By ADAM ZAGORIA
Ahead of his official visits later this fall, Class of 2019 shooting guard Bryan Antoine took an unofficial to Villanova on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-5 Antoine from the Ranney School (N.J.) and Team Rio is the No. 12 player in the Class of 2019, per ESPN.com. He will take officials Florida (Sept. 15), Kentucky (Sept. 22), Duke (Sept. 29) and Villanova (Nov. 3).
“Villanova is only like an hour and 45 [minutes] from my house so it’s kind of like the home school,” Antoine told me earlier this year. “In the past three years they’ve won two national championships, there’s no other place you can do that at home. You can go in there and win a national championship.”
He added: “For any 18-, 17-year-old, to come into one school and be that guy and be able to make it to the national championship, that’s pretty amazing.”
Bryan Antoine with the GAME WINNER at Curry Camp ? @BryanAntoine_ #WEWILL #SC30SelectCamp pic.twitter.com/NuIrlCJmW8
— Overtime (@overtime) August 8, 2018
Duke and Kentucky have produced a slew of one-and-dones in recent years, while Villanova hasn’t produced one since Tim Thomas in 1997. Still, Antoine says that’s not an issue for him.
“It really doesn’t matter if the school produces one-and-dones or not,” he said. “I mean, if you have the talent and you work hard, you can go.”
Indeed, Villanova is involved for several players who could be one-and-dones in the 2020 NBA Draft. Antoine, Scottie Lewis and Cole Anthony are all projected on at least one 2020 mock.
“Villanova’s not known for having one-and-dones, but it’s always a one-time thing where one player comes in and breaks that,” Antoine said.
Meantime, Lewis is still more wide open. His most recent list includes Villanova, St. John’s, Kentucky, Duke, Florida, Harvard and Stanford, and he has set three officials so far.
Antoine thinks they could still wind up going to school together.
“Yeah, me and Scottie been talking out that for a while now, so that’s still in consideration,” he said. “I feel as though whenever he feels it’s time for him to commit, he’ll commit. When I feel it’s the right time to commit, I will.”
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