Beasleys recruitment heats up with his game
One of the biggest risers of the travel season has been Alpharetta (Ga.) St. Francis shooting guard Malik Beasley. Coming off a great junior season where he averaged 22 points and eight rebounds in leading his team to a state championship, Beasley continued his strong play in the opening session of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) by averaging 16.7 points per game.
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Beasley's Georgia Stars team participated in the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions this past weekend in Atlanta, and once again he was a standout performer.
"I've been playing really well lately," Beasley said. "I averaged 27 points per game this weekend at Bob Gibbons. I had 26, 27 and 28 in the three games."
College coaches are always in the market for players that can put the ball in the basket consistently, so it's no surprise that Beasley is starting to reel in offers from all around the country.
"I've been talking to Florida State, Georgia, VCU, Kansas State, California, Tennessee, UAB and a few other schools the most. The schools that have been calling me and the schools that I feel comfortable with are the schools I'm going to keep on my list."
The Rivals150 prospect plans to hit the road on Thursday afternoon to make the short trip over Athens, Ga., for an unofficial visit.
"I'm taking an unofficial visit to Georgia with my dad. I've been up there for a couple games before, but I've never seen the whole campus before."
The Bulldogs offered the three-star guard just a few weeks ago but have quickly made a strong impression on him.
"They have a great coaching staff. They develop their players. It's only an hour away. Coach [Mark] Fox is a great coach and is pushing me hard. I talk to him like every day or every other day."
Florida State was one of several schools to offer Beasley during the open weekend for college coaches.
"Coach [Leonard] Hamilton and Coach [Charlton] Young are great coaches. They have a great program. I haven't been there yet, so I have to take a visit there and see what it's like. I'll get down there soon."
VCU has also turned the heat up on Beasley in the past month.
"Coach Shaka [Smart] is a great coach. I have a really good relationship with him and we talk almost every day."
Beasley's recruitment took off in a hurry, but he's in the process of whittling his long list of scholarship offers down to a more manageable number. He's starting to plan out how he sees the rest of his recruitment shaping up.
"I'm going to cut my list down to 10 schools after a couple more weeks of the Nike EYBL, and hopefully I'll have a top five at some point in July. I'll probably commit sometime before basketball season starts."
Dan McDonald is a contributing national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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