Jemison Heading to the SEC

Dylan Thayer | Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

The other day, one of New England’s top prospects, London Jemison, announced his commitment to Alabama live on 247Sports with Adam Finkelstein. The Expressions Elite & St. Thomas More wing was one of the biggest stock risers of the last calendar year in the national class of 2025.

 

Before all the high-major offers, London was a young prospect at Northwest Catholic, a private school in West Hartford that plays in Division II of the Connecticut State Association.

 

It was there his game started to shine and the recruitment started to pick up. In his sophomore season, he was a key starter along with fellow Division I prospects Matt Curtis (AOF/Fairfield) & Badara Diakite (South Kent) for Northwest Catholic as they made a run to the state championship.

 

They ultimately fell short to Bristol Central, led by 7’2” senior Donovan Clingan who was just drafted seventh overall by the Trailblazers.

 

As a sophomore, London’s standout fluidity with the ball at his size and age, switchability and defensive skills were notable, and clear markers of his potential to come.

 

 

Just a few months after the conclusion of the high school season, the official college contact period for the class of 2024 opened, and he picked up an offer from Brown while reportedly being contacted by Penn State, which would eventually extend him a scholarship offer a year later.

 

In the fall of 2022, Yale and Saint Joseph’s extended scholarship offers to him.

 

His junior season at Northwest Catholic was notable as the squad finished second in their conference in the regular season, eventually making a run to the state championship once again.

 

In a larger role following the departure of Matt Curtis, Jemison’s shot-creation skills, along with his explosive play, started to shine.

 

On May 1st, 2023 Jemison announced he would be leaving for St. Thomas More and reclassifying to the class of 2025.

 

In his first season at STM, Jemison was a key cog in their #2 finish in NEPSAC AAA for the season and appearance in the National Prep Championship. He was named First Team All-NEPSAC and was noted for once again taking his game to a new level.

 

By July 2024, Jemison had elevated himself to a bona fide national prospect with Kansas, Alabama, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Mississippi State, and Louisville offers among others. His improvement over that span was remarkable.

 

Just look at the numbers:

2023 Regular Season EYBL w/ Expressions Elite: 17GP, 5.5pts/game, 2.9reb/game, 0.2blk/game on 42.7% FG & 25.0% 3FG

2024 Regular Season EYBL w/ Expressions Elite: 15GP, 13.1 pts/game, 4.6 reb/game, 1 blk/game on 50.3% FG & 37.1% 3FG

 

While the sample size is much larger for the 2024 season, his shooting numbers took a clear jump. Leading up to that point, many had mentioned that his shooting was still in development and not yet a true game-changer.

 

Clearly, he worked hard on making this an asset in his scoring arsenal, and this was backed up in talks with St. Thomas More coach, Milo Luciano.

 

“London’s been unwaveringly a super hard worker from the moment he got here, and every day since then he’s maintained all of the values he came in with, despite all the success and accolades,” said Luciano vouching for the work ethic of the Alabama commit.

 

“He’s consistently been one of our best workers in the court, in the classroom and in the weight room,” he added.

 

Live Commitment with Adam Finkelstein is available here:

 

Joining Alabama, Jemison will enter a program that has seen immense success as of late under head coach Nate Oats, and has done noticeably well at developing wing players.

 

Coach Luciano spoke on how Alabama’s current roster construction fits in extremely well with London’s developmental goals: “London offers you a good foundation of defensive versatility, and considering his shooting gravity, he provides a ton of length and verticality,” said Luciano.

 

He went on to say that “In a system like that with the high usage initiators around him, the hope is that he can learn to weaponize his ability to pressure the rim.”

 

Currently, Alabama is reportedly in the mix for 2025 guards Meleek Thomas and Brayden Burries, with London’s former Expressions teammate AJ Dybantsa set to visit the campus this weekend.

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