Recruiting Roundup: basketball star Isaiah Wong has final showcase to climb national rankings
Wong feels as if he's been underappreciated nationally, his No. 130 slot in the latest 247Sports composite rankings too low, his status as the ninth-leading scorer on the Under Armour circuit (19.3 ppg) a sign he's right up there with the best.
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It's not as if Isaiah Wong is an unknown quantity, either on the local high school scene or on the recruiting landscape.
He's been a force on the courts in the Delaware Valley ever since he showed up to Conshohocken's Fellowship House in March 2016 and lighting up the nets at the Donofrio Classic, then a scrawny 6-foot-1 freshman at Pleasantville (N.J.)'s Notre Dame High School. The following summer, Wong made the decision to jump across the river for his junior year and attend Bonner-Prendergast, where he became the Catholic League's MVP in his first year in the PCL.
As Wong enters his final few weeks of AAU basketball, where he's played with local program WeR1 on the Under Armour circuit throughout his high school years, the now 6-3 guard already has a handful of Division I offers. Not shabby ones, either: A program that's won two of the last three national championships (Villanova), two ACC schools (Miami and Pitt), a program with two national championships in the last 10 years (UConn) and several others.
Despite that, Wong feels as if he's been underappreciated nationally, his No. 130 slot in the latest 247Sports composite rankings too low, his status as the ninth-leading scorer on the Under Armour circuit (19.3 ppg) a sign he's right up there with the best.
"To be honest, I really don't know why I haven't gotten national (attention)," Wong said. "I feel like I'm underrated, and people don't see the full potential in me.
"I look at the rankings, I look at all those players like I could play just as well as all of them. And I feel like the rankings don't matter, when it matters I'm going to be the person that shows I'm better than most of them."
Wong has another major opportunity to make an impact on coaches and scouts alike, with the three five-day windows that make up the July live recruiting period — the only 15 days between April and the start of the high school season that Division I coaches can watch a multitude of Division I prospects in one setting — starting next Wednesday, July 11.
Previous recruiting stories:
Kyle Thompson and Darius Kinnel
Playing with WeR1, Wong will travel to tournaments in Atlanta (July 11-14) and the Under Armour championships in Las Vegas (July 24-29), with a few days at the Hoop Group camp in Reading (July 17-19) and a couple local tournament appearances (July 20-22) in between.
At all stops, he said, he's looking to "diversify his recruitment" with new schools and offers, while at the same time hoping to boost that national stock and put himself in the early discussion for next spring's all-star games like the McDonald's All-American and Jordan Brand Classic.
Upon the conclusion of the AAU period on July 29, Wong said he'll be cutting down his list of schools and then planning visits for August and September. Though he wasn't yet ready to decide on a commitment time frame, he knows what he's looking for on his visits.
"I want to play a big role on the team I'm playing for, and just [find] a great place to go for friends and stuff, where I feel like I'm home," he said. "School-wise (it's about) the courses I want to take there and what I want to major in."