Tharpe Opens It Back Up
Rising senior point guard Naadir Tharpe de-committed from Providence on Wednesday morning, little more than two months after making a verbal commitment to the Friars.
Tharpe’s decision to re-open his recruitment comes less than a week after assistant coach Pat Skerry left the Providence staff for a similar position at Pittsburgh. Skerry had been the lead recruiter for Tharpe.
“Coach Skerry was the guy who was recruiting me the whole time, the one who I was close with,” Tharpe told the New England Recruiting Report, “so once he left I just wanted to look at my other recruitment and see what was out there.”
Tharpe is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts who has been a highly regarded prospect since he was literally in the eighth grade. He has run with the New England Playaz since that time and enrolled at Brewster Academy two years ago.
This season he helped lead Brewster to both a NEPSAC Class A title and National Prep Championship.
He committed to Providence this March, selecting the Friars over Boston College and UNLV at the time.
While Tharpe says that Providence will remain on his list, there appears to be some additional competition the second time around. New England Playaz director T.J. Gassnola says he has already heard from Rutgers, Wake Forest, Arizona, Miami, St. John’s, and Georgia Tech since Tharpe spoke with Providence head coach Keno Davis earlier today.
“Keno Davis handled this very well,” Gassnola said. “He was very professional and we hope that we will be able to send other Playaz to Providence in the future.”
With his recruitment now open, Tharpe projects to be highly pursued during the upcoming July live period. Prior to the beginning of the live period he will travel to the Chris Paul Point Guard Camp in North Carolina and then the NBA Players Association Camp at the University of Virginia later this month.
Naadir Tharpe