Abdur-Rahim To Announce College Choice Wednesday
Posted on Tuesday, Jul. 9, 2019, 3:37 pm
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By Jerry Ratcliffe
New Jersey 4-star sensation Jabri Abdur-Rahim said that he will announce his college choice on Wednesday and according to recruiting experts, things are looking good for national champion Virginia.
The 6-foot-7 small forward has gained the most attention from UVA, Michigan, Notre Dame, Louisville, and UConn. Abdur-Rahim took his first official visit to Virginia (June 28-30), shortly after he spent a week here at the NBA Top 100 camp.
Two national recruiting sites predicted Tuesday that he will commit to the Cavaliers. 247 Sports’ “crystal ball,” which predicts destinations of recruits, gave UVA an 83-percent chance of landing Abdur-Rahim, while Rivals “future cast,” was even more confident in rating Virginia as 100-percent in gaining the commitment.
“I really enjoyed myself … [Virginia] made it clear I was a priority,” Abdur-Rahim said after his visit to Charlottesville. “Coach (Tony) Bennett has been on me pretty hard throughout this whole process.”
The Cavalier coaching staff clearly liked what they saw in watching Abdur-Rahim at Top 100. Bennett personally spent the majority of his weekend courting Abdur-Rahim during his official visit. In fact, Bennett traveled to Blairstown, N.J., to observe Abdur-Rahim in the Mid-Atlantic Independent Shootout, an NCAA-sanctioned event at the prospect’s school, Blair Academy, in between the Top 100 camp and the official visit to UVA.
On Tuesday, Abdur-Rahim wrote on his Twitter account: “announcing my college decision tmrw, stay tuned.”
announcing my college decision tmrw, stay tuned??
— Jabri (@jabri404) July 9, 2019
The son of former NBA standout Shareef Abdur-Rahim has drawn interest from more than 30 Power 5 schools. There’s a good reason for that attention in that Jabri has been described as a “special scorer.” He averaged 15.3 points and 7.1 rebounds in leading Blair to a state title as a junior last season.
He carried that over to the Nike EYBL 17U circuit during the spring when he averaged 25 points per game for Team Playaz Club. He scored 44 points (10 of 15 on 3-point attempts) in one game. During the NBA Top 100 camp in Charlottesville, Abdur-Rahim led the entire camp in scoring (17.3 points per game) against the creme-de-la-creme of college prospects.
This week, Abdur-Rahim was included as one of the athletes that will be participating in the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Minicamp at the end of the month in Colorado.
“[Virginia] has been telling me that I can come in and be an elite defender, and [Bennett] sees me as kind of filling a De’Andre Hunter-type role,” Abdur-Rahim said during his camp visit to UVA.
He said his father told him to go somewhere that he’s wanted, and is most comfortable.
That could very well be Virginia.
“I don’t want to go somewhere where I’m chasing the school,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I want someone who is really interested in me.”
As he said, stay tuned.
