Three-Point Play: Josh Hall, Kadary Richmond, Hamilton Heights

Five-star wing Josh Hall’s recruitment has been fairly quiet to this point but should start picking up some steam soon. In today’s edition of the Three-Point Play, National Basketball Analyst Eric Bossi takes a look at Hall, details the latest on four-star Kadary Richmond and why Hamilton Heights is about to be even busier than expected.

2020 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

2021 Rankings: Rivals150

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Normally, there are almost too many stories and theories floating around when it comes to five-star prospects. That’s not been the case for smooth shooting wing Josh Hall of Hickory (N.C.) Moravian Prep.

One of the most dangerous deep shooters in the country, Hall currently ranks No. 25 nationally but I’ve been surprised at how little buzz there has been about his recruitment. Maybe it’s by design and he and his family have wanted to keep things under the radar and because he’s not expected to decide until the spring. But he’s the kind of guy that there should be more buzz about.

Hall told me yesterday does have official visits set up for Louisville and NC State beginning with Louisville this weekend so we will start to see more about him after those visits. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas, LSU, Miami, Maryland, St. John’s, Texas and many others have been involved.

Maybe most surprising to me is that more blueblood types haven’t jumped in and in my opinion he’s a potential difference maker wherever he lands. I’m interested to see what happens after this first round of official visits and I wouldn’t expect him to remain one of the least talked about big-timers for much longer.

Speaking of high-end recruits who have gone under the radar, four-star wing Kadary Richmond from New York, who will attend Wolfeboro (N.H.) Brewster Academy, quietly dropped a final four of Connecticut, Oregon, Seton Hall and St. John’s last week.

Richmond can handle the ball, has athleticism and is a versatile wing who can be moved all around the backcourt to score from and defend at many positions.

I checked in with Richmond – who will be moving up the charts in next week’s update to the 2020 Rivals150 – on Monday and he told me that he’s been to all of his finalists but Oregon unofficially. He also discussed what he likes about each.

Oregon: “Culture and they take their time and produce pros.”

Seton Hall: “Helped a fellow Brooklynite (Isaiah Whitehead) get to live his dreams and put him in positions to get there.”

St. John's: “Intriguing because the coaching staff is full of energy and is determined to get the best out of their players to better their future.”

UConn: “The visit was well planned, the practice was great and the energy was very high.”

Richmond has yet to set his official visits and won’t begin school at Brewster for a few more weeks so I wouldn’t expect any news on him in the immediate future. But, for any of those programs he’s a potential high value add and somebody that fans of those schools should be tracking closely.

Over the past few years, Chattanooga (Tenn.) Hamilton Heights has developed into a strong program that annually features some of the best foreign players in high school basketball. It has pumped out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and the flow of talent doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon.

This year’s headliner figures to be Russian wing Samson Ruzhentsev. A skilled and athletic 6-foot-6 wing from Russia, Ruzhentsev missed much of the summer due to injury but while he wasn’t on the floor, he wasn’t forgotten by college coaches and just last week he released a final five of Florida, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Mississippi and Stanford. He’ll hit the visit trail beginning the weekend of Sept. 20 with four-straight visits to Ole Miss, Florida, Illinois and Stanford. The visits will be huge in one that is probably too close to name a favorite at this point.

Also figuring to attract plenty of attention is three-star point guard Dominiq Penn who transferred to Hamilton Heights from his high school in Ohio.

The biggest news, though, of late for the program is that Rivals150 big man Bayron Matos-Garcia has backed off of his commitment to Mississippi State. A native of the Dominican Republic, Matos-Garcia is strong, athletic, tough and willing to do the dirty work around the rim. There just aren’t many bigs like him left so I would look for his recruitment to take off. Dayton and Illinois both jumped in with immediate offers and more will be coming sooner than later.

All of that adds up to more coaches making their way to Hamilton Heights.