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Isaiah Briscoe, the 2015 top-25 guard who Steve Lavin and St. John's have been pursuing, has expanded his recruiting, per Zagsblog.
Briscoe, who had been considering St. John's, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Villanova and Arizona (who recently took the commitment of another top-25 guard, Allonzo Trier), has expanded his list and made these changes:
- Briscoe will take an official visit to Connecticut in September, his only set visit.
- Kentucky will visit Briscoe at his home on September 18.
- And Missouri will come for a visit, per Jeff Borzello.
Missouri visited with five-star forward Thomas Bryant at midnight, and will meet with five-star guard Isaiah Briscoe tonight.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) September 9, 2014
Competition means Briscoe is a top talent (Georgia Tech is said to be visiting as well). And UConn has a number of guards who will be on the roster next season, including Omar Calhoun and Rodney Purvis. Kentucky has an unknown number of scholarships available, with up to ten players who could be up for NBA Draft consideration.
Still, this isn't the position St. John's wants to be in with their top target.
What does this mean for St. John's, who were thought to be the leaders for Briscoe? The Johnnies are still in the mix, but have also displayed a slightly different approach to recruiting - consider how other head coaches camped out at Nike Peach Jam to be seen by Briscoe while Lavin went overseas to bring in Amar Alibegovic.
In fact, while Rutgers and Seton Hall rolled deep this morning to see Briscoe, St. John's didn't come on this first morning of the live recruiting period.
Talk about first on line... Seton Hall came with 3 coaches, Rutgers came with 1 to Roselle Catholic this morning to see Isaiah Briscoe.
— The Basketball Diary (@TheBBallDiary) September 9, 2014
St John's was not at Roselle Catholic to see Isaiah Briscoe this morning.
— The Basketball Diary (@TheBBallDiary) September 9, 2014
The flashy "we want you so bad we came on the first day" tactic isn't always the winner; Steve Lavin and his staff have brought in a number of players by being on one of their last visits. And it's hard to know what goes on in a team's recruiting plans - will St. John's visit later today or later this week? Or are the Johnnies backing off Isaiah Briscoe?