By ADAM ZAGORIA
Nico Mannion, the 6-foot-3 point guard from West Coast Elite and Pinnacle (AZ) High School who will reclassify to 2019, has set several official visits and is closing in on a college decision.
During a phone interview Thursday, Mannion said he’s taking two online courses in addition to his regular high school courseload in order to reclassify.
“I’m taking the two online courses as well as my regular full day of school,” he said. “I’m taking a music class and then psychology. I knock my homework out first and whatever extra time I have, I get online and knock those out. I do the online ones on my own time so I can kind of maneuver through those.”
Mannion recently cut his list to four schools: Duke, Arizona, Villanova, and Marquette.
He visits Marquette (Oct. 5-8), Villanova (Oct. 11-13) and Arizona (Oct. 19-21). He will also visit Arizona Oct. 14 for the Red-White Game.
“I go to Marquette first, then ‘Nova and then Arizona,” he said. “I haven’t set the Duke one yet.”
According to 247Sports, Mannion is the No. 2 point guard in the Class of 2019.
4️⃣.. pic.twitter.com/hgZxrGQQvY
— niccolo (@niccolomannion) August 11, 2018
He broke down each school.
Duke: “The last time I talked to Duke was probably last week. That was over text [with Jon Scheyer], it wasn’t a real conversation, it was just a little check in.”
He added: “I saw the highlights [of Wednesday’s game]. I think R.J. [Barrett] had 34 and Zion [Williamson] had 29 and 13. I saw Zion’s putback and the one they called for goaltend. Most of those guys will be gone. I’m not sure about Tre Jones, I think he has a high chance of going to the NBA. But even if he’s not, I’m not really worried about that because I really think we could play well together.”
Marquette: “I talked to coach Stan Johnson [Wednesday] night for Marquette. And their pitch is to come in and you’ll have the ball in your hands. Their class is already rated the No. 1 offense in the country right now and most of their guys are returning the year I’ll be there if I were to go there. So he said I just could add to that. I’ll be the main decision-maker, the ball will be in my hands. It’s a situation where if I play well, we’ll win. And if not, we’ll lose, which is big for me because you gotta get used to that at some point.
“I really like their staff, and I have a good relationship with Stan Johnson. I really like how they pitch their program, it’s family-based. They play an up-tempo style, which is what I like, and they give their guards freedom.”
Villanova: “I was actually talking to JQ [Jahvon Quinerly] the other day and he says he loves it up there. He said if you want to be a pro, this is the place to be because they work. You saw Donte [DiVincenzo] wasn’t projected very high and then he ended up going No. 17, so they’re really big on just getting in the gym and working every day and getting better. And obviously they have the two national titles in the last three years, which is huge. They have a great thing going there.”
Arizona: “Coach [Mark] Phelps and I have kind of been going through their roster about who they’re going to have if I were to go there in ’19. They’ll have an older roster as well the players that they’re going to get. But I’m close to a couple of their players, like Ira [Lee] and Brandon Williams, which is cool. So I’ve talked to them a little bit and they say they love it up there.”
As for a timeline, “I really don’t have a set date. If I have a feeling like I really want to commit, I probably will but I’m trying to get it done by January for sure. But it could possibly be earlier since I’m going on my visits in October.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
