No leaders for former UConn pledge
Prince Ali, a four-star shooting guard from The Sagemont School in Weston, Fla., decommitted from Connecticut on May 29, triggering plenty of speculation about the direction of his recruitment.
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The 6-foot-4, 190-pound standout was recruited nationally prior to committing to UConn in November. What followed that commitment sounds like an ABC Family Channel movie. First, Ali led Sagemont to a 33-1 record, a Florida class 3A state championship, an appearance in the DICK'S Sporting Goods High School National Tournament and a Top 20 ranking by USA Today. Next he won player of the year awards from both the Sun-Sentinel newspaper and the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches. Ali followed that up with a great Nike EYBL regular season, becoming the third leading scorer on the circuit.
Then he reopened his recruitment.
Now that some dust has settled, we caught up with Ali to see where things stand, including whether or not the national champion Huskies are still in the mix.
"I don't have a list yet," Ali declared. "Coaches are calling and telling me that they like me and want to get me on campus, but I do not have a list yet."
Regarding "insiders" or "sources" commenting on his recruitment with reporters Ali made a pretty strong statement.
"Any source that isn't me or my brother is false."
The rising senior, who hasn't played since spraining his ankle at NBPA Top 100 Camp last month, told us that lately he is hearing the most from Indiana, Michigan, UCLA, UConn and Maryland.
Ali touched briefly on each program.
Indiana: "The coach that I first heard from was Tim Buckley. Now it's Chuck Martin and Tom Crean who call. They're just trying to get me on campus. They tell me that I remind them a lot of Victor Oladipo and Dwayne Wade."
Maryland: "They've called me a couple of times. Coach Cliff Warren has been calling me lately. He's trying to get me on campus. I talked to coach [Mark] Turgeon once and he thinks I'd be a good fit in what they're trying to do because I'm athletic."
Michigan: "They develop pros. Coach [John] Beilein is a good dude. He calls me weekly and we have good conversations. They do really well with guards."
UCLA: "They develop pros, and who wouldn't want to be in [California]? They said they need 2015 guards that can score the ball, and I can do that."
UConn: "They spoke to my brother [after Jalen Adams committed]. My brother told me that they said they envision me and Jalen Adams in their backcourt.
The No. 27 ranked player in the class of 2015 said that he's developed strong relationships with a few of the coaches from the schools he's hearing from the most.
"I have a good relationship with [UCLA] Coach [Steve] Alford," said Ali. "He's been recruiting me since before I committed to UConn. I've been talking to him for a while, and I have a great feel for what he's trying to do. I'm starting to develop a good relationship with Coach Beilein. And I already had a good relationship with [UConn] Coach [Kevin] Ollie."
Ali is an explosively quick guard with very good bounce, very good change of direction and instincts and an improving jump shot. He expects to be able to participate in the LeBron James Academy in Las Vegas July 9-12, then the following week he'll join his Southern Stampede teammates and try to win the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C.
Russ Wood is a basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com and Inside the Gators. You can click here to follow him on Twitter..
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