Steve Lavin, in keeping with his agenda to cultivate the basketball talent in New York City, landed his first big recruit of the Class of 2011. Maurice Harkless, the 6’6″ star swingman who averaged 16.5 points and 11.5 rebounds last season at Forest Hills High School (NY) will be wearing St. John’s red and white in 2011 after spending this season in prep school, at South Kent (CT).
“It’s a situation where I call it the St. John’s Noah’s Ark,” Lavin said in a phone interview with SNY.tv earlier this year. “We’re going to need two of every position.”
It looks that Harkless will be the first to step aboard, giving St. John’s two talented, uber-athletic swingmen when paired with Class of 2010 recruit Dwayne Polee Jr. “I always wanted to look into St. John’s, but they weren’t that good in the past few years. And with a new coach I feel like it’s a brand new opportunity and the coaches are hungry,” Harkless told SNY.tv after his announcement. “I’m in New York. I can represent my city in my city.”
By the sound of it, it looks like St. John’s has completely revamped its national image by bringing Coach Lavin to Queens. A close advisor to Harkless, Nate Blue, speaking to Johnnyjungle.com, said, “[Former head coach] Norm [Roberts] would take people in New York City to make my people happy. Lavin appeals to kids from New York City to California. Its national.”
Name recognition can go a long way. The key to scoring high-level recruits can sometimes be as simple as getting a foot in the door, and that is what Lavin’s resume at UCLA allows. Once that happens, a strong business proposal can make all the difference, which Lavin also seems to do well, according to Blue. “When we met with Norm last year, it was more of a desperation thing. When we’ve sat down with Lavin, he was calm and had a plan.”
Harkless is ranked in both the ESPN Top 100 and the Rivals Top 50 of recruits for the Class of 2011. NBE Basketball Report raves of his ability to use his size and length to get to the basket, likening him to former West Virginia forward and current Los Angeles Laker Devin Ebanks.
Expected to sign during the early signing period in November, will Harkless be able to do some recruiting of his own and bring other top players along with him? It was a factor in his decision, according to Blue, speaking to Johnnyjungle.com, “We got a threat from a Big East coach yesterday that if Mo committed to SJU, he would be double and triple teamed on a team of nobodies.” Clearly, there is a sense of confidence in this decision, confidence that other integral pieces will be added, either through the work of Lavin or Harkless himself, to build a contender.
Said Blue in closing, “There’s going to be a lot of help coming to SJU in the next few weeks. I won’t tip my hat, but there’s more coming soon.”
[…] on the 2011 recruiting class. Queens, New York native Maurice Harkless, a top 75 recruit was the first to board the Lavin “Arc.” Last week the St. John’s Red Storm welcomed the 6-7 dynamic forward JaKarr Sampson to the family. […]