NY SF Maurice Harkless (Offer)

[BearcatAlum1]

Small Forward: Maurice Harkless
6'6" 180lbs
Queens, New York
HS: Forest Hills

Offer: Yes
Offers: Arizona, Memphis, St. John’s, Miami, South Florida, Rutgers, Xavier, Virginia, Maryland, Temple, Pitt, Providence, and UConn

Interest: Syracuse, Georgetwn

Rivals Profile 86th overall, 19th SF

[BearcatAlum1]

Per Artie Ziff:

Apparently UC has offered the former UConn recuit:

ZagsBlog.com – Harkless’ Stock Taking Off

[BearcatAlum1]

Uconn back in race for Harkless
July 17, 2010

The latest news in the Maurice Harkless story is that UConn is now back in the mix for the 6-foot-6 Queens, N.Y. wing who previously decommitted from the Big East school.

“Uconn is back on the list for "Mo" Harkless, tell me this recruiting thing isnt bananas,” Nate Blue, Harkless’ mentor, wrote on Twitter.

Blue said via text the following schools were in play for Harkless: Arizona, Memphis, St. John’s, Georgetown, Miami, South Florida, Rutgers, Xavier, Virginia, Maryland, Syracuse, Temple, Pitt, Providence, UConn and Cincinnati.

All have offered except Syracuse and Georgetown.

LINK

[BearcatAlum1]

Can't help but wonder how much of a role Savino could have in Harkless' recruitment. I know we recruited Harkless and offered him PRIOR to his verbal for Uconn, but could Savino help put us over the edge on this one?

[Chad Brendel]

Can't help but wonder how much of a role Savino could have in Harkless' recruitment. I know we recruited Harkless and offered him PRIOR to his verbal for Uconn, but could Savino help put us over the edge on this one?

He will definitely help in the process, but landing Harkless will be a big time battle for anyone...

[BearcatAlum1]

Harkless blowing up in Vegas
Zagoria
July 24, 2010

Maurice Harkless is piling up scholarship offers at an astonishing pace.

The 6-foot-6 Queens, N.Y. native dropped 23 points on the Danny Granger Hurricanes Saturday morning and is averaging 22 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks per game while leading the New York Panthers into the Sweet 16 of the Las Vegas Fab 48.

“He’s blowing up,” Panthers director Gary Charles said by phone. “Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Louisville, everybody wants to get him.”

Nate Blue, Harkless’ mentor, said he believed Kansas was about to offer Harkless, who recently decommitted from UConn but is still considering the Huskies.

“Bill Self, Gary Williams, Mick Cronin, Steve Lavin, Billy Donovan, Kevin Willard, Josh Pastner, Mike Rice have all come to his games,” Blue said, rattling off a litany of high-profile Division 1 coaches.

Blue confirmed a Rivals reports that Harkless would try to visit UConn, Maryland and Cincinnati or Florida in August.

“Harkless is really special,” one D-1 coach said. “He will add strength as he goes but has all the attributes for greatness. Trevor Ariza meets Ray Allen. If he projects, he will be a 10-year pro.”

[BearcatAlum1]

NY PANTHERS GUARD BLOWNG UP
July 29,2010
Demling



One of the hottest prospects participating in the two major tournaments last week in Las Vegas was Maurice Harkless.

The 6-foot-6 Harkless is from Queens, N.Y., and will attend South Kent Prep School. He starred for the New York Panthers in the Las Vegas Fab 48.

Harkless was also named MVP of the Desert Duel, an event the Panthers won on Wednesday.

"I have been playing pretty well since the end of June," Harkless said. "Coaches tell me sometimes that I get frustrated easily and don’t play hard, now when I get mad I just try and play hard and play through it."

A former Connecticut commitment, Harkless re-opened his recruitment and now a ton of schools are calling at a rapid pace.

Harkless said in Vegas that he's been getting "a lot of calls," naming Florida, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, St. John's and Miami as new schools in the recruiting mix.

"It's too early now," Harkless said when asked if he had any favorite schools. "It's too early."

Harkless said he had strongly considered Kentucky prior to making a commitment to UConn. He hopes to visit UConn, Maryland and maybe some others in August.

