Prep Profile – South Kent

New England Recruiting Report | Saturday, October 8th, 2011

Kelvin Jefferson likes the look of his squad to start the 2011-2012 season. 

For one thing, he’s got some size this year.  In fact, he has two seven-footers in his line-up with Laimonas Chatkevicius, a highly skilled Lithuanian native who was placed by Kansas State, and Isaac Freeman, a long and lean post prospect with a rapidly expanding game. 

Beyond the true big men there are also plenty of versatile forwards on this year’s roster capable of playing the three or four spots.  Chris Ortiz is a six-foot-eight New York product with an inside-out tool set who is already committed to Kent State.  He’s likely to hold down one of the starting spots while Connecticut native Riley Kirsch will likely offer a skilled southpaw off the bench.  Tre Oliver provides another dimension as a long and lean six-foot-six hybrid forward. 

While better positional balance has South Kent better equipped to challenge in class AAA this year, the story of this team will once again be told in the backcourt where Ricardo Ledo and Chris Thomas combine to form one of the most talented duos in the country. 

Make no mistake about it, this tag team might not struggle to average a combined 60 points per night and what makes them even more dangerous is the fact that they’ll be united by a common cause this year. 

With both players having bounced around to multiple schools in recent years and taken their fair share of shots in the media as a result, you can only assume they’ll be anxious to unite to prove their critics wrong.  The only way to do that will be to win games, and if Ledo and Thomas make that their first priority the rest of the team is likely to fall in line, and South Kent could emerge as a strong contender in class AAA this year. 

But Ledo and Thomas won’t have to do all of the heavy lifting by themselves.  Similar to Chatkevicius, Zedric Sadler was also placed by Kansas State and if the Detroit native can live up to that level he’ll provide a significant boost for the Cardinals. 

Leron Fisher and Abdoulaye Harouna are two other guys who could play prominent roles.  Fisher is a hard-nosed point guard who plays with the outward toughness you would expect from a Baltimore native while Harouna comes to South Kent by way of Niger after representing Africa in the recent Adidas Nations Experience. 

Also hoping to crack the rotation will be Ryo Yamazaki, a shot-making swingman from Japan, and Steven Pandales, an athletic guard who comes to Connecticut by way of Amityville, New York. 

The one thing we know for sure is that this team will be exciting, they’re too talented and explosive not to be, and if they can come together and work towards a common goal we could be looking at one of the favorites to advance to championship Sunday in the NEPSAC.