ARDSLEY, N.Y. — Nate Pierre-Louis helped lead his Sports U team to the Rumble in the Bronx 17U gold division championhip on Sunday at the House of Sports.
The 6-foot-3 Roselle Catholic point guard scored 20 points in a 52-50 semifinal win over the Albany City Rocks and then added another 20 in a 76-61 win over Playaz Remix in the championship game.
On the recruiting front, Pierre-Louis mentioned Vanderbilt, Purdue, Seton Hall, UConn, Rutgers, SMU, Creighton, Tulsa, Temple and Syracuse as the teams he is hearing from at the current moment.
“Mostly I get phone calls from Purdue, Vanderbilt, Temple, Seton Hall, and SMU,” Pierre-Louis said about the schools who are trying hardest for his services.
With the summer progressing and the AAU circuits end in sight, Pierre-Louis said he plans to take “four or five” visits in August to begin focusing in on what school he wants to play for at the next level.
Mad scramble leads to a thunderous dunk for @Nate_PL of @SportsUTeamIZOD at #Rumbleinthebronx ⚡️���� pic.twitter.com/PLmYoOXjp3
– Overtime (@overtime) June 12, 2016
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Playing close to home is something Pierre-Louis is considering, with Seton Hall consistently recruiting the guard.
“I have no problem staying home at all, i just wanna make sure the situation fits right for me,” he said.
Rather than waiting for his senior season at Roselle Catholic to field more offers, Pierre-Louis plans on picking his future home in either October or November, “before the basketball season starts,” to focus on his game.
Pierre-Louis had success getting to the rim Sunday afternoon, but couldn’t seem to hit a consistent jumper, something the guard says he plans to focus on in the coming months.
“I gotta work on my free throws and my jump shot getting more consistent,” he said. “I gotta work on my left hand. I gotta work on everything and becoming more of a complete player.”
Long-time New York basketball guru Tom Konchalski was in attendance to see Pierre-Louis play and echoed the guard’s sentiment on improving his jump shot consistency.
“The position he plays is critical because right now his Achilles heel is he’s not a consistent outside shooter,” he said. “If he’s going to be a 2-guard, and he has the size of a 2-guard, he’s gotta be able to become a more consistent outside scorer.”
Konchalski did offer Pierre-Louis an alternative to success if he is unable to knock down a consistent outside shot.
“He’s gotta become a real point guard, which he isn’t right now,” he said. “He has more of the instinct of a scorer. His first instinct is to look to attack the basket and score. If he wants to play at the highest level he’s either gotta become a real point guard and be able to run a team and make other people better.”
The scouting guru channeled a saying of the late Detroit Pistons head coach Chuck Daly when referring to the Sports U point man.
“Shooting covers a multitude of sins,” Konchalski said. And “Shooting remains basketball’s easy pass, he gotta improve his consistent outside shot.”
When asked if Pierre-Louis has legitimate high-major talent Konchalski remained adamant that “he’s gotta go one of those two routes,” in either shot improvement or pure point guard skills, but did say that the guard has “gotten so much stronger and so much more explosive athletically. there’s no question he’s a good level of Division I.”
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