Chris Collins is a busy man right now. Really busy.
Think about what’s on the Northwestern head coach’s plate this month. He’s making in-home visits, watching prospects during two April live periods, recruiting graduate transfers, preparing for Matt Mooney’s upcoming visit and hiring Armon Gates’ replacement on his staff.
And this is supposed to be the offseason.
As you might have seen on Twitter, Collins and his staff made in-home visits with E.J. Liddell on Tuesday night and Paul Mulcahy on Wednesday night. Those two, along with Malik Hall and Harlond Beverly, are the Wildcats’ primary 2019 targets at this point.
Of course, the Wildcats would also like to land guard Matt Mooney, the South Dakota graduate transfer, for next season. They already have Evansville’s 6-foot-6 wing Ryan Taylor, the Missouri Valley Conference’s leading scorer last season after averaging 21.3 points per game. The 6-foot-3 Mooney, who averaged 18.7 points per game last year at South Dakota, would bolster a backcourt that lost three of its top four players from a year ago.
Mooney is visiting Creighton right now. He will then come to Evanston to visit NU.
However things shake out, Northwestern’s roster will undergo a dramatic overhaul next season. The Wildcats will turn over almost half the roster as they welcome incoming freshmen Jordan Lathon, Miller Kopp, Pete Nance and Ryan Young, as well as Taylor and potentially one more grad transfer.
Regarding the 2019 high schoolers in play right now, the four-star, Rivals100 Liddell is the highest ranked. The 6-foot-7 forward was named Illinois Mr. Basketball this year after leading Belleville West to the state championship. He is ranked as the No. 42 player in the class and has offers from Florida, Illinois, Marquette, Missouri and Ohio State among others.
Right behind Liddell in the rankings is Hall, a four-star, 6-foot-7 forward from Wichita (Kan.) Sunrise Christian Academy. He is ranked 50th in the nation. His 16-school offer list includes Florida, Kansas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
Beverly is yet another four-star prospect, a 6-foot-3 lead guard from Southfield (Mich.) Christian who ranks No. 71 in the class. His 11-school offer list includes Arizona State, Michigan State, Ohio State and Missouri.
Mulcahy is a three-star shooting guard from Gladstone (N.J.) St. Bernard’s School (Jaren Sina’s alma mater) who is ranked 145th in the class. He has had coaches from Connecticut, Xavier and Georgia Tech in to see him this week.
However, don’t get too attached to those four 2019 prospects because you don’t know if they’ll still be in the picture by the end of the month. Consider this: at this point last season, before the first April live period, Collins had not yet heard of or seen Kopp, Lathon or Young. Now, they are all Wildcats.
Think about what’s on the Northwestern head coach’s plate this month. He’s making in-home visits, watching prospects during two April live periods, recruiting graduate transfers, preparing for Matt Mooney’s upcoming visit and hiring Armon Gates’ replacement on his staff.
And this is supposed to be the offseason.
As you might have seen on Twitter, Collins and his staff made in-home visits with E.J. Liddell on Tuesday night and Paul Mulcahy on Wednesday night. Those two, along with Malik Hall and Harlond Beverly, are the Wildcats’ primary 2019 targets at this point.
Of course, the Wildcats would also like to land guard Matt Mooney, the South Dakota graduate transfer, for next season. They already have Evansville’s 6-foot-6 wing Ryan Taylor, the Missouri Valley Conference’s leading scorer last season after averaging 21.3 points per game. The 6-foot-3 Mooney, who averaged 18.7 points per game last year at South Dakota, would bolster a backcourt that lost three of its top four players from a year ago.
Mooney is visiting Creighton right now. He will then come to Evanston to visit NU.
However things shake out, Northwestern’s roster will undergo a dramatic overhaul next season. The Wildcats will turn over almost half the roster as they welcome incoming freshmen Jordan Lathon, Miller Kopp, Pete Nance and Ryan Young, as well as Taylor and potentially one more grad transfer.
Regarding the 2019 high schoolers in play right now, the four-star, Rivals100 Liddell is the highest ranked. The 6-foot-7 forward was named Illinois Mr. Basketball this year after leading Belleville West to the state championship. He is ranked as the No. 42 player in the class and has offers from Florida, Illinois, Marquette, Missouri and Ohio State among others.
Right behind Liddell in the rankings is Hall, a four-star, 6-foot-7 forward from Wichita (Kan.) Sunrise Christian Academy. He is ranked 50th in the nation. His 16-school offer list includes Florida, Kansas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
Beverly is yet another four-star prospect, a 6-foot-3 lead guard from Southfield (Mich.) Christian who ranks No. 71 in the class. His 11-school offer list includes Arizona State, Michigan State, Ohio State and Missouri.
Mulcahy is a three-star shooting guard from Gladstone (N.J.) St. Bernard’s School (Jaren Sina’s alma mater) who is ranked 145th in the class. He has had coaches from Connecticut, Xavier and Georgia Tech in to see him this week.
However, don’t get too attached to those four 2019 prospects because you don’t know if they’ll still be in the picture by the end of the month. Consider this: at this point last season, before the first April live period, Collins had not yet heard of or seen Kopp, Lathon or Young. Now, they are all Wildcats.
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