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Hoop Group Elite Camp II Day One Notebook (2019s)

07/19/2018, 12:30am EDT
By Josh Verlin & Tyler Sandora

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Tyler Sandora (@tyler_sandora)

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READING, Pa. — A loaded crop of rising seniors, juniors and sophomores descended on Albright College this week for the second Hoop Group Elite Camp in as many weeks, drawing out coaches from some of the top programs in the country as the second of three July live recruiting periods tipped off at 5 PM on Wednesday night.

Here’s a notebook featuring 2019 prospects from games that took place early on Wednesday, before the coaches were allowed on, as well as once the live action got underway:

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Qudus Wahab (back) defends WeR1 teammate Eric Dixon (with ball) in Wednesday morning game action. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Qudus Wahab (2019/Flint Hill, Va.)

Wahab’s opponent in the post for his first game of the elite camp was a familiar face, if not a familiar foe: Eric Dixon, the Abington (Pa.) forward and Villanova commit who typically lines up alongside Wahab for WeR1 on the Under Armour circuit.

Those two form one of the formidable frontcourts around, with both Dixon and Wahab both bound to play amongst the highest levels of college hoops.

“He’s another big guy,” Wahab said of Dixon, “So he’s making me more aggressive on defense, sliding my feet and trying to be more aggressive on offense, too.”

“He’s a very unselfish player,” the Nigeria native added, “so he makes things easy…we can play the high-low, as two big men, so it’s been easy with him.”

At 6-foot-10 and 230 pounds, Wahab is a true center, a perfect complement to the 6-7 left-handed Dixon, who can both bully opponents in the post — something he did quite a bit to Wahab in their matchup Wednesday morning — and take them outside, with an ever-improving 3-point stroke.

But Wahab had plenty of his own moments, including some nifty footwork on a duck-under layup, followed just a couple possessions later by a 3-pointer of his own, from straightaway. Though it’s not yet what the defensive-minded post presence is known for, that increasing versatility is what’s needed if he’s going to play major minutes for a high-major program before long.

“[I’m working on] my face-up game, you know, getting more aggressive on offense, trying to score more, stuff like that,” he said. “My jump shot, too.”

Wahab’s got plenty of schools after his services; when asked who was coming at him hardest at the moment, he included Virginia Tech, VCU, Syracuse, South Carolina, Rhode Island and Pittsburgh off the top of his head, but added there were “a lot more,” including Louisville, which he visited last month. By the time Friday night ended, he’d added another high-major offer, from Miami (Fl.).

Also in the mix is Temple, which offered him last month after seeing him play with WeR1 at its team camp.

“They’re involved, a lot involved,” Wahab said. “They just texted me this morning and asked how my weekend was. They’re very involved.”

Wahab said he plans on cutting his list after July ends, making his official visits in the fall and making his decision “by November or December.” But he didn’t mention any schools that were definitely going to receive visits, or any particular leaders, though he did say what he was looking for in a college.

“The education part is the most important but the relationships, too,” he said. “I just want to go to a school where I can make my dreams come true.” -- Josh Verlin

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Aidan Igiehon (2019/Woodmere, N.Y.)

When you look at the 10 colleges that Aidan Igiehon has narrowed down as future homes, you notice the widespread locations of the schools, all over the country.

Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Oregon, Kentucky, Florida, St. John’s, Georgia, Stanford, Louisville, and Pittsburgh are the 10 schools that Igiehon has chosen to focus on in his recruitment. Some kids factor in location into their recruitment, wanting to stay close to home or get away, but that won’t be a factor for the 6-10 big man.

“I’m already across the world from my home,” the Dublin City, Ireland native said. “Whether I’m in the PAC 12 or the Big East, or the SEC, ACC, it doesn’t matter.”

To put it in perspective, Oregon and Florida, the two schools furthest from each other, are 2,943 miles apart.

All the schools have obviously been in touch with Igiehon over the past few months as his recruitment as heated up, and the schools have also made sure to make a long distance phone call, hoping to nail the sweet spot in Igiehon’s decision.

“Yeah you know, they all go hard to my mom,” he said. Igiehon’s mother still resides in Ireland, where he came from just a few short years ago.

“She’s a lovely woman, so she loves everybody.  If you impress my mom you impress me. I don’t know how often she gets calls, but she does a lot. She will copy and paste a text [colleges] send her. I love it.”

He mentioned Stanford, Louisville, Oregon, and Georgetown as the schools pitching the hardest to his mother.

Igiehon has a trip planned to go back to Ireland on August 12 to spend some time with his mother and break down the schools, in hopes of reaching a final five. The ideal plan according to Igiehon would be to release his new list and take some official visits in the fall.

“Hopefully I don’t stay four years, but if I do, thats my home for four years,” he said. “Your coach is your father away from home, so if I can put my trust in you no matter what, you’ve got my back and that’s what I’m looking for. I’ve only been playing for five years, so I’m continuing to want to get better each year.”

At 6-10 and 235 pounds, Igiehon has all the physical tools you could ask for in a big man. He’s explosive and has a quick second jump to go along with his broad shoulders and a frame most other big men don’t want to mess with in the paint.

ESPN ranks Igiehon as the No. 21 prospect in the rising senior class. Don’t be surprised to hear his name on the college basketball stage a year from now, making big contributions to whichever schools lands his services.

