When Rawle Alkins returned home to the Big Apple for the Grind Session on New Year’s Eve Day, the event was barely publicized and it cost fans $25 to gain entrance to Baruch College.
Not surprisingly, there were no college coaches or NBA scouts in the building, only a few media personnel and maybe 100 fans in attendance.
“That’s why I’m saying New York should be fun at the [Big Apple Invitational],” Alkins told SNY.tv at a recent stop in Paducah, Ky. “We come back to New York [this] week. That’s my second debut back after I moved to North Carolina. The first time I came at the Grind Session, they charged $25 to enter. I had people come ’cause they told me they would come. Then they looked at the price and was like ‘Ooh, we’re not even in the NBA yet.'”
Because he played some varsity basketball as an eighth-grader in Florida, Alkins was forced to leave Christ the King High School in Queens before his senior season. After leading the Royals to three New York Catholic League titles, Alkins returns this weekend with Raleigh (N.C) Word of God Academy.
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“To have a guy of Rawle’s caliber coming back to New York City where he played three years at Christ the King is a big draw for us and I think it’s just great for New York City and the basketball community in general,” Jason Curry of Big Apple Basketball said this week on The 4 Quarters Podcast.
“Obviously, with the summer that he had last year catapulting him to one of the Top 10 players in the country, that will also attract a lot of college coaches. Generally speaking, at our event, we’ll have probably about 30-40 college coaches.”
Yes, college coaches. Alkins seems to attract them wherever he goes. Arizona assistant Book Richardson watched him this past Tuesday at Word of God, and St. John’s is expected to have a presence at Baruch on Monday.
Alkins is currently working with a list of nine schools: North Carolina, N.C. State, Arizona, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas, UNLV, St John’s and Indiana.
He says they are all working hard.
“Everyone on my list, especially with the way I’ve been playing lately.,” he said.
Alkins continues to say he will commit in the “late spring.” He has yet to take any official visits because he’s still waiting on his PSAT results. He has already taken several unofficials to North Carolina and N.C. State — now his local schools — as well as to St. John’s when he’s been home.
“Yes, but that’s not important because part of that is because North Carolina is boring and college basketball is a big thing,” he said of visiting the locals. “You get free tickets to a college game, you might as well go. I can’t wait until I get to go to the UNC vs Duke game [Feb. 17], if I can go. With the schedule that we play, we play 50 games so hopefully we don’t have a game that day.”
Alkins says he’s not necessarily buying the 247Sports.com “Crystal Ball” prediction that currently has N.C. State at 67 percent.
“Everyone thinks because I am an adidas player, I’m going to go to an adidas school or certain schools have me locked in,” Alkins said. “Once I went to North Carolina, my Crystal Ball is already set to NC State. I’m not saying that it’s not going to happen, I’m not saying that it is, but that Crystal Ball stuff, that’s causing a lot of schools to stop recruiting me. I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate that because that’s their (247Sports’) job, but at the end of the day, that’s not true.”
Alkins discussed several schools in depth, including St. John’s, which hopes to add Alkins to a 2016 recruiting class that includes fellow New York natives Shamorie Ponds and Bashir Ahmed.
“Coach [Chris] Mullin, every time I go down there they invite me to take an unofficial because you know I haven’t taken any officials,” he said. “I need to start, but the reason I haven’t is because of my PSAT score. I have to wait to get the results. They should be in anytime soon, so after I get that I’m flying everywhere, even if I have to miss a game.”
Mullin wants to keep the New York talent home as he builds a roster with several nice young pieces, including Federico Mussini, Kassoum Yakwe, Malik Ellison and Yankuba Sima.
“From what I hear and from what people say, ‘Rawle Alkins weakness is his shot,'” he said. “Coach Mullin stresses that, him being in the league, he was a three-point specialist. [Mullin and] Mitch Richmond were both three-point specialists for the Warriors. People say that’s my weakness. He’s saying how I could be the King of the city, own New York, be a legend in New York and then get better at the same time while working on my weakness. If I can have that with Chris Mullin range, with that form, with him teaching me the mechanics, the routines that he did, I feel I could be unstoppable. With the game I already have now, a big body guard that can get to the rim, create for others. So, that’s part of it, but at the same time be a legend in New York. That’s what he’s stressing to me. Hometown city kid, hometown hero, I hear it all, so he’s just saying, ‘Why not come back?’ The return of Rawle Alkins would be the headline. That’s a great thing that can happen.”
Still, several other schools are working hard, including Arizona, which sees Alkins as potentially another Stanley Johnson, a lottery pick in last year’s NBA Draft.
The Wildcats appear poised to land Kobi Simmons this weekend, but are two scholarships under and could take two guards.
