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Cherry Hill East's Jake Silpe commits to Penn

07/30/2014, 1:30pm EDT
By Andrew Koob

Andrew Koob (@AndrewKoob)
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Cherry Hill East guard Jake Silpe's decision figured to stretch well into the fall as the guard tried to sort from over a dozen offers, all from schools who wanted him to run their offense for the next four years.

Instead, he's made up his mind before July even ended. Silpe Tweeted out his decision on Wednesday afternoon, announcing he would be attending Penn's Wharton School of Business and playing for the Quakers.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, after July ended, it gave me time to focus and think about what I want, and I believe that going to Penn was the perfect school for me," he said. "It’s in my backyard, my parents can support me, all my friends and hometown friends can support me, and I want to major in business and it’s the best business school in the entire country."

Ultimately, Silpe said, his recruitment came down to figuring out which league he wanted to play in.

The 6-foot 2 guard had most of the Ivy League and nearly every Patriot League school involved in his recruitment, looking for a true floor general who's been a winner on the high school and AAU circuit ever since he broke onto Division I radars. He'd also garnered offers from some other schools like Florida Gulf Coast and Drexel, but the combination of what the Ivy/Patriot schools presented was too much to pass up.

"I was probably going to choose between the two leagues, just because of the basketball and the academics," he said. "I narrowed it down to one school, to Penn in the Ivy League and I had a couple of schools in the Patriot--I know I was talking to Bucknell, BU and Colgate, Colgate the most.

"I just thought that it’s a wasted opportunity if I didn't go to the University of Pennsylvania."

As a junior, Silpe led Cherry Hill East to its first-ever South Jersey Group 4 championship, going 14-of-14 from the free throw line in a title game where he dropped 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.

He was the heart and soul of the Cougars' run into the state playoffs, coming up with big buckets whenever his team needed him to, and it's a quality that had coaches and scouts buzzing about him all summer long.

Silpe joins fellow Jersey Shore Warrior, 6-6 wing Jule Brown, in the Quakers' 2015 recruiting class, which also features two Northfield Mount Herman (Mass.) players in 6-1 shooting guard Jackson Donahue and 6-11 big man Collin McManus.

Brown said after he committed back in June that getting Silpe to follow him would be a big part of his summer, and he certainly didn't let his AAU teammate forget it.

“We would be at tournaments a lot, and Jule would just keep on mentioning ‘Jake we could be roommates, Jake go to Penn,'' Silpe said. "It was just small things but he kept on trying, he kept pushing me and we’re both excited to play with each other”

Throughout the April and July live periods, Silpe impressed a number of Division I teams with the Warriors, leaning on his ability to create opportunities for others and his uncanny leadership to lead the Warriors to a number of tough-fought victories.

Once the freshmen make their way to West Philadelphia for the 2015-2016 season, the Quakers will have 17 roster players, but this is a group that should make an impact sooner rather than later.

Silpe gives the program the true point guard it's been looking for since Zack Rosen graduated back in 2012, while the sharpshooting Donahue and athletic Brown also bringing a missing element to the program. McManus will likely be behind then-senior Darien Nelson-Henry in the middle when he gets to campus, but should see plenty of court time his final three seasons.


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