“Being a high level recruit, a lot of schools try very hard,” Igiehon said. It’s basically whoever I have the best relationship with and the program that can help me get to the next level.” -- Tyler Sandora

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Zach Freemantle (above) has seen his stock explode into high-major territory the last two months. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Zach Freemantle (2019/Bergen Catholic)

In March, Freemantle had just two offers, from Columbia and Monmouth.

To put it simply, his recruiting situation has changed, just a little bit.

Over the last week alone, he’s reeled in offers from Penn State, Xavier, La Salle, Boston College and Northwestern, to go along with those from Saint Joseph’s, Brown, Bucknell, St. Bonaventure, Lehigh and NJIT, all of whom have offered since April.

“It feels good,” the North Jersey forward said after a strong performance to open the live period Wednesday night. “Feels like hard work’s paying off.”

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound power forward certainly put in work with coaches watching, finishing with 21 points and five rebounds in his two quarters of work, stepping out to hit two 3-pointers (on just three attempts), getting a few second-chance opportunities and a few run-outs in transition.

Not surprisingly, he’s being recruited by a bevy of programs that like to utilize big, skilled ‘4’ men; heading into July, it was St. Joe’s and Princeton who were recruiting him hardest.

Freemantle said the Hawks, who offered in May after watching him with the NJ Playaz at two EYBL stops in April, will “definitely” be in the mix whenever he makes his decision. Another Bergen Catholic product and skilled 6-8 forward, Pierfrancesco Oliva, will be a redshirt junior for the Hawks this fall.

“They just always tell me to think St. Joe’s, they really want me there, stuff like that,” Freemantle said. “I like it, pretty historic program, I really like all the coaches.”

With the plan to pick a school by the early signing period in November, Freemantle said he plans on visiting many of his new offers in August before taking his official visits in August/September.

“I want to go to a place where the coaches really like me and I fit well,” he said, “and it’s a good combination of both academics and basketball.”

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Lester Quinones (above) has an offer list 20 schools long, packed with high-majors. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Quick Hits
-- There’s no doubt that Lester Quinones is going to have some thinking to do when it comes to his college decision. The 6-5, 205-pound guard out of St. Benedict’s (N.J.) has an offer list nearly 20 schools long, with Xavier, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, West Virginia, Maryland, and Florida just some of the names from a list that includes several other high-majors. At the moment, Quinones said Georgetown, Illinois, UConn, Syracuse and St. John’s were coming at him the hardest, and he’d also started hearing from Michigan and Arizona as well.

“I’m looking at player development, so what school is going to help me get to the next level past college,” he said. “The people in my position who used to go there, see how they started and how they finished at that school, and the system, I like teams that play two ways, offense and defense, and schools that have an open system, 4-out, 1-in, that’s the type of school I want to be looking for.”

A combo guard with great size, Quinones showed why he’s in high demand with a strong outing on Wednesday night, hitting several 3-pointers from NBA range, and showing he can handle the ball to get into the teeth of the defense, keeping defenders on his hip and drawing contact or finishing at the rim. He’s also not a bad playmaker with the ball in his hands, finding several teammates on driving opportunities, though clearly his best asset is scoring the ball.

-- Josh Oduro (2019/Paul VI) had a golden opportunity to start the live period, going up against the aforementioned Zach Freemantle to prove his mettle against a high-major recruit. And that’s something that Oduro had been plenty used to at Paul VI, where he was around plenty of high-major talent this year, having transferred over to the prep powerhouse from Battlefield (Va.).

“At first it was pretty hard...how good the players were” he said. “I was playing against multiple high-majors players every day, and that’s what really forced me to get better as a player, going against these other good players.”

Oduro handled the moment well, knocking down two mid-range jumpers to open his run of play, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds in his matchup against Freemantle; he also had a strong baseline drive for a bucket, showing off the two facets of his offensive game he said he was working on most. So far, James Madison, Loyola (Md.), Towson, Mount St. Mary’s, Hampton, Holy Cross, Columbia, Siena and several others have offered; Oduro said he’s also been hearing from George Mason and Radford, who he said want to see “more volume...see me play more consistent and for a long period of time.”

-- A pair of Big 5 schools are after Patrick School (N.J.) 2019 Al-Amir Dawes, but St. Joe’s and La Salle have stiff competition for the 6-1 point guard’s services. Clemson, UConn, St. John’s and Seton Hall are also chasing after Dawes, who added an offer from Wichita State later on Wednesday night; he included La Salle and new head coach Ashley Howard in with those four high-majors as those on him the hardest.

“He’s just been telling me that he’s going to be the one that trusts me,” Dawes said, “giving me the ball as a freshman, coming in, giving me the opportunity to run the team.”

-- Not many more players in the area have seen their stock rise this summer as much as Chereef Knox. Over the past week, the rising senior from Imhotep Charter has added offers from Drexel, VCU, St. Bonaventure, Quinnipiac, and La Salle, to complement a list which previously included Old Dominion, Hofstra, and Rider. At 6-6, Knox has solidified himself as a glue guy, doing the dirty work down low. He’s expanded his game out to the 3-point line, where he’s become a knockdown shooter, and has added some athleticism and an array of moves around the perimeter. He has no plans to cut his list or take any visits until after the July live period ends, in hopes of attracting many more coaches.

Plenty of schools descended upon one of his games Wednesday afternoon, where he proceeded to drop 14 points against some high-level competition. Knox describes his play style as having some “Philly toughness” to it, and that shows on the court. He doesn’t back down from any competition, and isn’t afraid to lay everything on the line for a rebound. West Virginia and Seton Hall have expressed interest, and don’t be surprised if Knox’s list of offers continues to grow before July is over.


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