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Rising juniors excited for clearer recruiting picture on June 15

06/14/2015, 11:30pm EDT

By Tom Reifsnyder and Josh Verlin

Reading (Pa.)/Team Final 2016 SG Lonnie Walker. (Photo: Tom Reifsnyder)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Monday is a big day for basketball players in the Class of 2017 across the country.

It’s on June 15 that the NCAA permits Division I coaches to call rising junior recruits for the first time, and thus is almost the unofficial start of college recruiting for those in the class who aren’t the national elite.

“I’m beyond excited,” said Reading’s Lonnie Walker (pictured), who plays on the AAU circuit with Team Final teammates a year older, who went through the hubbub a year ago. “They were saying as soon as Monday comes, you’re just on your phone all day talking and listening to coaches, it’s a different experience than usual.”

Walker is one of a select few in the region who already has some idea of where he stands in the recruiting scene; he’s been offered by Villanova and Indiana, and is very likely to be fielding calls from high-majors across the country all day long--and beyond.

For others, whose recruitment is very much in its infancy stages, Monday presents quite a bit of intrigue.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing where my recruitment is at after the last live period and last year’s high school season,” said Evan-Eric Longino, a Division I wing prospect who averaged 9.1 ppg on a deep and talented Germantown Academy squad this past year and has continued his strong play onto the summer circuit, with the Jersey Shore Warriors.

“I’m just excited to see what level of play my game is at right now, if it’s like Patriot League or a top five conference, I don’t know where it is. I have a little idea, but not so much, so I’m just interested to see where it is,” Longino added.

Like Longino, Imhotep point guard Daron Russell’s recruitment is also a bit of a mystery.

But it has nothing to do with a lack of interest.

Unlike the many prospects who post every offer or display of interest on Instagram or Twitter, you won’t hear a thing about Russell’s recruitment from the speedy 5-foot-9 point guard himself. The Public League championship MVP leaves the handling of his recruiting inquiries to Imhotep head coach Andre Noble and his stepfather Tahar Sutton, one of Noble’s assistant coaches.

“I’m looking forward to it because I don’t really know where my recruiting is because Andre and my stepdad Tahar Sutton take care of most of my recruitment, so I don’t really know how it’s going,” Russell remarked. “So it leaves a mystery of who’s going to call.”

A teammate of Russell on Team Final, Episcopal’s Nick Alikakos is another 2017 prospect getting a lot of looks from college coaches. But unlike Russell, the 6-foot-6 Inter-Ac MVP hasn’t been manually shielding himself from his own recruiting buzz.

In fact, he’s somewhat well-informed about where he stands in the process.

“I’m definitely excited, a few coaches have already contacted [Team Final coach Rob Brown] and said they would be one of my first calls; Iowa and some others,” Alikakos said. “I’m just going to see how it goes and hopefully I hear from the local schools but also schools all over the nation.”

Bottom line, these kids are chomping at the bit to get a read on their market value.

The names of the schools that call will matter to them. Yet, there’s a lot more that goes into the recruiting process than simply the reputation of a school's basketball program.

For Alikakos, feeling out the potential bond with coaches is a key factor in the decision-making process as well.

“I definitely want to build a relationship with the coaches and see what they’re like, so they can see what I’m like as a kid and a player,” Alikakos said.

Walker echoed the Episcopal wing’s sentiment, expressing a desire to form a bond with the coaches that start calling him on Monday, in addition to focusing on the educational aspect of the schools.

“I want to get out not just making me go to their school, I want to hear their school’s academics,” Walker explained. “That’s my main point is both a high-level educational school and get a bond with the coaches, see how they are with their players and their surroundings and stuff.”

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Photo credit: Tom Reifsnyder/City of Basketball Love