Prince Has a Slew of Offers

When Team Memphis won the Memorial Day Classic with four players over 6-foot-7 in the starting lineup, it was J.P. Prince playing in the back court at 6-foot-7, 200-pounds. The combo guard from national power White Station High School in Memphis, Tenn., is actually most comfortable at the point guard position, and with his unique combination of skill and size, Prince has a slew of offers.

“The schools I am interested in are NC State, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Memphis, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and a few others, but these are the ones that I can come up with off the top of my head,” said Prince. “All these schools except for Connecticut have offered scholarships.”

“I really haven’t narrowed things down to a definite list. I will do that towards the end of the summer and make a decision before the school year.”

Prince had this reply regarding who his favorite or favorites might be.

“I don’t want to put that out there,” he said. “At this point, they are all really equal.”

When the time comes to make a decision, two factors in particular will carry weight in the decision making process.

“I would like to go somewhere that I can make an impact right away,” he said. “It is important to me that the staff trusts me enough to throw me out there right away.”

“And I don’t want to be too far away where my parents can’t see me play and I can’t get home to visit. I’d say the schools in the SEC and ACC have a small advantage as far as distance from home goes.”

And just because Prince is the cousin of former Kentucky Star and current Detroit Piston Tayshaun Prince, it is not a given that he will accept the Wildcats’ offer.

“It will not have an affect on me,” said Prince. “I have been a Kentucky fan, of course, because Tayshaun went there, but I am not going to go there just because he went there.”

Taking care of business academically, Prince has a 3.0 GPA and scored a 19 on his first attempt at the ACT. He will retake the test this weekend.

Later in June he is slated to attend the NBA Players Development Camp and then will attend the Nike All-American Camp in early July.

Prince, who is the No. 69 ranked player in the class of 2005, is a true point forward who can really handle the ball and see the court. With his tremendous body control, he can score the ball well off dribble penetration, but shooting the jumper off the pass is not his strength. He has the length to be a formidable defensive presence, but he does need to work on giving a consistent defensive effort.