St. John’s basketball: Past relationship could factor into recruit’s decision
A past relationship between a player and a father could be a factor in the recruitment of a top prospect in the Class of 2022 for the St. John’s basketball program.
St. John’s is no longer the only school that has a personal of family connection to Class of 2022 recruit Kyle Cuffe Jr.
After publishing a piece that Texas A&M just offered a scholarship to the New Jersey guard, head coach Bruce Webber and Kansas State extended an offer to the 6-foot-1 Blair Academy standout, first reported by Andrew Slater of The Athletic.
However, what’s notable about this offer is not the school, nor the head coach but rather the assistant coach for the Wildcats, Shane Southwell.
Southwell, a star for Kansas State from 2010-2014, originally hails from Harlem, New York and was a star at Rice High School in New York City, which sadly closed its doors in 2011.
Kansas State has now offered 4⭐️ Kyle Cuffe, Jr.’22 @kylecuffejr of @PSACardinals & @BlairAcademy_NJ . His father, Kyle, Sr., attended the same HS, Rice, as Kansas St. assistant Shane Southwell. pic.twitter.com/2v1zfB61V0
— 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇ℯ𝓌 𝒮𝓁𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇 (@Andrew__Slater) May 19, 2020
A teammate of Southwell’s at Rice was Kyle Cuffe Sr., father of Cuffe Jr.
Cuffe Sr. stayed home and played at St. John’s, averaging 8.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in his four years with the Red Storm.
ALSO READ: Rising SEC program coming after top NJ prospect
Shane Southwell returned to Manhattan, Kansas in 2017 as a Graduate Student Manager and remained in that position until 2019 where he left to become an assistant coach at Robert Morris University.
Kansas State announced that its former player would be returning home as an assistant coach starting in the 2020-21 season.
Kyle Cuffe Jr. is ranked as the No. 57 player in the Class of 2022, according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings as well as the No. 5 combo guard in the rising junior class and the top player in the state of New Jersey.
ALSO READ: St. John’s competing for prospect that will ‘blow up’ this summer
St. John’s has made it a priority to land Cuffe Jr. since the team started recruiting the prospect and many thought the Johnnies had an inside track due to his father’s connection with the school and the program but now Kansas State could be challenging the Red Storm for that inside track.
Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, and UCLA are also heavily involved with Kyle Cuffe Jr.