By ADAM ZAGORIA
Kofi Cockburn, the 6-foot-11 big man from the NY Rens and Christ the King High School, took an unofficial visit to St. John’s on Tuesday.
“They talked about player development a lot,” Rens assistant Karriem Memminger said. “They focused on his strengths and weaknesses and what he needs to work on to get to the next level. They also talked about how they plan to use him.”
Cockburn is a priority target for head coach Chris Mullin and assistant Matt Abdelmassih in 2019, where they are also focusing on Ranney (N.J.) wing Scottie Lewis and Lawrence Woodmere (N.Y.) big man Aidan Igiehon, among others. Lewis visited recently and Igiehon was on campus Monday.
Cockburn will next trip to UConn Friday. It’s a busy period for the Huskies, who also hosted 2019 Putnam Science (CT) forward Akok Akok last Friday and 2019 St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.) wing Precious Achiuwa on Monday, with 2019 Westtown (PA) School point guard Jalen Gaffney also due this week.
Cockburn is looking to cut his list to 10 schools in the coming weeks. He currently has a group of schools that includes Georgetown, Kansas, Illinois, Ohio State, Villanova, Syracuse, St. John’s, UConn and Tennessee.
“I have like 30 [offers] now,” he said.
Cockburn recently picked up offers from Kansas and Tennessee but said he wants to hear from the “blue blood schools” — Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.
“It’s always good to have them on your stuff and they produce pros every year,” he said. “And that’s one of my goals, is to become a pro.”
