Commitment Catch-Up

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

 
It’s been a busy week in New England.  The Northeast Hoops Festival welcomed the region’s top talent, BABC’s freshmen traveled to Italy to earn championship gold, Alex Oriakhi transferred to Missouri, Evan Smotrycz transferred to Maryland, all while a number of other commitments have gone down.  Here’s a look back at some of the action that flew under our radar.  

Middlesex Magic Complete Class

With nine players already committed to play college basketball next year, and a tenth on his way to play college football, the Middlesex Magic had just two players from last year’s team still undecided.  That changed this week when Lexington High School’s Chris OKeefe committed to Salve Regina College in Rhode Island and King Philip High School’s John Mullane committed to Elmira College in New York.  

O’Keefe and Mullane join Connor Mahoney (Le Moyne), Anthony Barry (Merrimack), Joe Glynn (Bentley), Kyle Reardon (Rochester), Jesse Pagliuca (Amherst), Cooper Ainge (BYU), Aaron Davis (WPI), Mike Thorpe (Emerson), Michael Corcoran (Emerson), and Eric Olsen (Northwestern Football).  

New England Storm Complete Class

The Middlesex Magic weren't the only local AAU program to wrap up their recruiting class recently.  The New England Storm recently announced their final commitments in the class of 2012, with all members of last summer's team now set for next year.  

The group includes: Adam Bramanti (Stonehill); Thomas Palleschi (Tufts); Zack Karalis, James Costello & Mike Moroney (WPI); Matt Ellis (Endicott); Colby Smith (Brandeis); Tim McCarthy (Framingham State); and Craig Luschenat (St. Joseph's of Maine). John Miller will head to Assumpton to play football while Joe Flannery will take a post-graduate year at the Canterbury School.   

Albertus Adds Local Product

Coming off the best season in program history in which they went 28-2, captured the GNAC championship, and advanced to the second round of the Division III NCAA Tournament, Albertus Magnus College continues to land top local talent.  

Their latest commitment comes from Kenny Armstead, who helped lead Career Regional High School to a CIAC state championship this year after running with East Coast Elite on last summer’s grassroots circuit.  Armstead is a long and active forward who is ideally suited to play in Albertus’ up-tempo system.  

Maine Native Picks Wentworth

Wentworth Institute of Technology picked up a commitment from Mount Blue High School’s Cam Sennick over the weekend.  Sennick was runner-up for Mr. Basketball in the state of Maine and was named First-Team All-State by the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News.  

Sennick is a six-foot-five power forward who put up big numbers scoring and rebounding the ball during his high school career but is also known for his poise in the paint and hard-working approach to the game.  

St. Andrew’s Senior Makes Choice

St. Andrew’s School and head coach Michael Hart have produced their latest college basketball commitment with Nick Cesare pledging to Elmira College in New York.  Cesare joins King Philip’s Mullane in becoming the second local product to commit to Elmira in as many weeks.

St. Andrew’s is coming off a big season in which they advanced all the way to the semifinals of the NEPSAC Class AA tournament before coming up just short in the game’s final moments against eventual champions St. Mark’s.  

Local Division I Schools Land Late Commitments

Several of New England’s local division I schools have picked up significant late commitments within the last ten days.  

Newly appointed Rhode Island head coach Danny Hurley not only retained the commitment of Jordan Haire, but also landed Rutgers transfer Gilvydas Biruta, who previously starred under his tutelage at St. Benedict’s.  Then he earned a commitment from Mike Aaman, who had previously committed to him at Wagner.  The trio of Haire, Biruta, and Aaman will go a long way towards solidifying URI’s frontline of the future.  

While URI has worked to sure up their frontcourt, Fairfield has been doing the same in the backcourt with recent commitments from Justin Jenkins and Lincoln Davis.  Jenkins is a quick and athletic combo-guard from Wings Academy in New York who is best known for his playmaking abilities in the open floor while Davis is a six-foot-two shooting-guard from Pittsburgh Central Catholic who saw his stock jump this year after transforming his game and becoming a much better perimeter shooter.  

Quinnipiac landed a commitment from St. Anthony guard Tariq Carey last week.  Carey is a scoring guard who ran with the New York Panthers during the grassroots season but showed his ability to conform to a system when playing under legendary St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley and helping that team to an undefeated season and state championship.

Maynard to Colby-Sawyer

Jack Maynard, a six-foot-four forward from Rice Memorial High School in Burlington, Vermont has committed to Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire.  Maynard had a highly succesful high school career that included a state championship in his junior season.  

At the next level he'll be counted on to provide Colby-Sawyer with a versatile forward and three-point shooter to work into their frontcourt rotation.