By ADAM ZAGORIA
HILLSIDE, N.J. – Jonathan Kuminga strolled into the gym at The Patrick School on Thursday afternoon having just gotten off a plane from his unofficial visit to Georgia and in time for his team’s state playoff game Thursday evening.
With the Celtics off during the early portion of the week, the 6-foot-8 Kuminga visited the SEC school and saw the Bulldogs lose to Florida, 68-54, on Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum.
“The crowd was good, pretty much everything was good out there,” Kuminga said. “I like the crowd, I like the stuff, pretty much everybody was cool.”
Georgia coach Tom Crean has coached Dwyane Wade, Victor Oladipo and now Anthony Edwards, who could end up being the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
“His message is if you watch Anthony Edwards play, he pretty much thinks we got kind of the same game,” Kuminga said. “He’s going to put me in a position to be successful to just grow my game and just be good.”
I talked to @JonathanKuming6 , the nation’s No. 1 junior from @tps_hsbb and @NYRhoops , about his unofficial this week to @UGABasketball pic.twitter.com/vdYLOLdUfV
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 5, 2020
He added of Crean: “Yeah, I like it. He’s got a lot of experience. He had people from first year, second year, they always went pro. Any time he got people, they always went pro. And he’s a great guy, I just like the way he talk.”
More from @JonathanKuming6 on Tom Crean being a ‘great guy’ after his @UGABasketball visit pic.twitter.com/ixwQYP73mI
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 5, 2020
Kuminga, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is already pretty good. He’s the No. 1 junior in the nation and a projected lottery pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
“Jonathan’s upside is incredible,” said NY Rens coach Andy Borman, who coaches Kuminga on the Nike EYBL circuit. “He can play any position on both sides of the ball. All he cares about is getting the result and winning the game. He’s a complete competitor.”
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— Fresh Focus Sports (@freshfocusports) March 1, 2020
🏀🏆🏀
.#ThePatrickSchool @patrickschool won the Union County Championship last night – led by #NoahFarrakhan and #JonathanKuminga @JonathanKuming6
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Take an inside look at their performance here!@AdamZagoria #ZAGSBLOG#NJhoops #NJBasketball #KyrieIrving @KyrieIrving pic.twitter.com/W2id8bRBjJ
In the fall, Kuminga issued a list of 10 schools he’s considering: Kentucky, Duke, Washington, Florida State, Memphis, Texas Tech, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, and Auburn.
“I got 10 schools, that was the first [visit],” Kuminga said. “Coach [Chris Chavannes] just let me go because I asked coach and he was like alright, you’re fine to go but you just gotta come back before the game. So I just went out there to visit.”
He said he “doesn’t know yet” which schools he will visit next, but he wants to visit all 10 on his list.
“Even Georgia just happened because that was their last home game, so I just wanted to go out there,” he said.
Kuminga and The Patrick School are the No. 2 seed in the loaded North Non-Public B bracket and were set to face No. 7 Montclair Immaculate Thursday night at Rahway High School. If they win, they could face Cliff Omoruyi and No. 3 Roselle Catholic for a fourth time this season on Saturday night in the North Non-Public B semifinals. The Celtics are 3-0 against the Lions this season, including a win in last Saturday’s Union County title game in which Kuminga had 12 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to win the school’s seventh New Jersey Tournament of Champions title.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the main focus,” Kuminga said.
***For more on Kuminga, read this.
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