Tharpe Big East Bound

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

One of New England’s brightest stars in the class of 2011, Naadir Tharpe, ended his recruitment on Wednesday night with a verbal commitment to Providence College. 

“I felt it was great basketball wise because I was I good fit in their system,” Tharpe told the New England Recruiting Report.  “Academically, coming from Brewster Academy where the classes are very small, it was important for me to find a college where they had small classes, and Providence does.” 

"I'm really excited to be going to Providence and playing for [head] Coach Keno [Davis]," Tharpe said.  "They've been recruiting me hard for a long time and I just felt like I had a great connection with him and Coach Skerry." 

Although he just completed his junior season, Tharpe has been a well known commodity for high major schools for a long time. 

The Worcester, Massachusetts native says both Providence and Boston College started recruiting him almost immediately upon entering high school and since that time he has had documented interest from a long list of schools including the likes of Arizona, Indiana, and West Virginia. 

Even at a young age Tharpe was able to stand out with a tremendously tight handle, terrific court vision, and a knack for making plays for himself and others.  But to his credit his game has continued to improve over the years as he has learned how to run a team, improved his ability to finish inside the lane, and developed a consistent jump shot. 

Tharpe’s career has been a storied one as he put up huge numbers during his first two years of high school at St. Peter Marian before transferring to Brewster Academy and repeating his sophomore year.  He earned the starting point guard position at Brewster in his first year and this year was one of the main staples of a team that claimed both the NEPSAC Class A Title and National Prep Championship. 

He has been no less successful on the grassroots circuit, staring with the New England Playaz and running the show for a club that has seen a variety of noteworthy results in the last two years including a run to the finals of the 2009 Adidas Super 64 Tournament, the 2009 Playaz Spring Fling Championship, the Gold Championship at the 2008 Adidas It Takes 5ive Classic, the championship at the 2007 Joe Brown Memorial Tournament, as well as several local titles. 

With over a full year to go before he graduates high school, Tharpe still has one lap left on this leg of his basketball journey, but when he finally arrives at Providence he will see some familiar faces in fellow New England stars Gerard Coleman and Ron Giplaye who will both be freshmen next season. 

“I’m used to playing against Gerard and Ron,” Tharpe said, “so I’m real excited to be playing with them.”