KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

A.J. Reeves - SG
From: Roxbury, MA
School: Brimmer & May
Travel/AAU: Mass Rivals

Ht: 6'6"
Wt: 185

RANKINGS:
Rivals: 4 Stars, #52 in 2018
Scout: 4 Stars, #83 in 2018, #23 SF
ESPN: 4 Stars, 86 Grade, #13 SG
247 Sports: 4 Stars, 95 Grade, #51 in 2018, #8 SG
NERR: #3 in New England

OFFERS:
Rhode Island
BC
Creighton
Fairfield
Louisville
PC
Rutgers
Temple
UConn
VCU
Xavier

INTEREST:
Virginia Tech



http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... ves-185160
http://www.scout.com/player/208265-a-j-reeves?s=75
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/baske ... /aj-reeves
http://www.newenglandrecruitingreport.c ... eeves-2018
http://verbalcommits.com/players/a-j-reeves
https://future150.com/hs/basketball-pro ... ry-ma-2018
http://247sports.com/Player/AJ-Reeves-85256

Top ranked player in New England for the class of '18.

Freshman year highlights - impressive looking shot off the dribble and catch-and-shoot. Glad we're in early, we won't be the only ones on him!

Still the top rated New England player in the '18 class.

Sophomore season.

Visiting PC tomorrow for the 2nd time. These 4* type New England kids still seem to prefer PC over us (except Jared). Does that start to change this year if we're winning?

3 straight NCAA appearances, 1 tournament win, two NBA draft picks, "Big East" conference (even though it's not what it was).

I would probably prefer them to us right now as well.

Honestly I'm not so sure this is 100% correct. Obviously every kid is different and will perceive things differently but Dan seems to target and then hone in on a small list of players. Ed seems to target and work his ass of (credit to him) for every top 100-175 player around. If we make the tournament this year and Dan again turns down bigger offers, URI's appeal will go up and things will slowly adjust to those new norms.

CT Rhody wrote:Honestly I'm not so sure this is 100% correct. Obviously every kid is different and will perceive things differently but Dan seems to target and then hone in on a small list of players. Ed seems to target and work his ass of (credit to him) for every top 100-175 player around. If we make the tournament this year and Dan again turns down bigger offers, URI's appeal will go up and things will slowly adjust to those new norms.

I don't think that's entirily true, Cooley does cast a wide net initially for any class (which I don't think is unique to him) but usually about 9-12 months out it's clear that there are 2-4 guys he really wants to fill 1-2 spots. He's not afraid of a challenge though and often chases guys that will be tough gets that often lead to tough losses and occasionally the exciting victory. IMHO, if you're only going to go after guys you have a great chance on with limited risk, the pool of upper-level kids you seriously recruit will be limited. Many here last year seemed to support the limited risk model.

I think coaches have to identify kids that fit their specific program best and it isn't a one sized fit all model. I would view URI's recruiting strategy as a limited risk model. I would view it as fit specific model. I think we'll see the ranking of player increase as starter minutes begin to become available again in two years. For now they are targeting players with high upside since they'll have time to develop them and won't need to be thrown right into the starting lineup.

CT Rhody wrote:I think we'll see the ranking of player increase as starter minutes begin to become available again in two years.

If URI is building a dynamic program as it appears, does that occur?
Think about it, the depth appears strong, and many of those stronger "depth" pieces this year probably assume that they'll be in line to become starter in 1-2 years as others leave.
The only guys who you might expect to come in and start ASAP are probably MCD's AA types at that point.
Selling minutes definitely becomes harder as you build a better roster, you almost have to sell future expectations, and even then you can't make everyone happy.

Completely agree RJ. If Hurley is building the program that all of us Rhody fans are envisioning then there shouldn't be any starter minutes available except for top 50 recruits. Guys like Dowtin, Russell, and Thompson hopefully develop into very good players to fill the spots of EC, Terrell, Garrett and Stan when those guys leave. Hurley will hopefully be selling the fact that we're going to be a consistent NCAA tournament team and that guys he has coached have made the NBA. If Hurley's trying to get guys by promising them starter minutes then we're not where we want to be as a program.

Big Time Player! AJ is Jared Terrell 2.0! Land him and now we're a HM, consistent, player for high ranking recruits. He could be the dynamic guard to follow JT... hopefully he comes here. Oh and he's another Mass Rivals guy, Scott Hazelton anyone?

AJ Reeves had a 28pt showing this morning in a MA Rivals win with Providence, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Louisville, and BC on hand

Another New Englander bites the dust. Cut his list to a final 4 of PC, Villanova, Virginia and Louisville.

Can't wait till PC gets a class of Reeves, Swider, and Duke...

PC in great shape with Reeves and Duke. Would be shocking if they landed Swider. That is not expected.