[BearcatAlum1]

Harkless to cut list in August
Zagoria
July 31, 2010

After the Boo Williams tournament in April, Maurice Harkless read Internet reports “that were badmouthing me, talking about [how] I didn’t play hard or with a motor.”

So when the 6-foot-8 Harkless left his Queens home in early July, he had a mission in mind.

“Yes, because a lot of people say I don’t play hard and I felt like I was underrated, so I just had to go out there and show everybody that I’m better than what they thought I was,” Harkless said Saturday by phone from the Summer Classic at Fordham.

Consider the mission accomplished.

Harkless was invited to the LeBron James Skills Academy but instead was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Hoop Group Elite Camp in Reading, Pa., in early July.

He led the New York Panthers to the semifinals of the Fab 48 event in Las Vegas and was named to the All-Tournament team.

And he finished up his tremendous tour by helping the Panthers win the Desert Duel event in Arizona, beating out Tony Wroten, Quinn Cook,Wayne Blackshear and Naadir Tharpe for MVP honors.

“I can’t see why he isn’t a Top 20 kid nationally after this summer,” said Nate Blue, Harkless’ mentor.

“He lost one game in the month of July, when everything counted. He’s proven that he’s one of the better players in the country. If they put him up there, it’s fine. If not, he’s still proved it anyway.”

Whether the rankings reflect his play or not, the coaches comprehend what he’s done.

Roy Williams, Bill Self, Gary Williams, Mick Cronin, Steve Lavin, Billy Donovan, Kevin Willard, Josh Pastner and Mike Rice all attended his games on the West Coast.

“I really didn’t pay attention to the coaches that were watching while I was playing, but I saw a bunch of coaches there that I was kind of surprised to see,” he said.

Like who?

“Roy Williams was at one of the games in Vegas, Billy Donovan was at a game. I saw a couple coaches from Kansas at a couple of my games.”

After being out on the road virtually all month, Harkless plans to consult with Blue and his family before cutting his list in the next week or so.

“I’m probably going to cut it down soon, five, six or seven, something like that,” he said.

Harkless previously decommitted from UConn.

Asked if the Huskies would remain on the list, Harkless said, “I’m not sure.”

Blue added: “I’m 100 percent sure they [UConn] will still be on the list.”

Blue said he wasn’t certain if Harkless would take an official to UConn, but said he would at least take unofficials to UConn, St. John’s, Georgetown and Maryland.

Harkless will play with Queens in the “Battle of the Boroughs” Aug. 13-14 at Rucker Park as part of the World Basketball Festival.

Kimani Young of New Heights will lead a 10-man All-Star team from that event to Turkey Aug. 22-27, but Blue said Harkless will not travel overseas.

Instead, he’ll focus on taking his visits and preparing to head to South Kent (Conn.) in September. There he will join fellow forwards Kadeem Jack and Derrick Randall on what should be a loaded team for head coach Kelvin Jefferson.

“Me and Derrick were on the same team at Hoop Group so we kind developed a bond after that week,” Harkless said. “Me and Kadeem, we always been friends so I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

And a lot of coaches are looking forward to recruiting Harkless, too

[BearcatAlum1]

Harkless Trims List To Eight
Zagoria
August 2, 2010


Maurice Harkless has trimmed his list to eight schools.

The 6-foot-8 Queens, N.Y. native wrote on Twitter he’s considering the following schools after spending next year at South Kent (Conn.): St. John’s, Maryland, Florida, N.C. State, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Arizona and Memphis.

I asked Harkless if that means UConn is definitely out and he said, “Yes.”

Harkless recently decommitted from UConn.Harkless was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Hoop Group Elite Camp in Reading, Pa., in early July.

He led the New York Panthers to the semifinals of the Fab 48 event in Las Vegas and was named to the All-Tournament team.

And he finished up his tremendous tour by helping the Panthers win the Desert Duel event in Arizona, beating out Tony Wroten, Quinn Cook,Wayne Blackshear and Naadir Tharpe for MVP honors.

“I can’t see why he isn’t a Top 20 kid nationally after this summer,” said Nate Blue, Harkless’ mentor.

