PHILADELPHIA — Naz Reid is here at the Under Armour All-America Camp at Philadelphia University this week but won’t play because of a twisted knee he suffered last week at the Under Armour finals.
“Twisted it in Atlanta,” the 6-foot-10 Class of 2018 big man from Sports U and Roselle (N.J.) Catholic said here Wednesday.
Reid is coming off his first official visit to LSU.
“It was good,” he said. “The school was bigger than I thought it was. There were a lot of interesting things. I saw the football stadium is big, the basketball court is big. The team is very family united, I like that. That’s a big thing. I feel like there’s a lot family-wise going on there.”
He said LSU has been recruiting him for two years but ramped up their interest after Will Wade took the job this spring.
LSU told him he’s a big priority.
“Mostly likely, I’d be on the ball a lot,” Reid said. “Run things through me, Javonte, things like that.”
LSU landed a pledge from 2018 point guard Javonte Smart and Smart is working on getting Reid to join him. The two know one another from USA Basketball and an adidas select team that traveled to Italy.
“We’re real close,” the 6-4 Smart told NOLA.com. “That’s my man and I’m just trying to get him to come over here with me.”
Meantime, incoming freshman guard Tremont Waters knows Reid, too.
“We’re pretty cool, I talk to him the last year or so,” he said.
Reid’s girlfriend, Raven Farley, is an incoming freshman on the LSU women’s team. She attended Queen of Peace in New Jersey.
The No. 11-ranked player in the 2018 ESPN 60, Reid now lists a top seven of Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Seton Hall and UCLA.
He said he will take official visits to UCLA and Kansas in September, possibly with AAU teammate Jahvon Quinerly. Meantime, Quinerly said he would likely visit Kansas in late August, while a UCLA visit could be in October.
“Yeah, UCLA and Kansas,” Reid said of going with Quinerly.
He said the message from both schools was “they love the way I play and the potential I bring.”
Reid also wants to take officials to Arizona and Kentucky. Quinerly has already visited Arizona.
Quinerly, who is also here at camp but has yet to play, lists Arizona, Kansas, Seton Hall and UCLA among his seven, along with Villanova, Virginia and Stanford. The two have talked about going to school together.
“Yeah, no doubt we could go to school together,” Reid said. “I love the way he plays, he love the way I play. He’s like my brother. Of course, we talk about a lot together.
Package deals are discussed all the time, but is it realistic in this case?
“Yeah, definitely,” Reid said. “I see a lot of potential in him, and he sees a lot of potential in me. We both just have a lot of feel for each other, so why not?”
Asked if Quinerly might go to LSU, Reid said, “I haven’t talked to him about that.”
Meantime, Reid wants to visit Arizona and Kentucky, too.
“Arizona and Kentucky,” he said. “I should be making a visit [to Arizona], not sure when.”
Kentucky has yet to offer but Reid said he spoke to Tony Barbee “last week maybe. “They just definitely want me to be the best version of me. If I can keep that consistent 110 [percent] battle effort, then the sky’s the limit.”
He still hopes to land a Kentucky offer.
“Yes,” he said.
Asked if Seton Hall was still realistic, he said: “Yes, definitely. They’re here. Of course they have a shot, they’ve been recruiting me since seventh grade, so I would never take them off my list just because it’s a home school or just because it’s Seton Hall. I feel like that school is, I can say, a home.”