18 is a critical class for the Friars.

Check out AJ's latest tape. This kid is really good. If he goes to PC, I'll puke.

Nice tape, but shouldn't you have posted on PC or Uconn board. NO SHOT. NONE. Lets concentrate on mid Atlantic and southern 2 stars.

giovanni wrote:Nice tape, but shouldn't you have posted on PC or Uconn board. NO SHOT. NONE. Lets concentrate on mid Atlantic and southern 2 stars.

I just want to land one 4 star New England player. We did it once, although under unusual circumstances, with Terrell. Is that too much to ask? Ok, people will argue that it doesn't matter where our players come from. I know how good Reeves, Swider and Duke are because I've seen them play. Anyway, we'll see. We need 5 players from this class. One very good New Englander sure would have helped.

I think we'll get a couple of EE players....

I'll predict we end up getting two 4 stars and two 3 stars......and a transfer. Just a hunch.

The tough part is getting a 4 star big [SF or PF] that can play right away.....that's probably Dan and staff's toughest challenge going forward.

The A10 doesn't get many of those types. Will always be difficult, even if we start to string together NCAAT's......

rambone 78 wrote:I think we'll get a couple of EE players....

I'll predict we end up getting two 4 stars and two 3 stars......and a transfer. Just a hunch.

The tough part is getting a 4 star big [SF or PF] that can play right away.....that's probably Dan and staff's toughest challenge going forward.

The A10 doesn't get many of those types. Will always be difficult, even if we start to string together NCAAT's......

EE has some good players, Gebrewhit, Tate and Zegarowski are all good players, but not as good as the three I just mentioned.

Those are the kinds we'll get......not as highly rated but it's up to the staff to evaluate their potential......

Sort of like Cyril, MT, and ML.....yes it's only one year since they came here, all 3 stars......one looks like he's developing into a 4 star type, and the other two....who knows? Overrated? Or will at least one of them become a serviceable player?

We need more hits than misses, and it's tougher with bigs.

rambone 78 wrote:Those are the kinds we'll get......not as highly rated but it's up to the staff to evaluate their potential......

Sort of like Cyril, MT, and ML.....yes it's only one year since they came here, all 3 stars......one looks like he's developing into a 4 star type, and the other two....who knows? Overrated? Or will at least one of them become a serviceable player?

We need more hits than misses, and it's tougher with bigs.

Yeah, but we're not talking about bigs here. Duke is a combo guard and Swider and Reeves are wings/SF's ie. big scorers, exactly what we need to replace EC and Terrell. If we're looking to land 4 star type players, I would think it would be easier to do it in your own region than it would getting them from DC, Philly, NY or the south. I don't know. I just don't get it. Maybe they want to get away from home. We'll se if PC lands them. If they do, it wasn't that. If we want to be the top program in New England, better than PC and UConn, we have to be able to recruit local talent too.

Agreed. It seems we are competitive when it comes to recruiting PG's and SG's....but nowhere else.

The 2018 class should include a couple of wing scorers......not just should, will HAVE to.....

The next 5 months will tell all.

Speaking of the Zegarowskis, Arizona St. and Creighton both offered Marcus (he's the PG) yesterday. The Zegarowski brothers are the younger brothers of Michael Carter Williams. I wonder if Arizona St., Creighton and Xavier have better shots with New England kids than we do.

Those schools all have NE connections as we all know. Bobby, Preston, and Luke.......

They are pretty good recruiters.......duh

78, we'll know by November how good our staff is with NE kids....they got Boswell for a reason, to produce in the NE region.

If he fails, not good. Having to recruit basically half a new team for 2018-19 is putting a lot of pressure on the staff to perform.

Billyboy78 wrote: I would think it would be easier to do it in your own region than it would getting them from DC, Philly, NY or the south. I don't know. I just don't get it.

I think geography matters far less to most recruits than many of us imagine it does. Coaching staff connections are much more important in determining where recruits end up. Thus the regions you mentioned: DC metro = Cox, Philly/NY (greater Jersey area) = Hurley and formerly Carr, South = ARD. Clearly Hurley would like to get more involved in the New England recruiting scene, thus the addition of Boswell. It'll take some time for that to (visibly) pay off.

But put me in the camp of not caring at all where our recruits come from.

What exactly is Bobby's connection to New England other then his one year here?

RhowdyRam02 wrote:What exactly is Bobby's connection to New England other then his one year here?

You don't think he made any connections when he was here? He's still recruiting the area so obviously there is a connection somewhere.

This kid is a must get, would provide immediate scoring off the wing. Pairing him with daron and dowtin in the backcourt could be lethal. We haven't pulled a 4 star non transfer since JT. With all the hype around the pogram you have to expect the next class to transition into consistent 4star kids.

We should get a least a couple of 4 stars with this recruiting class, I agree.

