Shaka Smart takes his recruiting talents to South Beach

Adam Stern
Executive Editor
Commonwealth Times Sports’ Twitter

RECRUITING

VCU third-year head coach Shaka Smart took his talents to South Beach Monday in an attempt to pry away a 2013 late-blooming prospect from Miami that has turned into such a hot commodity, new Miami Hurricanes head coach Jim Larranaga gave up on trying to keep him in the city this past summer.

Smart was there to attend South Miami High, where he watched 6-foot-8, 215-pound junior power forward Antravious Simmons , an energetic big man who has blossomed into an elite rebounder on the defensive end and features a mostly back-to-the-basket, low-post offensive skill set thus far.

Simmons was a proverbial late-bloomer– reminiscent of another former VCU recruit from Florida in Larry Sanders– and only averaged 10 points a game in his sophomore season last year, which is reportedly not much for dominant players in that area. But Simmons played with Team Breakdown this past summer, an elite AAU team in the area, and really came into his own as a powerful presence on the glass, which opened up his recruiting options wholesale.

Simmons is now stocked with a laundry-list of potential candidates on top of the Rams in schools like Kansas State, Clemson, Maryland, and, ironically for VCU, Alabama, who are coached by former Ram head man Anthony Grant.

All this information comes via Miami-based writer Christopher Stock, who covers the Miami Heat for the AP and CBSSports.com as well as the Hurricanes for InsideTheU.com. Stock was in attendance at the game and has kept close tabs on Simmons for years. He spoke with Simmons after the game and was able to learn a fair deal about his visit with Smart.

“Shaka came by the school yesterday and  stayed for the game,” Stock said. “And Shaka talked to the South Miami head coach for at least 30 minutes after the game in their office.”

Stock said that Simmons– who has also received an offer from Murray State, one of the only remaining undefeated teams in the country currently– hasn’t hinted exactly which way he’s leaning yet, but that he’ll make a decision by or around the end of the school year this summer. Stock noted that Kansas State offered first and there is something to that, but if you throw in VCU’s recent history of recruiting Floridians, the fact that they just went to a Final Four and the significance of Smart being in attendance as opposed to an assistant, they certainly should have a shot at landing him.

“I remember with Joey (Rodriguez) getting recruited by VCU in high school and that was a big deal … the fact that they got players down there in the state is something they can always sell to future kids,” Stock said.  “I think what they did last year  is such a credible thing …  its not ‘oh, VCU, nice mid-major program.’  Now it’s a Final Four program and that’s something you can always sell and every kid knows that.

“And I think it can definitely make an impact when it comes to recruiting.”