[dsimone985]

all you can ask for is a shot and we have that.

[BearcatAlum1]

Early August Notes
August 2, 2010


On Maurice Harkless, a poor evaluation of him from the Boo Williams classic – questioning his motor/ passion - motivated him to excellent July performances. He is a top target for St. John’s. And while it’s always best to have players who ball with passion and energy at all times, he does have talent. From today’s NY Post:

It, however, was the impetus for his breakout July, a month when the former Forest Hills star established himself, several college coaches said, as an elite high-major prospect. He consistently hit 3-pointers and finished in the paint against bigger and stronger opponents, but most importantly showed a motor that some had doubted existed.

“He proved he’s one of the top 20 or 30 prospects in the country as far as talent is concerned,” one Division I assistant coach involved in his recruiting said.

“Playing at a high level consistently is what helped him,” Blue said. “The important thing of July was for him to play hard, not take possessions off, to do what he was told.”

Blue later added: “I knew he was one of the best players in the nation, he just had to show everybody else. I’d be surprised if he’s not a McDonald’s All-American.”


LINK

[BearcatAlum1]

Maryland Target Maurice Harkless Sets Maryland Visit, is Being Recruited by Oregon, Kentucky
Ben Broman
August 10, 2010


In terms of small forward targets for Maryland, it may not get much better than Maurice Harkless. While Nick Faust is likely Maryland's #1 target at SG and has a decent margin over Jabari Brown, Harkless has a slight lead in the fans' eyes over Dorian Finney-Smith for favorite SF. And after that great summer, who could say otherwise?

After decommitting from UConn, one of the first schools to call Harkless was Maryland. The Terps made his initial list cut, and with friend of Harkless Sterling Gibbs on board, appeared to one of the schools to beat.

Unfortunately, Oregon and Kentucky, both of which are big-time recruiters, have recently worked their way into the recruitment. Oregon doesn't have a great record of basketball recruiting, but Nike can do wonders. Kentucky was actually his second choice the first time around, so it stands to reason that they'll be tough to beat, too.

But there is good news: Harkless plans to take an official visit to Maryland on Sept. 17. That's one day before Maryland plays West Virginia, which means that week has awesome potential. Hopefully Sterling Gibbs can make it down to CP the same weekend.

Look, students, I know you guys try hard and everything, but last time around the Terps got played by Tennessee's students, who painted a friggin' rock. Compliance issues be damned, I want to see some Harkless signs, t-shirts, the giant flowery "M" changed to "MH"; give me something. Get on it.

By the way, Harkless also plans to visit St. John's on Sept. 2, and the Johnnies figure to be one of Maryland's top competitors for the services of Harkless. Just thought you should know.

Regardless, basketball recruiting has a few very busy months coming up.

[ArtieZiff]

Is that a newspaper, or just someones blog? The reason I ask is because the comments about what to do in an attempt to get Harkless. Is this guy serious? By all means Maryland fans, violate all possible rules to give UC a better shot.

[BearcatAlum1]

Is that a newspaper, or just someones blog? The reason I ask is because the comments about what to do in an attempt to get Harkless. Is this guy serious? By all means Maryland fans, violate all possible rules to give UC a better shot.

Blog from a guy that covers Maryland basketball recruiting.

As with anything you see, take it with a grain of salt. I'd pay more attention to dates and direct quotes, as opposed to worrying about opinion type statements.

Just my take.

[ArtieZiff]

I'm not worried about it, I'm just saying that it is pretty amateurish of the writer to suggest to the fans to throw out all rules to attempt to get Harkless to go to Maryland. But like I said, if they want to do that and risk violating rules that would force Harkless to go somewhere else (possibly UC), I'm all for it.

[BearcatAlum1]

Per NBE (8/16/10):

Maurice Harkless’ list of eight schools still stands at St. John’s, Rutgers, Maryland, North Carolina State, Memphis, Florida, Cincinnati and Arizona. The biggest change in his recruitment though is he is handling the process himself and it is no longer going through advisor Nathan Blue. LINK

[BearcatAlum1]

Zagoria (8/19/10):

HARKLESS SETS UNOFFICIALS

Maurice Harkless, a 6-8 wing from Queens, will visit St. Johns (Sept. 2), Rutgers (Sept. 4) and Maryland (Sept. 5) unofficially.

