“Ever been to the deli counter at the grocery store,” asks Scout.com basketball recruiting guru Dave Telep, who estimates that he watches more high school and AAU basketball than anyone in the nation, “where you need to take a number from the machine and when they are ready for you, they will call your number?
“Well Georgetown is like the guy behind the counter right now. They don’t take too many guys, but every now and then, they call a number and take a lucky kid. They are really, really hot right now.”
The deluge of commitments began last fall when Austin Freeman, a 6-foot-4 guard from DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, d., said he was joining the Blue and Gray. A top-10 recruit, Freeman – who hit nearly 50 percent of his shots from 3-point range last year – is widely considered one of the top scorers in the class of 2007.
The first DeMatha player to commit to Georgetown in 35 years, Freeman is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 9 prep player in the country. He averaged 19.3 points and 8.1 rebounds as a junior and was named to the all-Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) first-team last season. Freeman is expected to be a major contributor to the Hoyas right away.
“I’m a pretty conservative guy,” Telep says. “But [Freeman] has a chance to be an elite level Big East guy and could be who competes for Big East player of the year.
“He has talent, he will stick in school long enough, and he has a history of winning. He has a way of sneaking up on you. He’s not a pretty athlete, but he is continually getting better.”
In the last month, the rest of the commitments came pouring in, seemingly one on top of the other. On Oct. 10, St. John’s College High School star senior guard Chris Wright said he was picking Georgetown; his announcement was quickly followed by those of DeMatha junior forward Chris Braswell (Oct. 16), Johnson City (Tenn.) Science Hill High School senior swingman Omar Wattad (Oct. 16) and Bishop O’Connell (Va.) High School junior guard Jason Clark (Oct. 19). Wright and Wattad will join Freeman in 2007, while Braswell and Clark will not join the Hoyas until 2008.
Freeman, Wright and Wattad can sign national letters of intent this month. Their commitments to Georgetown thus far are verbal and non-binding.
“I don’t ever remember this many local kids going to one place,” St. John’s boys’ basketball Head Coach Paul DeStefano told the Washington Examiner. “John Thompson is capitalizing on Georgetown’s reputation. A school with both the academic and basketball traditions they have isn’t a hard sell. It’s pretty obvious that Georgetown is back.”
Wright, the Hoyas’ second major commitment for the class of 2007, is another top-25 recruit. Listed by Rivals.com as the sixth-best prep point guard in the country, Wright will join Freeman in the backcourt next year, giving Georgetown the top two guards from the D.C. area.
“I’ve still got some high school business to take care of on the court, but I’m very excited about coming to Georgetown and our prospects for the [2007-08] season,” Wright told the Washington Times. “One of the many attractions to Georgetown was I think we’re going to have a chance to win the national championship my freshman year.”
A 6-foot point guard, Wright has led the WCAC in scoring in each of the last two seasons. A multi-talented floor general, Wright averaged 21.8 points per game as a junior and was a first-team all-WCAC selection last season.
Last spring Wright committed to North Carolina State, only to reconsider when then-Head Coach Herb Sendek left to take the head coaching job at Arizona State University. Georgetown, which had been on Wright’s short list in the spring along with the University of Pittsburgh, became an option again, and ultimately it was the hometown Hoyas that won out over the Wolfpack and Panthers.
“It was a tough decision,” Wright said at his Oct. 10 press conference, according to DCMetroHoops.net. “I didn’t decide until a couple of days ago. I was back and forth for the past few weeks.”
The two-time all-Met selection caught mononucleosis in the summer and lost a considerable amount of weight, but is returning to full strength and should be completely healthy for his senior season.
“He’s a scoring point guard,” Telep says. “He plays the lead guard position at a high level. He’s best when he is in attack mode.”
Telep is also quick to complement Wright’s competitiveness and fire as a floor general.
The final member of the class of class of 2007 is swingman Omar Wattad. Another player with a high basketball IQ, the 6-foot-5 senior from Johnson City, Tenn., averaged 20 points, four rebounds and three assists last season.
“Omar is a very well-rounded basketball player,” his head coach at Science Hill High School, Ken Cutlip, said. “He can play multiple positions, has a good long shot and can score in a variety of ways.”
Wattad, who works hard at both ends of the court, has led his team to an 86-26 record in his three-year tenure, notching 1,610 points – most of them thanks to a deadly three-point stroke – so far in his high school career. According to the Washington Times, he will play for the Hoyas without a scholarship.
“I know in my heart I picked the right one, I know it,” Wattad said at his press conference, according to TriCitiesSports.com. “I love Coach Thompson.”
Cutlip said he talked to Thompson over the summer about what he would like to see happen with Wattad. Wattad then visited Georgetown during both the summer and the fall and, according to his head coach, “really enjoyed his visits and is very excited about the opportunity to come to Georgetown.”
Wattad selected Georgetown over the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.
“Omar brings chemistry and that’s the kind of guy you want on this [Georgetown] team,” Telep says. “And, he keeps you honest from the perimeter.”
Two years removed from playing for the Hoyas are local products forward Chris Braswell and guard Jason Clark. Both top-100 players, Braswell and Clark give Georgetown the top four players in the WCAC and guarantee the Hoyas are a team to be feared for years to come.
Braswell – a teammate of Freeman’s at DeMatha High School – made the decision to attend Georgetown shortly after idnight Madness. The 6-foot-9 forward is currently ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 7 power forward in the class of 2008 and was an all-WCAC honorable mention after last season.
A solid all-around player, Braswell is effective in the paint and on the open floor. He has quick feet and is an active rebounder, giving the Hoyas another go-to big man under the glass to fill the void that Roy Hibbert will inevitably leave.
“Braswell is one of those kids that can take basketball as far as he wants to,” Telep says. “His ceiling is tremendous. He is only halfway through his high school career; he’s an outstanding prospect.
Braswell selected Georgetown over the University of Connecticut, Syracuse University, and the University of Virginia. He also considered Maryland, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech.
Clark, who goes to school just across the river in Arlington, Va., is the most recent to commit. A 6-foot-3 shooting guard, Clark is athletic and outstanding behind the arc and off the dribble.
“Jason is just the type of guard that Georgetown is looking for to do a lot of different things,” Louis Blackshear, Clark’s AAU coach, told Rivals.com. “He can handle and shoot. His shooting has improved a lot. He is a rebounding guard. And he is tough and knows how to distribute the ball.”
An all-WCAC first-team selection along with Wright and Freeman last year, he averaged 16 points per game last season.
“[Clark] will make his bones at the beginning of his Big East career as a perimeter shooting force,” Telep says. “He’ll keep you honest from beyond the arc.”
“Every one of those guys is a great player,” Clark told the Washington Examiner about Wright, Freeman and Braswell, who all committed to Georgetown before him. “That’s definitely something I thought about. It’s not that I talked to any of them personally about my decision. But you can see the direction where the program is going. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Clark chose Georgetown over Maryland, Virginia, Villanova and Virginia Tech.
Although, according to Telep, the Hoyas are not yet on the recruiting level of the Big East’s top dog, Connecticut, he expects Georgetown to join the ranks of schools like Duke, North Carolina and Kansas – programs Telep says can compete for a national title each and every season
“There isn’t a place in place anywhere in the country that could have worked out better than what Coach Thompson has done. They are well on their way to return to the 1980s level of power.”
– Staff Writer Bailey Heaps contributed to this report