Reeves would be a huge get, but not expecting it here.

If we're going to be a consistent player with the Dayton's and VCU's, we need to get more 4 star recruits......

Aren't we already out on Reeves? Thought he cut his list down and we weren't on it

Shaolin Swat wrote:Aren't we already out on Reeves? Thought he cut his list down and we weren't on it

Yes. It's Providence, Louisville, Virginia, and Villanova.

rambone 78 wrote:We should get a least a couple of 4 stars with this recruiting class, I agree.

Reeves would be a huge get, but not expecting it here.

If we're going to be a consistent player with the Dayton's and VCU's, we need to get more 4 star recruits......

So, who are these 4 star players everybody is talking about?

They are out there somewhere......I think recruiting has gone into stealth mode again.....I would think we will need to get at least a dozen visits to get 5 recruits.

Most of those visits we probably won't know about.

The staff knows what they have to do, and that's land guys who will have an immediate impact....not easy to do here.

Are we even on a list of any 4 star players? Some are thinking we'll get two, maybe even three, 4 star players. I don't see that at all. I'll be surprised if we get one.

BTW, I was told that the none of the local kids, Swider, Duke and Reeves (all 4 star players), even considered coming here. Maybe we get a couple of Expressions players, but they're not 4 star players. Expressions doesn't have the talent they've had in the recent past. If we get a 4 star player, I think the best bet is he comes out of DC.

PC commit

Ugh!

Wow Cooley continues to kill it... Well PC has an amazing future...

NOT happy about this but its good for the rivalry at least

steveystuds06 wrote:Wow Cooley continues to kill it... Well PC has an amazing future...

It was important if PC wanted to maintain the momentum of the last few years that they land a killer recruiting class.
They will lose 4 out of 5 starters to graduation, plus there is the potential 6th-7th man Isaiah Jackson grad transfers somewhere else.
Cooley has done a good job making sure that there will be talent on the roster for when those guys are gone.
Forecasting the 2018 roster, they could have at least 4 Top 100 starters, 1 who is a junior, 2 who are sophomores, and 1 freshman.
It's possible those could change slightly, if Cooley opts for experience.
And of course, that assumes Cooley doesn't land any more talent for two years from now.
He's positioned well with Duke and Locke, who are both Top 100 guards.
He'll only take one of them, but I think from all reports Duke is the goal.
If we are nitpicking that roster, he probably needs a 3/4, and he probably needs a 4/5, but both could be projects or redshirt candidates, given versatility with the current roster plus commitments.

steveystuds06 wrote:Wow Cooley continues to kill it... Well PC has an amazing future...

Cooley has done well with his recruiting. He however needs to start winning NCAA games. While he has four appearances, he has as many wins as Dan Hurley in his sole trip. An NCAA record of 1-4 with the seeding and recruits Cooley has had should not be considered good.

RF1 wrote:

steveystuds06 wrote:Wow Cooley continues to kill it... Well PC has an amazing future...

Cooley has done well with his recruiting. He however needs to start winning NCAA games. While he has four appearances, he has as many wins as Dan Hurley in his sole trip. An NCAA record of 1-4 with the seeding and recruits Cooley has had should not be considered good.

I'll take Cooley's resume over Hurley's everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

RF1 wrote:

steveystuds06 wrote:Wow Cooley continues to kill it... Well PC has an amazing future...

Cooley has done well with his recruiting. He however needs to start winning NCAA games. While he has four appearances, he has as many wins as Dan Hurley in his sole trip. An NCAA record of 1-4 with the seeding and recruits Cooley has had should not be considered good.

Cooley has probably underperformed by a game in the NCAA Tournament. They are 1-4, but have been favorites in 1 (a game they lost), and underdogs in 4. I think they should have 2 tournament wins, but I don't think it's an egregious underperformance.

Over the next few seasons, he's created a significant talent upgrade up and down the roster if he can keep them healthy and in the depth chart. His 2017 and start of 2018 recruiting class have been absolutely stellar. If he can also bring in Duke/Locke, that'll be part of a huge influx in underclassman talent.

Even though he's had some tremendous talents (Cotton, Dunn, Bentil, Henton), they've never really been surrounded by an extremely talented core. It's basically been those guys with a bunch of B- at best players.

RF1 wrote:

steveystuds06 wrote:Wow Cooley continues to kill it... Well PC has an amazing future...

Cooley has done well with his recruiting. He however needs to start winning NCAA games. While he has four appearances, he has as many wins as Dan Hurley in his sole trip. An NCAA record of 1-4 with the seeding and recruits Cooley has had should not be considered good.

We waited almost 20 years for a trip, let alone a win. Hopefully Dan can continue and grow on this years success. I certainly would be extremely happy if Rhody can go dancing the next 3 years.