He will then take an official to Oregon Sept. 17.

Harkless opted to switch his first official to Oregon from Maryland.

He is also considering Florida State, Florida, Cincinnati and Arizona.



Memphis and NC State no longer on list. Recently added Florida State and Oregon.

[BearcatAlum1]

Recent article on NBE says Harkless has set his unofficials and one official visit: no mention of UC in the teaser or "featured" teams.

So, does this mean we're elilminated? Or, does this mean we're going to get an "official" visit?

[Chad Brendel]

Recent article on NBE says Harkless has set his unofficials and one official visit: no mention of UC in the teaser or "featured" teams.

So, does this mean we're elilminated? Or, does this mean we're going to get an "official" visit?

We are still on his list, just not in the first batch of visits...

[BearcatAlum1]

We are still on his list, just not in the first batch of visits...

Good news.

We have PLENTY of playing time for two SFs.

[ArtieZiff]

We are still on his list, just not in the first batch of visits...

You think we'll end up getting a visit?

[ucdave]

To St. John's.

2011 Commitment Update: Maurice Harkless

[todd cunningham]

To St. John's.

2011 Commitment Update: Maurice Harkless

Not surprised at all. He is a mommas boy and wanted to stay close to home. Good get for the Red Storm.

[BearcatAlum1]

The 6-foot-8, 190-pound wing from Queens is the first player from the Class of 2011 to commit to St. John’s and new head coach Steve Lavin, and he made the announcement Tuesday at the SNY studio in Manhattan.

“I will be going to St. John’s University in New York,” Harkless said.

“I always wanted to look into St. John’s but they weren’t that good in the past few years and with a new coach, I feel like it’s a brand new opportunity and the coaches are hungry. I’m in New York. I can represent my city in my city.”

“It’s going to be real exciting. Playing in Madison Square Garden is one of the world’s most famous arenas. Just being home, so that plays a big factor as well.”

Harkless, who will prep at South Kent (Conn.), is the No. 13 small forward in the Class of 2011 and the No. 45 player overall, according to Rivals.com

He also considered Rutgers, Maryland, Oregon, Florida State, Florida, Cincinnati and Arizona.

“I could really do it all,” he said. “I can shoot. I can rebound. I can defend any position and I use my length really well so I feel I will be able to bring a lot to the table at St. John’s.”

St. John’s has 10 scholarships to give in 2011 and Harkless is the first to join what Lavin is calling his “Noah’s Ark.”

“It’s a situation where I call it the St. John’s Noah’s Ark,” Lavin said earlier this summer. “We’re going to need two of every position.”

More than 75 percent of the St. John’s roster will turn over after this coming season, when St. John’s will feature nine seniors and expects to compete for a spot in the top half of the Big East.

“We really have no choice because we have nine seniors and we have 10 scholarships available, so it appears that we’re moving in that direction where we’re going to sign 9 or 10 players in our first class and that way we’ll have two of every position,” Lavin said.

St. John’s is also involved with several elite players, including JaKarr Sampson, Amir Garrett, D’Angelo Harrison, Norvel Pelle, Tyler Harris, Quinn Cook, Naadir Tharpe and Tavon Sledge.

“[Lavin] is hungry,” Harkless said. “He tells me what kind of plans he has and I think we could really do big things there.”


After a mediocre spring, Harkless blew up on the summer circuit.


He was invited to the LeBron James Skills Academy but instead was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Hoop Group Elite Camp in Reading, Pa., in early July.

He led the New York Panthers to the semifinals of the Fab 48 event in Las Vegas and was named to the All-Tournament team.

And he finished up his tremendous tour by helping the Panthers win the Desert Duel event in Arizona, beating out Tony Wroten, Quinn Cook,Wayne Blackshear and Tharpe for MVP honors.

“I just wanted to prove to myself mainly that I was a better player than a lot of people thought because I started off this spring not so well,” he said. “A lot of people doubted me so I just wanted to go out there and show people what I could do.”

LINK

[ArtieZiff]

Committed to SJU.