Top players ready to make their college choice
Hudson Catholic (Jersey City) High School point guard Jahvon Quinerly would’ve never guessed he’d be in his senior year smack-dab in the middle of pursuing a state title swan song with the unbearable stress of picking a college hovering over him.
Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) High School forward E.J. Montgomery can certainly relate. He’d been committed to Auburn for more than two years before opening up his recruitment last September.
“It’s hard to be in this position,” Quinerly said. “I was done, but now I’m back in this position. I’ve watched two of my teammates commit. … It’s just tough.”
The good news for Quinerly is that it’s almost over. He plans to announce his decision Wednesday — again.
Quinerly decommitted from Arizona in October after Wildcats assistant Emmanuel “Book” Richardson was arrested in the FBI probe that rocked college basketball in September. Quinerly was not named in the FBI documents, but his family hired a lawyer as a result of the investigation, according to ESPN. Montgomery decommitted from Auburn one day after Tigers assistant Chuck Person was arrested as part of the same FBI probe.
“I can’t really talk about any of that,” said Quinerly, who is ranked No. 26 overall in the ESPN 100. “Right now I’m focused on winning another state title.”
Before that he’ll upgrade arguably the most important position on the floor at Seton Hall, Georgetown, Oklahoma, Memphis, Villanova or Maryland.
Montgomery isn’t as far along in his recruitment process. He is down to 11 schools: Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Southern California, Clemson, Georgia and UCLA.
He visited North Carolina on Mon- day, will visit Duke on Wednesday and is scheduled to visit Kentucky on Feb. 24.
“I’m just doing all of my research,” Montgomery said. “Then we’ll make the hard decision when the time comes. This process is never easy, probably even harder after this whole situation.”
In all, seven elite players decommitted from colleges tied to the investigation. Quinerly will be the third to recommit.
Other ripples included top players dropping the schools from contention for their services, including Montverde Academy (Fla.) guard R.J. Barrett, the No. 1 player in the 2018 class, cutting Arizona. Barrett eventually picked Duke.
The silver lining is that after the chips fell from the NCAA’s early signing period in November, college coaches have made Quinerly and Montgomery priority No. 1.
The tricky part, at least for colleges, is that the feds have offered no inkling of a timetable for wrapping up their case, who they’re targeting next or if there could be blowback for schools that touch players connected to the case.
The players just want the best possible landing spot, even if it does come with a cautionary tale.
“It definitely makes you think a lot more about everything and everybody,” Montgomery said. “My parents were always involved and even more now, so I’m lucky to have that. I’ve got a lot of good options, so I have to find what’s right for me.”