Shamorie Ponds has officials set to St. John’s and Minnesota following his Creighton trip. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Under Armour)
Following his recent official visit to Creighton, Shamorie Ponds has three more official visits slated and could then make a decision.
The 6-foot-2 Brooklyn (N.Y.) Thomas Jefferson guard will visit St. John’s officially Aug. 28-30, Providence Sept. 11-13 and then Minnesota Sept. 18-20.
“He’s going to take those and make his decision,” Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard told SNY.tv on Wednesday.
He recently cut his list to four schools — St. John’s, Minnesota, Creighton and Providence.
Ponds was a guest on The 4 Quarters Podcast Wednesday and said his visit to Creighton was excellent.
“The visit was awesome,” he said on the Podcast.. “It shocked me. It was better than I expected. Everything was big…And the coach [Greg McDermott] is a cool guy, I like the coach.”
So for now, Ponds will play in the Big Strick Classic on Saturday at the Gauchos Gym and then plan for his St. John’s visit.
“I would just try to be the man of New York City and just stay home,” he said of the appeal of possibly playing at St. John’s.
Ponds said he knows New York fans would love to see local guys like himself and Rawle Alkins stay home and play for head coach Chris Mullin.
“If we all stay and played, people would be happy because they want to see us play at St. John’s together,” Ponds said. “But depending on my decision, I don’t know. But people would love to see that.”
Pollard said it’s possible Ponds could pull the trigger on or after that visit and forego the other visits.
“Unless St. John’s knocks his socks off to the point where he doesn’t take that visit,” Pollard said. “If St. John’s knocks his socks off you never know. You never could say never.”
Ponds averaged 25 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists last season and had two 40-point games and 11 30-point games.
In other St. John’s news, Kassoum Yakwe will take an official to St. John’s Aug. 13-15, as reported earlier.
