Chris Mullin is preparing to enter his first season as the head coach of the St. Johns basketball team. Mullin has never been a coach before but he is now at his alma mater and the name recognition should help him with recruiting players to the school. Mullin has already gotten a commitment from four-star forward Kassoum Yakwe in the 2016 class and he is looking to add to that in the form of four-star guard Shamorie Ponds who he has an in-home visit with on Wednesday, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Ponds took an official visit to St. Johns recently and there was some thought that he might decide to commit right then but he has instead chosen to continue with the rest of his visits. The other teams in on Ponds are Minnesota, Providence and Creighton but despite Ponds wanting to take those visits, St. Johns is still the overwhelming favorite to land him, according to 247 Sports.
One of the big objectives for Mullin at St. Johns is to get some of the New York born players to stay home to play college basketball and that would be the case with Ponds if he chose the Red Storm as he is from Brooklyn, New York. Yakwe is from Centereach, New York so there is a clear trend in Mullin's recruiting strategy.
Ponds is a 6 foot-1 one shooting guard that is ranked as the 42nd best player overall and the 12th best shooting guard in the 2016 class, according to ESPN. Ponds is a lefty shooter and has drawn comparisons to former NBA guard Nick Van Exel. Ponds needs to better his shot selection and his ball handling but he is already a very good scorer and passer that could shoot the lights out. Ponds should be able to come into school and immediately make an impact as a knockdown shooter.
Ponds isn't the only Brooklyn native Mullin has his eyes on though as Rawle Alkins, the number 15 overall player in 2016, is also considering St. Johns. Alkins is scheduled for an unofficial visit to their campus this week.
Mullin seems to be off to a great start on the recruiting trail as he is focusing on players from the state of New York. New York produces some great basketball players and if Mullin is able to keep those players in state to play college basketball the Red Storm have a shot to be a powerhouse in the near future.
