewis battled foul trouble.
Villanova, Duke, Arizona, Virginia and Seton Hall were among the schools on hand for the 6-2 Quinerly.
Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona, UConn, St. John’s, Rutgers and Seton Hall were among those watching the 6-10 Reid.
For the 6-4 Muhammad, Notre Dame, Butler, Cincinnati, Xavier, St. John’s, Rutgers and Seton Hall were on hand. He will trip to Notre Dame next Thursday.
Huge crowd here for @SportsUTeamIZOD vs @teamrionational pic.twitter.com/76hm5Pwf5m
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 22, 2017
Photo: David Shoemaker @shoe393
