Samuels Makes Pick
Windsor High School’s Steven Samuels has made a decision and he’s going with the school that has been on him the hardest since day one.
St. Peter’s College received a commitment from the senior guard on Thursday, ending the recruitment of one of the best left available players in New England.
While Samuels recruitment has had many twists and turns over the course of his senior year, St. Peter’s presence has been a constant. In fact, Peacock’s assistant coach Marlon Guild has been recruiting Samuels hard since he first joined the SPC staff in August.
While Guild no doubt had the inside track after having coached Samuels last spring with the Connecticut Basketball Club, the fact that the first year assistant coach was still able to get his man with the likes of Wright State, VCU, Penn State, and Western Michigan all expressing interest is a noteworthy accomplishment.
Samuels ends his career at Windsor having accomplished virtually everything he possibly could have hoped for. Individually, he’s scored over 1000 points, been named to all-conference and all-state teams, and even claimed the Hartford Courant player of the year award. Perhaps more importantly, he helped Windsor and head coach Ken Smith to the Class LL State Championship in his final season as a Warrior.
Samuels has all the talent to step right in and make an immediate impact at St. Peter’s next year. He’s absolutely tremendous in the open floor with the ability to make plays on both ends of the ball; using his length and quickness to force turnovers and creating shots for himself and others going to the rim like few others can.
One of Samuels’ best individual performances came almost one year ago to the day, when he traveled to the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions with his Connecticut Basketball Club team. The New England Recruiting Report was in the stands at Cameron Indoor to watch Samuels go blow for blow with Kenny Boynton, one of the top ranked guards in the country who is headed to the University of Florida next year.
When the final buzzer went off Boynton’s Team Breakdown scored a slim victory, but the individual battle between Boynton and Samuels couldn’t have been closer.
It was obvious on that day that if Samuels were to go to the right level and play in the right system then he would have a chance to have a great college career.
Now it looks as if that is well on its way to becoming reality.
Steven Samuels