Smart Choice

COLLEGE BASKETBALL sound like a contradiction. It’s not. In fact, it’s part of coach Tommy Amaker’s recruiting pitch, one that’s opening doors previously locked to the conference. Last year, Harvard pilfered three-star center Kenyatta Smith (Sun Valley, Calif.) 18 and three-star wing Wesley Saunders With the college hoops early signing period less than a month away, (LA) from the heart of Pac-12 country. the ACC leads all conferences with “Kenyatta was the breakthrough,” 16 pledges from ESPNU 100 prospects through Oct. 10. If the Big East allows says Adam Finkelstein, who has spent Pitt and Syracuse to join the ACC time as an NBA scout and is editor of next season, that total rises to 18— the New England Recruiting Report. “He or the same number as the Big Ten (13) and the SEC (five) combined. was the first guy who had high-major offers, like Northwestern and Vanderbilt, but chose Harvard.” That set the stage for this September, the academically rigorous conference. But when the program hosted its most by that point in the cycle, most four- and high-profile group of prospects ever. five-star players have already decided or It included one member of ESPNU’s have chopped down their list of finalists. 2012 Top 100, Zena Edosomwan (North Amaker, on the other hand, has started Hollywood, Calif.), and three members identifying smart kids with big-time talent of the 2013 Super 60: Austin Colbert as early as the summer after their sopho- (Lakeville, Conn.), Stephen Domingo more years and has gotten their attention. (San Francisco) and Greene. Four other Not every prep is receptive to his recruits with major-conference suitors pitch, of course—the school can’t made the trip, including senior Mike Hall, match the BCS boys in terms of facilities. a three-star forward from Atlanta, and And while Amaker has sent four kids to senior Siyani Chambers, a three-star the NBA in his head coaching career, point guard from Golden Valley, Minn. Harvard will never be a pro pipeline. Within 48 hours of their official visits, Still, his winning ways speak volumes: Hall and Chambers committed. If AAU The team went 23–7 last season and smart choice teammates Davon Reed, a four-star guard came within one point of its first NCAA Brannen greene is JUsT one of SEVERAL ELiTE from Princeton, N.J., and Colbert, a four- Tourney since 1946. Even though Amaker PREPS considering harVard. yes, that harVard. star forward, also pledge, it would set the isn’t much for media self-promotion By Matt Giles stage for a blockbuster 2013 class. (the coach declined to comment for this Amazingly, it was just four years ago story), he knows how to work a living room. that Amaker arrived in Cambridge after “Coach Amaker is a good person and so GEORGIA ISN’T EXACTLY PRIME Monroe, about 40 miles east of Atlanta, Michigan fired him for failing to reach the positive,” says Edosomwan. “I want to be recruiting ground for Ivy League teams. might just turn that paradigm on its head. NCAA Tournament during six seasons in around a coach with that type of attitude.” Why would it be? The top preps in the “I can see myself at Harvard,” says the Ann Arbor. But while Harvard went 8–22 He’s not the only one. No Crimson state have SEC and ACC powerhouses 6'7" guard, who is ranked as the top junior in 2007-08, Amaker’s recruiting tactics commit has sent shock waves outside the knocking at their doors and rarely give a in the Peach State by ESPNU. “It’s about the quickly differentiated him from his peers. Ivy yet, but Greene thinks Amaker could be second look to a conference that hasn’t basketball connections I can make and Historically, Ivy coaches have waited just a player away from a seismic shift. boasted a Final Four team—much less a still get the academic benefits of an Ivy.” to make contact with a prospect until the “Let me put it this way,” he says. “If one first-round draft pick—in more than three Making hoops connections at the top summer before his senior year, when they of the top-50 players in the 2013 class decades. But Brannen Greene, a native of academic school in the country might have a clear read on his ability to qualify in commits to Harvard, then more of us will.” 54 ESPN The Magazine October 31, 2011 Photograph by Kelly Kline.

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