“I took them off my list because I felt like they weren’t trying to contact me, but then I found out that they weren’t trying to contact me because of outsiders,” Alkins said. “A lot of outsiders saying he’s not going to want to go to the West Coast. As far as I know, my circle is just me, my cousin over there and my mom. No one else. No one else knows or controls my recruiting. I told him [Sean Miller] that. He said he didn’t think he had a shot because I’m an adidas player. I’m wide open to my list.”
North Carolina and N.C. State remain viable options and he has visited both schools.
Alkins said the scandals at North Carolina and Louisville won’t impact his decision.
“No,” he said. “The scandal isn’t going to stop good players from being good and great players from being great. They are still going to be watched. UNC is dealing with scandals but they are still Top 10 in the country now. They are currently No. 6 in the country and was No. 1 at one point of the year. Louisville, the same similar situation, they are playing really well. They are still ranked teams, they are still being seen, they have national television games. I am big on the future, I’m not big on the past.
“A lot of coaches stress you on, like last year we won a championship. I don’t care about it, it’s about when I’m there. I’m the type of player that wherever I go we can win, we’re going to win. I proved that over the summer. No matter where we played, we won the championship in adidas Gauntlet, we won USA Basketball, everything I played in, my whole mindset was just to win. I feel like winning is the biggest picture. Me playing well while we’re winning, I don’t really need to do as much to get where I want to go. A lot of guys, if you’re losing, feel like they have to average 40 points to get drafted. I feel like if we’re winning I don’t have to do as much to get to where I want to go.”
Kentucky already has two signed guards in projected lottery picks Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox, yet Alkins says Kentucky is still involved and he hears from assistant Tony Barbee.
“He’s talking to me about being an NBA team in the college,” he said. “At the same time, it’s Kentucky basketball, which speaks for itself. [John] Calipari is definitely a Hall of Fame coach. He is stressing I can be Tyreke Evans, the next Tyreke Evans when he was at Memphis. He just had that dog in him, that man amongst boys, that aggressiveness. He sees that in me, he said Tyreke Evans dribbles better, but he said I shoot it better. So, that’s different in that caliber. He compared me to Lance Stephenson, everyone says that. I don’t really pay attention to that, I don’t really pay attention to any comparison honestly. He tells me I can come in, Kentucky basketball is Kentucky basketball, they can go ten deep. They have a Malik Monk, they have a De’Aaron Fox, my confidence is already there so I don’t really need to prove anything to anyone. I’m not the type of guy that pays any attention to the rankings because I feel like I’m the best.”
Speaking of being drafted, Alkins had been listed as a projected first-round pick in 2017 by DraftExpress.com, but he’s not listed on the site’s current mock.
Alkins also missed out on getting nominated for the McDonald’s All-American Game because he is a fifth-year player, but he hopes to play in the Jordan Brand Classic April 15 in his native New York.
“Unfortunately I didn’t get nominated for the McDonald’s Game, but that’s not the end of the world,” he said. “That was a goal for me to be a McDonald’s [All-American], but it couldn’t happen this year. Jordan Brand, I think I might get invited to that. That would be awesome being a New York City guy. Getting to play at the Barclay [Center], that’s going to be fun. But if I keep playing like I’m playing now I won’t have to worry about the McDonald’s Game.”
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The Big Apple Basketball H.S. Invitational is a two-day event to showcase elite high school basketball teams in the NYC metro area, as well as nationwide. The 13th Annual, 2016 event features All-American high school players who have committed to attend notable colleges, including Kentucky, Auburn, Virginia, Syracuse, and Nevada, along with many of the nations top juniors and underclassmen.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 & MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016 @ Baruch College, NYC (corner of E. 24th St. & Lexington Ave.)
GAME SCHEDULE:
Saturday, January 16, 2016 @ Baruch College, NYC
12pm – Gilman (MD) vs. Archbishop Stepinac (NY)
1:45pm – Northfield Mt. Hermon (MA) vs. Virginia Episcopal (VA)
3:45pm – Bullis (MD) vs. Iona Prep (NY)
5:30pm – Friendship Charter (DC) vs. Benjamin Cardozo (Queens)
7:15pm – Word of God (NC) vs. Genesis (VA)
Monday, January 18, 2016 @ Baruch College, NYC
12pm – Friends (MD) vs. Queens HS of Teaching (NY)
1:45pm – Genesis (VA) vs. Notre Dame Prep (MA)
3:45pm – Word of God (NC) vs. South Kent (CT)
5:45pm – Sacred Heart (CT) vs. Long Island Lutheran (NY)
GENERAL ADMISSION: $10, YOUTH & HS STUDENTS W/ SCHOOL ID: $5
