Recruiting News & Notes

New England Recruiting Report | Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Sometimes this time of year can be a little slow on the recruiting front as high school and college teams alike gear up for the stretch runs of their season.

The last few days have been the exception to that rule however, as there have been a few different recruiting headlines floating around the internet.  Here’s a look back: 

• Notre Dame Prep guard Sam Cassell Jr. took an unofficial visit to UConn earlier this week after reportedly landing a scholarship offer from the defending national champions.  Cassell is also being pursued by Maryland, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, South Florida, Central Florida, and Washington among others. 

• Stoughton High School’s Aaron Calixte picked up his second scholarship offer this week when Quinnipiac joined Towson.  Calixte was on Quinnipiac’s campus on Thursday to see the Bobcats take on local NEC rival Central Connecticut State. 

• Florida head coach Billy Donovan was in the region on Tuesday night.  He began with a trip to Kimball Union Academy to see KUA take on Nerlens Noel and the Tilton School.  After checking out Noel he made his way over to Brewster Academy to check in on Jakarr Sampson. 

• Donovan’s presence at Sampson’s game appears to indicate that previous internet reports claiming that Sampson had cut his list down to just Kansas and Providence were a bit premature.  The Brewster post-graduate told NERR last week that Kansas, Providence, Baylor, Louisville, St. John’s and Florida were all still involved, although Baylor has since landed a commitment from ESPNU power forward Ricardo Gathers. 

• The internet continues to buzz with Noel’s latest visit plans as he’ll have to take unofficial trips rather than official visits until he is formally viewed as a member of the class of 2012, which has not yet happened.  Noel was on Providence’s campus last weekend to take in the first half of their West Virginia game and is reportedly scheduled to see Syracuse and Kentucky in the next two weeks. 

• New Hampton freshman big man Jeremy Miller scored his first scholarship offer last month from Providence and has quickly added two more with Boston College and Maryland being the latest to jump in.  All three schools were in attendance at last weekend’s National Prep School Invitational. 

• St. Thomas More point guard Barrington Stephens made an under the radar commitment last month when he pledged to South Alabama.  The Texas native showed especially well at last weekend’s NPSI and promises to be a good value for South Alabama.   

• Vermont Academy junior swingman Donnele Munda continues to improve his stock.  Munda picked up his first division I offer on Wednesday evening from Jacksonville following another impressive performance from behind the three-point line.