Maine 2011 Rankings Announced

New England Recruiting Report | Saturday, August 21st, 2010

The top ranked returning player within Maine’s borders is Lee Academy center Keith Coleman.  This one is pretty much indisputable as the six-foot-nine big man has had a plethora of recruitment from mid to high major schools throughout the last year.  Beyond Coleman things become much less clear as spots two through eight are very close and certainly debatable. 

While we personally believe Tyler McFarland may be the most college ready player in the Maine state association, Alex Furness may have the most upside.  Both players have made great strides in their games within the last year but Furness still has plenty of development left to go before realizing his full potential and so we went with him at number two.  But we’re also big fans of third ranked McFarland and wouldn’t be surprised to see him garner more division I interest before his senior season comes to an end as their simply aren’t that many physically strong interior players who play hard and can also step to the perimeter. 

The line between four and five was equally blurry.  Andrew Shaw had an absolutely phenomenal summer and landed a scholarship to Bentley in the process but Graham Safford was definitely the more consistent of the two players during the AAU season as a whole.  In the end we think they’re both scholarship players with the potential to have solid careers at the next level.  We went Safford at four and Shaw at five based on their total bodies of work this season. 

Scituate, Massachusetts native Rodney Beldo arrives in Lee as a post-graduate and makes his debut on the Maine rankings at six.  But don’t be surprised to see him rise up this year as his ball-handling and playmaking skills will be highlighted on a loaded Lee Academy roster. 

Camden Hills forward Keegan Pieri is next.  The skilled six-foot-six swingman is another guy who is just starting to realize his potential and likely to continue to improve at a rapid rate over the next few years. 

Koang Thok also heads to Lee as a post-grad after graduating from Portland.  With a division II scholarship offer already in hand Thok seems to already be benefitting from his extra year. 

Rounding out the top ten are Bangor swingman Tristan Thomas and Portland sharp-shooting James Ek.  Thomas made a name for himself late this spring and continued to impress throughout the summer while Ek was already well known throughout the region for his marksmanship from long range. 

Ultimately, this was a very difficult class to rank and certainly the list could have gone a variety of other ways.  Perhaps more importantly then the specific order of the rankings, is the depth of the Maine class as there are as many as eight true Maine natives who have a legitimate chance of earning a scholarship this year.