Rakeem Christmas, arguably the top center in the Class of 2011, has narrowed down his school list to eight, which he announced through a press release. Among them is IU, who joins (in alphabetical order) Baylor, Florida, Georgetown, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and Villanova.
The 6-foot-8 big man from the Philadelphia area is the top ranked junior center according to both Scout.com and Rivals.com, who rank him the No. 5 and No. 6 overall 2011 prospect, respectively, in the country.
Here is the press release:
Rakeem Christmas has had a long summer of outstanding performances at the most coveted basketball events. With the AAU basketball season drawing to a close, the nation's "best defensive player" has garnered attention while playing for Team Final and also participating in individual camps including NBA Players Top 100, Rumble in the Bronx, Amar'e Stoudemire & Lebron James Skill Camps, Nike's Peach Jam, Super Showcase and most recently Adidas Nations Global, in which he played for USA's 2011 Team coached by Frank Johnson. Before wrapping up his summer events next week at Boost Mobile Elite 24 game at Rucker Park in New York, the rising junior and his family decided on the schools he plans on looking closely at for options of attendance in 2011.
"It's been a process, one that we wanted to make sure that the best choices were made for Rakeem," said Amira Hamid, Christmas' aunt and legal guardian. "He has been receiving scholarship offers since the 8th grade. With such an overwhelming number of schools interested in him, it was important that we did our due diligence with finalizing this list."
The universities that make up this list include: Baylor University, University of Florida, Georgetown University, Indiana University, Ohio State University, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas and Villanova University.
"I appreciate the interest that many coaches have in me but these are the schools that my family and I think would be a good fit for me" Rakeem stated. "My family and I are thankful to everyone that has offered me a scholarship and participated in my recruiting. I'm looking forward to my season at ANC and playing for Coach Givens. I've played with some of the players during the summer and I had a good time. After summer is over I want to make sure that I do well and improve in class and on the court."
