Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin watched Jermaine Lawrence work out on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-10 Lawrence of Pope John XXIII is considering Cincinnati, St. John’s and UNLV and is expected to announce soon.
He will visit St. John’s this coming weekend, according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com. After visiting Rutgers Wednesday, the Johnnies host Seton Hall Sunday.
Lawrence has yet to play this season as he recovers from hand surgery.
“[Coach Cronin] watched our game-day workout and talked to me and Jermaine for a little while about how he would fit in at Cincy,” Pope John coach Jason Hasson told SNY.tv.
Asked what his message was, Hasson added: “On offense, they like to focus on mismatches in their offense and Jermaine is the ultimate mismatch. With guard quickness and forward size, he creates a mismatch almost on every possession.
“Defensively, the way they pressure to have an elite shot-blocker like Jermaine would allow them to pressure even more than they already do.”
Cincinnati has a recent tradition of landing tough players from New York and New Jersey, including Lance Stephenson, Sean Kilpatrick, Jermaine Sanders and Shaq Thomas.
Of Cincinnati, Lawrence recently told SNY.tv: “Cincinnati, the coaching staff is real cool. They’ve been keeping in touch with me since my sophomore year. I like the way they use their forwards and they’re a tough team. There’s nothing better than playing with a tough team.”
Hasson said Cincinnati also offered 6-9 2015 forward Moustapha Diagne, who put up 25 points and 16 rebounds in Monday’s loss to Brooklyn South Shore at the Big Apple Invitational. Cincinnati assistant Darren Savino previously watched Diagne at the Hoop Group Tip-Off.
Diagne has recently added offers from Oregon State, George Mason, La Salle, Rider and Towson to go along with previous ones from West Virginia and Cleveland State.
