Lance Stephenson is the No. 1 senior basketball player in the nation.
Pittsburgh is the No. 1 college team in the land.
Could the two be destined for a match?
Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion watched Stephenson drop 37 points last week on Brooklyn Boys & Girls in a loss and a source close to the situation says Stephenson has “interest” in the Panthers.
Pitt has numerous ties to the metropolitan area, including current senior guard Levance Fields of Brooklyn. The Panthers have done well recruiting New York and New Jersey and just landed a verbal commitment from Isaiah Epps, a junior point guard from Plainfield (NJ) High.
Stephenson has mentioned St. John’s, Kansas, Memphis and USC among his suitors but it’s not hard to imagine him ending up at Pitt.
The Big East campus is only about five hours from New York, close enough for his family and friends to watch, but not as far as Kansas or Memphis. Additionally, the Panthers play numerous games in the area at St. John’s, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Villanova, as well as the Big East tournament in March.
“Right now, I’m just worrying about basketball and at the end I’ll do all that college stuff,” Stephenson said previously. “I’m going to do my high school season and after that I look forward to telling everybody what school I should go to.”
**[Check out the SNY video interview with Tom Konchalski where he discusses Lance Stephenson’s recruitment.]
**Stephenson and Lincoln have a couple of very high-profile games coming up in the coming weeks:
Jan. 17 — vs. Jamestown-Dewitt, Big Apple Invitational, Baruch College
Jan. 19 — vs. LeFlore (Ala.), Hoophall Classic, Hall of Fame (ESPNU)
Jan. 24 — vs. St. Benedict’s, Newark Invitational, Prudential Center
Feb. 3 — vs. Thomas Jefferson
Feb. 5 — vs. Boys & Girls
FAVORS, GILCHRIST UPDATES
My man Alex Schwartz of the Northstar Basketball Blog has updates on senior Derrick Favors and sophomore MIchael Gilchrist here.
The 6–9 Favors is down to Georgia, Georgia Tech and N.C. State, while the 6–7 Gilchrist lists Syracuse, Villanova, Memphis, UMass and Seton Hall.
pitt09 / January 12, 2009
Zags,
There is no real possibility of this for Pitt correct? Within the last month we lost Duran Scott and Dominic Cheek so it’s virtually unforeseeable for people here to believe that Stephenson would come. Whats your thoughts?
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Adam Zagoria / January 12, 2009
I really don’t know where Lance will end up. AT times I’m pretty convinced he will go to St. John’s for a year. Spend a year near his family, recharge the Garden in the biggest media market in the world and go to the NBA from there. Then I see Bill Self sitting courtside for his ESPN game and you have to think Kansas is taking a long, hard look. Now you see Pitt involved. I would never underestimate the recruiting skills of Coach Herrion or Knight, as they have landed some great players from this area…If they put their mind to it, it might not be a hard sell…Then of course, others think Lance goes to Europe for a year….We won’t know the answer until the spring.
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PittGrad91 / January 12, 2009
Waiting until the Spring is the key for Pitt. If Blair leaves then Pitt has a scholly open. If Blair stays then it would require someone else transferring out (doubtful at this point but not impossible)
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