Maurice Harkless: The Saga Ends

Finally getting back to posting after a few days of vacation…

Since my last post, the Maurice Harkless saga has ended, at least for the Huskies.  Harkless, who gave an early 2011 verbal commitment to the Huskies, withdrew his commitment a couple of months ago, said that UConn was off his list, then they were on his list, now the Huskies are apparently off of his list for good.

According to ZagsBlog, Harkless now lists 8 schools: St. John’s, Maryland, Florida, N.C. State, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Arizona and Memphis, and told ZagsBlog that UConn is now definitely out.  He is scheduled to take an official visit to Maryland.  I’m quite sure that Gary Williams would like nothing better than to land a recruit formally committed to UConn, given his belief that the Huskies have stolen several from the Terrapins.

Harkless, after falling from 51st in the rankings to nearly out of the Top 100, lit up the summer circuit and is now being highly recruited.  Perhaps it’s because he seems to have grown two inches in the last year — Rivals.com has him at 6’6″, while ZagsBlog lists him at 6’8″ — not sure which one is correct, but that’s a significant difference for a projected small forward.

By the way, is it just me, or is St. John’s in the mix for an incredible number of top players?  I’m sure it has something to do with the number of scholarships available next year — at least 7, replacing that many seniors this season — but Steve Lavin really seems to be making a difference.