St. John’s on prep Price’s list

By Gary Bedore     Sep 23, 2003

Say this about college basketball recruiting: It changes minute by minute, day by day.

For instance, A.J. Price, a 6-foot, 175-pound guard from Amityville, N.Y., who Sunday said he sliced his list of prospective colleges to two schools — Kansas and UConn — following last weekend’s visit to the Huskies’ campus in Storrs, Conn., Monday said he would be making one more campus visit.

Price told Mike Sullivan of rivalshoops.com he would travel to St. John’s Oct. 4.

“I had a good time at both visits,” Price said, referring to KU and UConn. “They are both great schools with great coaches. But I am going to take one more visit. I plan on visiting St. John’s.”

Price told Sullivan he likely would hold a news conference to announce his college choice sometime after the St. John’s trip.

Price, who visited KU Sept. 5, took a trip to Syracuse the following week, but is no longer considering the Orangemen, who since have received a commitment from 6-1 Josh Wright. Price, who is rivals.com’s No. 29-rated player nationally, at one time had Florida State, Maryland, Kentucky and North Carolina on his list.

Price, who averaged 25.4 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals last season at Amityville High, has played for the New York Riverside Church AAU program the past several years.

  • Alexander Kaun, 6-11 from Melbourne, Fla., and originally from Russia, is down to two schools — KU and Duke.

Kaun, who visited KU and Michigan State in successive weeks, eliminated the Spartans last week. Rivals.com’s No. 23-rated player will make a decision sometime after this weekend’s visit to Durham, N.C.

  • Russell Robinson, 6-1 from New York who has visited UConn and Georgia Tech, is slated to visit KU this weekend and Kentucky Oct. 17. Ranked No. 31 by rivals.com, Robinson eliminated St. John’s, Florida State and Pittsburgh in recent weeks.

“After I take my Kansas visit, there might not even be a need for me to visit Kentucky,” Robinson told theinsiders.com. “Kentucky is on the back burner right now because the first three have been on me pretty hard while Kentucky has been real laid-back and not really calling me like that.”

  • Joseph Jones, a 6-9, 250-pound center from Normangee, Texas, has committed to Texas A&M. Jones — he played for Houston Select at the Jayhawk Invitational last spring — earlier had planned to attend Late Night With Bill Self Oct. 17. He is ranked 113th by rivals.com.
  • Quentin Thomas, a 6-4 guard from Oakland, Calif., and C.J. Giles, 6-9 from Seattle, Wash., will visit KU this weekend with Robinson. Thomas is also considering North Carolina, Arizona State, Utah and Oregon. Giles has a final list of KU, Miami and Arizona. Giles is ranked 39th and Thomas 119th by rivals.

KU, which has three scholarships to give, has received a commitment from Darnell Jackson, 6-9 from Midwest City, Okla. Jackson is ranked 52nd by rivals. The early signing period runs Nov. 12-19.

¢

Schedule tweaking: Times have been switched for Kansas’ games in the Wolf Pack Holiday Classic Dec. 20-21 in Reno, Nev. KU will play UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m., Central time, Dec. 20, and Nevada at 9:30 p.m., Dec. 21. The games will be shown on the Jayhawk-TV network. Initially, KU was to have played Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. and Nevada at 5 p.m. The Stanford game Dec. 6 in Anaheim, Calif., also will be shown on Jayhawk TV. No starting time has been announced.

PREV POST

Hairston likes visit

NEXT POST

4300St. John’s on prep Price’s list