Sinclair’s McNeil adds to Power 5 suitor list
A crush of fans filled the Clark State gym Wednesday night to see Sinclair top the host Eagles, 83-65, and especially to get a look at the Tartan Pride’s Sean McNeil, the highly recruited 6-foot-4 freshman guard who leads the nation (NJCAA Division II) in scoring with a 30.0 points per game average.
Among those in the standing-room-only crowd were Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton and assistant coaches from No. 3 Virginia, No. 23 Kansas State and Ole Miss.
“I can’t ever remember four Power 5 schools ever being in the gym at the same time to recruit one of the guys in our league,” said Sinclair coach Jeff Price, who has been with the Tartan Pride 19 years, 16 as head coach.
Wednesday night, McNeil went 10 of 16 from the field (3 for 7 from 3-point range) for 23 points as Sinclair upped its record to 17-10.
After the game Oklahoma State offered him a scholarship.
Wednesday morning Missouri had offered a scholarship, too.
Monday night, McNeil scored 42 points in Sinclair’s 98-81 loss at Edison State, which is 24-4 and ranked No. 17 in the nation.
McNeil went 1for 20 from the floor, 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line and was a 14-for-14 from the freethrow line. He also had nine rebounds.
In the past 13 days he’s received scholarship offers from No. 14 Texas Tech, West Virginia, Colorado State and Winthrop. Dayton was among several schools to offer him a scholarship in December.
Over seven dozen schools have either come to Sinclair games or practices or called in their recruitment of McNeil this season. The most recent have been Indiana, TCU, Arkansas and finally Pitt, which called Price on Friday morning.
And by Friday afternoon, Ole Miss offered a scholarship, as well.