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If no one leaves early, if everything goes according to plan and all is well within the program, then St. John's will have four scholarships to dish out for the 2015 recruiting class.
One of those scholarships has already been offered to the possible-number one center prospect for that class, Stephen Zimmerman, who was offered last week.
Zimmerman is a 7" behemoth from Las Vegas, Nevada. Most recruiting websites have him rated as a top-1o prospect for the 2015 class, with some having him ranked as high as the second overall player. Which means that the Red Storm's scholarship offer is one of nearly a billion mailed, phoned, and spoken in his way.
According to CBS' Jeff Borzello, schools like Kentucky, Duke, Ohio State, Louisville, and Texas have already offered him a scholarship. Couple that with interest from:
- UNLV,
- UCLA,
- Kansas,
- UConn,
- Memphis,
- Florida State
- and nearly every major program.
Zimmerman is certainly in high demand - Lavin will need to pull a true recruiting coup to land the talented big man, using the majesty of Madison Square Garden, playing time, his ability to get players to the pros, and his relationship with old and new players as a carrot.
The greatest aspect of Zimmerman's game comes from what he told he told Borzello: "I would say I try to take a little bit from a couple of players. Like I try to copy Tim Duncan's footwork, Blake Griffin's explosiveness, and Dirk's shooting ability, little stuff like that."
Which is like Zimmerman saying he wants to be the greatest player in the history of the world by putting together a player by using all the greats' best features - Frankenstein-ish, if you will.
Scouts seem to think he can become very close to this Frankenstein player. And St. John's hopes to be the program that lands him in the Carnesecca training lab.