Many of the nation's elite prospects could be found in either New York City for the Under Armour Elite 24 or in the Bahamas for Nike's The Trip over the weekend while St. John's and
Rutgers picked up Sunday additions. We take a look back at those events, talk about who should be in the discussion for a move to No. 1 in 2017 and look ahead to more in this week's Starting Five.
Make no mistake,
Rutgers is building a team that could be highly entertaining on the fast break. After landing one of 2015's premier high flyers in point guard
Corey Sanders, it added one of 2016's best leapers in shooting guard
Kwe Parker.
The 6-foot-1 senior from High Point (N.C.) Wesleyan Christian is a true high flyer and big-time finisher on the break who currently ranks No. 90 in the Rivals150.
While Parker is a highlight reel on the break and shows great potential as a defender, the rest of his game has not progressed as hoped over the last year so exactly what Rutgers is getting is a bit of a mystery. Parker has to improve as a shooter and upgrade his ball-handling if he wants to be a consistent player in the Big Ten. For now he is likely going to slip a bit in the next 2016 rankings update.
New head coach
Chris Mullin continues to get it done at St. John's. Class of 2016's No. 57 player,
Kassoum Yakwe, has elected to enroll as a 2015 prospect and the 6-foot-8 power forward has signed scholarship papers with the Red Storm.
One of the top rebounders and shot blockers in the country, the product of Centereach (N.Y.) Our Savior has a motor that runs non-stop. He's added a good deal of bulk over the last six months and projects as a guy who can provide immediate energy and help on the defensive end in the Big East.
Provided he is cleared academically by the NCAA, Yakwe is a big boost to a strong 2015 recruiting effort by Mullin and his staff. The four-star prospect joins a group that already includes four-star point guard
Marcus Lovett, highly regarded Italian point guard
Federico Mussini, three-star shooting guard
Malik Ellison, three-star juco combo forward
Darien Williams and three-star center
Yankuba Sima.
Currently an unranked three-star small forward in the class of 2017,
Greg Floyd will make a debut in the 2017 Rivals150 in the near future.
The 6-foot-7 wing from Las Vegas (Nev.) Desert Pines is a thin athlete with a good-looking shot and deep range who has turned the heads of many college coaches. Soon, Floyd will be hitting the visit trail.
Floyd's summer coach, Lamar Bigby of the Las Vegas Knicks, told Rivals.com that Floyd will be making unofficial visits to Nevada (Sept. 3),
UNLV (Sept. 8) and
Memphis (Sept. 19). Floyd has offers from all three schools and he'll be joined on the trip to Nevada by fellow 2017 prospects and Knicks teammates
Trevon Abdullah and
Tyler Bey.