Big East a big lure for top local recruits

By Keith Pompey
Inquirer Staff Writer
In a way, this is really nothing new.

Talented Philadelphia-area basketball players have long bypassed local schools to play for college basketball's most storied programs.
Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1955 when the Overbrook High graduate went to the University of Kansas. In 1977, after graduating from West Philadelphia, Gene Banks took his game to Duke.
Simon Gratz product Rasheed Wallace went to North Carolina in 1993. And in 2008, Tyreke Evans played at Memphis after an illustrious career at American Christian Academy.
In this year's signing period, the term going big time means playing in the Big East Conference.
Local players have long played in that conference. But this might be the first time six area seniors in the same recruiting class will sign national letters of intent with Big East schools. All are expected to sign during the early signing period, which runs Wednesday through Nov. 17.
Tabbed for No. 5 Pittsburgh are Life Center Academy 6-foot-1 point guard John Johnson, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 6-7 swingman Jaylen Bond, and Academy of the New Church 7-0 center Malcolm Gilbert. ANC 6-9 power forward Rakeem Christmas is scheduled to sign with 10th-ranked Syracuse. Penn Wood 6-5 swingman Aaron Brown will sign with West Virginia, while Abington Friends 6-6 swingman Jabril Trawick will sign with No. 20 Georgetown.
Allen Rubin, an editor and recruiting analyst for Hoop Scoop, notes that this shows how things have changed.
"In the Northeast section of the country, kids grow up and their goal is: 'Let me go to the Big East,' " Rubin said. "Every kid, whether they are at that level or not, they want to go to the Big East.
"And it's very difficult now for an Atlantic Ten, Colonial Athletic Association, and Mid-American Conference school to get those kids."
And here's the reason, according to Trawick:
"Playing in the Big East Conference in the closest to playing in the NBA," the high-flier said. "It prepares you the best for the NBA."
Another perk to playing in the Big East is the conference's current TV contract with ESPN/ABC. Recruits are excited about being seen regularly on national television.
That exposure and high level of competition leave Temple, St. Joseph's, Penn, and Drexel at huge disadvantages when it comes to keeping the area's best recruits home.
Sixth-ranked Villanova, a Big East member that has recruiting pipelines in Washington, New York, and North Jersey, isn't affected by conference foes' taking some of the area's top talent.
Having out-recruited West Virginia for key recruits twice in three seasons, La Salle hasn't suffered in the Atlantic Ten.
Two seasons ago, the Explorers nabbed center Aaric Murray from the Mountaineers. Dobbins forward/center Jerrelle Wright picked La Salle over West Virginia this season and is expected to sign Wednesday.
But for the most part, teams have had a hard time recruiting against the Big East schools.
"There's good coaching in the city," Rubin said. "But they just can't get those kids. Maybe Jay [Wright, Villanova's coach] can steal a couple of them. But outside of that, they just can't get them. What are you going to do? They want to move on to the Big East."
Temple has suffered the most from players' being lured by the Big East.
Johnson, Brown, and Bond were seriously considering the Owls before choosing the Big East. As a result, Will Cummings, a point guard from Jacksonville, Fla., is believed to be Temple's lone commitment.
"There's nothing you can do about it," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said of losing recruits to the Big East. "You go out there and you keep selling a great academic institution and a great basketball program. And you say, you know what, 'You will have a great career here.' "
But these six recruits expect to have even better careers in the Big East. So much so that Gilbert compares the league's competitiveness to the Big Five of the 1960s and 1970s.
"I've always been used to that nitty-gritty style that Philadelphia has provided," he said. "And I think the Big East is where that lies. That nitty-gritty style is what helps you elevate your game to the next level."