Brandon Sampson, the uncommitted 2015 guard out of Baton Rouge (LA) Madison Prep, is down to three schools and will announce his college choice on Monday morning at 10 a.m., according to NOLA.com.
“It’s down to three schools, it’s Oklahoma State, LSU and St. John’s,” Madison Prep coach Jeff Jones told SNY.tv by phone on Sunday morning. “That’s it. It’s definitely narrowed down, and I would say LSU probably has the inside track, kind of being the home school. And St. John’s is right there as well.”
LSU already has a loaded class with Ben Simmons and Antonio Blakeney signed, and they are also in the mix for Malik Newman.
Meantime, new St. John’s coach Chris Mullin and his staff flew to Louisiana and met Sampson later Saturday after meeting with Cheick Diallo. Sampson decommitted from St. John’s after Steve Lavin was fired.
“It went well, he just kind of reiterated to Brandon and us that everything that he liked about St. John’s before was still there and the direction of the program was definitely in an upward posture,” Jones said.
“[Sampson] seemed interested and engaged, just kind of taking it all in. It’s his first time ever meeting coach [Mullin] face-to-face so it’s kind of hard to say. Coach definitely commands respect with his track record and things he’s accomplished, so from that standpoint Brandon was definitely interested and listening. I don’t know how what the outcome is, but I know he enjoyed meeting coach and he listened to him and we’re just going to go from there.”
Jones said Sampson doesn’t have any other visits planned at the moment.
“Not that I know of, he hasn’t said anything to me yet,” Jones said. “We’re just of waiting to see how everything plays out.”
“I’m just trying to evaluate everything, all of my options,” he told NOLA.com. “I don’t want to wait too late, but I just don’t wanna jump into it too early.”
Meantime, St. John’s fans showered Sampson’s Twitter with messages encouraging him to come to New York and play for Mullin at Madison Square Garden.
MY TWITTER GOING CRAZY ????????????
— Bsamp (@Bsamp0) April 18, 2015
The 6-foot-9 Diallo is considering Iowa State, St. John’s, Kentucky, Kansas and Pitt. He was the MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game and also earned MVP honors in Friday night’s Jordan Brand Classic, where he went for 26 points and 11 rebounds in the East’s loss.
“There were a lot of fans here,” Diallo said after the game. “I am just so excited to be in New York. I say that’s my state. I’m just so excited.”
Diallo met Saturday with Mullin after meeting with Kansas head coach Bill Self Friday night.
Both visits “went very well,” a source told SNY.tv.
Diallo is expected to meet Sunday night with Kentucky coach John Calipari, the source confirmed.
“I’m trying to make a decision maybe Jordan Game or after Jordan Game,” he recently told OregonLive.com. “I wanna know what players are going to the NBA and what players are not going. That’s my big thing.”
Diallo is projected at No. 12 in 2016 by DraftExpress.com.
Meantime, 2015 Chicago point guard Marcus LoVett Tweeted a list of schools that looked like this:
Top choices in order ???? • St. John’s • Memphis • Illinois • UCI • DPU • Pitt • UNLV • SDSU
— Marcus LoVett (@Marcus_LoVett) April 18, 2015
Twitter photo via @gionysports ·
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