Kadeem Jack has inched closer to picking a school.
The former Rice standout headed to South Kent (Conn.) in the fall for a postgraduate year narrowed his list of suitors to Rutgers, Miami, Arkansas and West Virginia on Sunday.
“I feel like I can make an impact at all these schools right away and that’s what I want,” said the 6-foot-9 forward originally from Trinidad & Tobago who now resides in Queens. “I know all the coaches want to develop me, make me the best player I can be.”
The eighth-ranked power forward in the Class of 2011 according to Scout.com, Jack has visited all four schools, with official visits to Miami and Arkansas and unofficial visits to Rutgers and West Virginia. He plans to take official visits to the latter two sometime this month.
Jack said Miami and Arkansas made the cut partly because they were the first two to seriously recruit him. St. John’s was in the mix – former Rice coach Maurice Hicks is now the Red Storm’s direction of basketball operations – but Jack said “they weren’t there at the end.” He declined to elaborate. West Virginia has earned a reputation for making city standouts – such as Devin Ebanks (now with the Los Angeles Lakers) – significantly better, and reached the Final Four last March under Bob Huggins.
Rutgers has put the press on Jack since Mike Rice took over the floundering program in New Brunswick, N.J., and brought along expert city recruiter Van Macon, formerly of Hofstra and Fordham. According to sources, they have told Jack he could become the face of the program and they would build around him.
“That definitely does interest me,” he said. “It makes me feel like they are serious about what they are doing.”
Beyond its scenic locale, Miami has one distinct advantage: the presence of rising sophomore guard Durand Scott, Jack’s teammate at Rice for two years. The two still talk often, and Jack said joining Scott would lessen the difficult transition all freshmen go through.
“It definitely is an added bonus,” Jack said. “He wants me to come, but he doesn’t want that to impact my decision.”
Wherever he ends up, Jack said he hopes to decide before leaving for South Kent the first week of September.
“I’m gonna sit down with my mom, [Louisa Hall], and [advisor] Damian Leslie, go over the pros and cons of each school, and see what is the best fit,” he said.
Harkless takes charge of recruiting: Maurice Harkless’ list of eight (St. John’s, Rutgers, Maryland, North Carolina State, Memphis, Florida, Cincinnati and Arizona) remains the same. One difference is how he is going about the process. The 6-foot-8 small forward from Jamaica, Queens, who initially committed to Connecticut, is organizing his visits, such as the official he will take to Maryland on Sept. 2 and the unofficial to St. John’s on Sept. 18.
Basically, the South Kent-bound Harkless is handling his own recruiting, a decision made jointly by Harkless and advisor Nate Blue. Blue is still there to assist, but felt it was a necessary step so Harkless is sure to be comfortable with the school he selects. Harkless calls coaches and they have now been told to contact him directly, instead of Blue.
“It’s a part of becoming a man — making your own decisions,” Harkless said.
Nunez down to six: Bronx native Angel Nunez has cut his list of schools down to six: Miami, West Virginia, Florida, Louisville, Arizona and Rutgers. The talented 6-foot-7 wing, who spent last season at Winchendon (Mass.) and plans to attend Notre Dame Prep (Mass.) this year, hopes to commit in early September.
“The reason why these are the schools is they have been recruiting me from the beginning and they have consistently been on me strong,” he said.
Nunez, ranked 20th in the nation in the Class of 2011 among small forwards by Scout.com, has visited Arizona and Rutgers. He doesn’t have any other visits scheduled and said he could commit without taking any more trips to prospective schools.