By ALEX KLINE & ADAM ZAGORIA
NEWARK, N.J. — Eugene McCrory committed to Seton Hall back in February, only to re-open his commitment after the coaching change last spring.
But the 6-foot-8, 245-pound McCrory was back Saturday to watch Rutgers beat Seton Hall, 66-60, at The Rock.
A Maryland native spending a post-grad year at CJEOTO Academy in New Jersey, McCrory has a long list of schools expressing interest, including Seton Hall, Hofstra, Wagner, Indiana, Northestern, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado and Clemson.
“The only schools that have offered are Wagner, Hofstra and Northeastern,” he said.
He added: “Right now I have no favorites. I’m just focused on my recruitment right now and trying to finish up the year.”
McCrory said he wants to find the right level at which to play.
“It would be great to play in a conference like this [the Big East], but it doesn’t really matter to me as long as the coach pushes me to the next level and gets me where I need to be,” he said.
Asked if he hoped Maryland would offer, McCrory said: “Yeah, that would be nice. That’s not my problem right now. I’m just trying to keep playing my game. Don’t let that worry me. Just keep playing my game. If they offer or not, I’m just going to keep playing to my competition.”
RECRUITING ROUNDUP
The Pirates staff also hosted three of the top sophomores in the area for the Rutgers game. Jaren Sina of Gill St. Bernard (NJ), Davon Reed of Princeton Day (NJ) and Shane Rector of St. Raymond (NY) all sat behind the Seton Hall bench. Sina has been to a number of games this year, but it was the first for Rector and Reed. Pirates assistant coach Dan McHale watched Reed play on Wednesday.
Also on the Seton Hall front, 2011 signee Haralds Karlis and his Canarias Basketball Academy (CBA) team will take a tour of the U.S. from Jan. 30-Feb. 6 that includes a pair of games against Redemption Christian and NIA Prep Jan. 30 at Walsh Gym.
They will also play in the National Prep School Invitational Tournament Feb. 3-6 at the University of Rhode Island.
Seton Hall was not the only school who had big visitors for their game on Saturday, however, as St. John’s reeled a local in. Junior Daniel Dingle of St. Raymond attended the Red Storm’s game against Cincinnati and enjoyed himself.
The entire DePaul staff, including Oliver Purnell, was in attendance for an Illinois battle between Morgan Park and Simeon. Both schools featured a number of high major recruits, including Jabari Parker, Steve Taylor, Kendrick Nunn, Markee Williams and Billy Garrett Jr., the son of DePaul assistant Billy Garrett.
Despite a weekend full of Big East recruiting stories, Derek Kellogg and UMass made a big move on Sunday morning when they offered two of the top sophomores in New Jersey. Hudson Catholic stars Reggie Cameron and Kavon Stewart received scholarship offers from the Minutemen.
The 2013 guard also hold offers from Cincinnati and Seton Hall, while Rutgers offered Cameron as well. Virginia has also inquired about both players.
On Thursday night, sophomore forward Austin Colbert of St. Patrick (NJ) attended his second Big East basketball game of the week. The 6-9 Colbert was invited to watch Rutgers play USF. Two nights before that, Austin attended the Seton Hall game against Georgetown with a number of other recruits. He currently has a number of Big East and ACC schools after him.
The Primetime Shootout took place this weekend in West Virginia. With Friday and Saturday being off days for the Mountaineers, their coaching staff, Bob Huggins included, watched a few of their targets.
The West Virginia staff watched Sim Bhullar, Stefan Jankovic, Maurice Aniefiok and Jaylen Beckham of Huntington Prep (WV). Along with that, they took in Mike Young, Philip Nolan, Tyler Ennis, Jamel Artis and Jaylen Reid of St. Benedict’s Prep.
Speaking of Ennis, the newest member of the St. Benedict’s squad is attracting a plethora of new interest. After enrolling at the Newark school only a few weeks ago, Tyler has already picked up offers from Rutgers and Seton Hall. Other schools are showing interest though as West Virginia and USF watched him play this weekend. Oregon State, Kentucky, Florida and a number of other schools have inquired about him.
As USF watched at the Primetime Shootout, they decided to offer a Serbian standout from Huntington Prep. Stefan Jankovic, a 6-9 junior who transferred during the middle of the season, was offered by the Bulls staff. To add to the excitement, Georgetown came into the equation, as well, and offered Jankovic. “I hadn’t been playing my best basketball up until this weekend,” he said. “I played much better and am very excited about my new offers. I finally got back in my groove.”
California watched former DePaul commit Braeden Anderson ’11 of Wilbraham Monson (MA) practice over the weekend.
6-5 2011 wing Kelvin Amayo of NIA Prep has added Providence and Oregon State to his list.
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