St. John’s coach Steve Lavin has compiled one of the nation’s top recruiting classes. (neil miller)
When Maurice Harkless became new St. John’s coach Steve Lavin’s first recruit for the Class of 2011 in late August, the talented 6-foot-8 forward’s decision was met with sideways looks and confusion.
Why would one of the top talents in the country – the most highly regarded senior from New York City – opt for the local program that had fallen on such tough times recently, he said he was repeatedly asked.
Harkless isn’t hearing those questions anymore, not after Lavin and his staff put together one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.
“Now it’s hard to find someone saying that,” the Jamaica, Queens native said at Saturday’s Big Apple Basketball Invitational at Baruch College.
The class, ranked second nationally by Scout.com, includes five other top 100 recruits in shooting guard D’Angelo Harrison (Texas), wings Sir’Dominic Pointer (Mich.), Amir Garrett (Calif.) and Jakarr Sampson (Ohio), and power forward Norvel Pelle (Calif.), in addition to elite junior college point guard Nurideen Lindsey from Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla.
Scout.com national recruiting analyst Evan Daniels described the class as “terrific” and “unique” because, he said, the staff has successfully recruited a series of athletic wings and sharpshooting guards that will be tough to match up against once they develop.
The most important get, though, was Harkless.
“That started it and once they got the next couple [of recruits], the buzz was really out there and they started to gain momentum,” Daniels said.
Once his staff was in place, Lavin said, they wanted to make a point of landing a high-profile local player like Harkless.
“He happened to be a great fit in terms of his skill set and it’s even sweeter that he’s in our backyard,” the first-year coach said. “Moe Harkless has a chance to carry the baton for St. John’s basketball when it comes to players from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philly and Boston – Northeast kids in our program.”
But they also didn’t just want to recruit in the Northeast. The first recruit the Johnnies landed was California Player of the Year Dwayne Polee, a freshman on this year’s team. Lavin fingered him for being able to gain commitments from Pelle and Garrett.
Pointer credited Harkless’ decision as “a leap of faith” considering the program’s recent history and said it opened other elite prospects’ eyes.
“It made it that much easier to commit,” Pointer said. “When you know who you’re coming with, it’s a new beginning. You want to play with good players.”
Harkless never took the Red Storm seriously under Norm Roberts before initially committing to UConn during his junior year. But once he decommitted from the Huskies last summer amid staff recruiting violations, St. John’s was one of the first programs to get involved with Lavin front and center.
“When I met him, I had a feeling he’d be able to turn the program around, get it back to where it used to be when I was younger,” Harkless said, referring to the days of the Ron Artest, Erick Barkley and Bootsy Thornton-led team that reached the Elite Eight in 1999. “He was really excited about getting the job, about trying to make St. John’s great again. When I talked to him, I could feel the excitement in his voice.”
Ranked 44th in the nation by Scout.com, Harkless left Forest Hills after three years for South Kent (Conn.) to prepare himself for the Big East. At the Connecticut prep school, which also features Rutgers-bound forward Derrick Randall and Cincinnati recruit Ge-Lawn Guyn, he is already the team’s scoring and rebounding leader, helping them to a 10-5 record.
“He’s somebody that’s consistent with everything he does,” South Kent coach Kelvin Jefferson said.
“I see him as a hybrid between Trevor Ariza and Rudy Gay,” Lavin said.
Clearly, the buzz is back, and Harkless is a big part of where it all began. He would like to see it continue in the next few years, though he knows success may not happen overnight.
“It will be tough for us to get going at first, adjusting to college, but after that little hump, we’ll be really good,” Harkless predicted. “Hopefully we make the tournament and go on a run.”
