Can Mustapha be a McDonald’s All-American?

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, January 13th, 2016

Can Mustapha be a McDonald’s All-American?

Last week the McDonald’s All-American Game announced their 2016 nominees and while the list was fairly controversial in New England the reality is that most of the region’s best weren’t eligible for the game because of rules prohibiting 5th year players.

While New England’s 15 nominees included four players ranked among the top 100 in the national class of 2016, the other reality is that since only 24 ultimately call themselves McDonald’s All-Americans, there is really only one player in New England expected to be in contention for that ultimate honor and that is Sacred Heart High School’s Mustapha Heron.

While national rankings aren’t a guarantee of selection, historically, they’ve been the best indicator and heading into his senior season Heron appeared squarely on the bubble as ESPN had him 24th in the class, Scout 23rd and Rivals 21st.

The Auburn pledge has opened his senior season playing the best basketball of his career though, leading Sacred Heart to a perfect 6-0 record, including a blow-out win over crosstown rival Kennedy in a game aired live on CPTV Sports in Connecticut on Friday night.

Heron came into that game averaging over 32 points per game on 65% shooting from the floor, including 41.7% from behind the three-point line. He was also adding over 7 boards, 3.75 assists and 3 steals per game.

His performance on Friday only added to those numbers as he put on 34 points on 11-16 shooting from the floor showing the physical dominance we’ve become accustomed to along with an improved skill set that his shooting percentages illustrate. Below are highlights care of CPTV Sports.

While Heron and his Sacred Heart squad are set to be in Springfield for the Hoophall Classic this weekend, it won't have much impact on his All-American status. In fact, this year's McDonald's All-American team is set to be announced live from Springfield this weekend on ESPNU. If Heron makes the cut, he'll be the first CIAC product since Kris Dunn to earn high school basketball's highest honor.