Recapping Busy Day of First Contact/Offers for Pitt, Duquesne and Robert Morris

Monday was circled as a big day on the college basketball recruiting calendar as teams were permitted to start reaching out and contacting high school sophomores and that’s exactly what our local D-I men’s teams did.

As we charted all day in the Frank Walker Daily Notebook, Jeff Capel, Keith Dambrot and Andy Toole were all active with either making initial contact with 2022 players, extending an offer, or in one case, offering a player from the Class of 2021.

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In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the activity that we were able to pick up on.

PITT PANTHERS

*Reached out and extended an offer to 2022 4-star PG Chance Westry from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Rated as one of the Top 20 sophomores in the country.

*Reached out to 2022 center Matthew Filipowski from Westtown, New York. Filipowski (6’10”, 215) received his first major offer yesterday from Xavier.

*Reached out to 2022 3-star forward Chisom Okapara from Saztons Rivers, Vermont. Okapara is rated as the #1 sophomore in the state and one of the Top 100 players in the Class of 2022.

*Reached out to 2022 forward Christian Watson from St. John’s College High School in Washington D.C.

*Reached out to 2022 4-star shooting guard Judah Mintz from Gonzaga High School in Washington D.C. Rivals rates him as one of the Top 50 sophomores in the country.

*Reached out to 2022 4-star small forward Tyler Nickel from East Rockingham High School in Elkton, Virginia. Rivals rates him as one of the Top 70 sophomores in the country.

*Reached out to 2022 5-star point guard Jaden Bradley from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Bradley is rated as one of the Top 10 sophomores in the country.

*Reached out to 2022 4-star center Shawn Phillips from Belmont High School in Dayton, Ohio. 247 Sports rates him as one of the Top 50 sophomores in the country.

*Reached out and extended an offer to 2022 4-star center from Westtown High School in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. 247 Sports rates him as one of the Top 40 sophomores in the country.

DUQUESNE DUKES

*Reached out to 2022 SG Mark Armstrong from St. Peters Prep in South Orange, New Jersey. Armstrong holds offers from VCU, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Rider, Marist, Illinois, Bryant and Creighton.

*Reached out to 2022 PG Jason Drake from St. Mary’s Preparatory in Detroit, Michigan.

*Reached out to 2022 PG Kareem Rozier from St. Mary’s Preparatory in Detroit, Michigan.

*Reached out to 2022 wing Josiah Harris from Cleveland, Ohio. Harris holds offers from Duquesne, Akron, Cleveland State, Eastern Michigan, Kansas State, Kent State, SMU, Ohio State, West Virginia and Wichita State.

*Reached out to 2022 point guard Roderick Coffee from Painesville, Ohio.

*Reached out to 2022 shooting guard Elmore James IV from Brush High School in Cleveland, Ohio.

*Reached out to 2022 forward Donald Hand Jr. from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

ROBERT MORRIS COLONIALS

*Extended an offer to 2022 point guard Shane Lancaster from Bowie, Maryland.

*Extended an offer to 2022 forward A.J. Clayton from Roseville, Ohio. Clayton holds offers from St. Joe’s, Cleveland State, Kent State and Ohio U.

*Extended an offer to 2022 forward Joshua Hopson (6’8″, 230) from Montclair, New Jersey. Hopson holds offers from Bryant and Fairleigh Dickinson.

*Extended an offer to 2021 forward Chris Ford from Huntersville, North Carolina. Ford holds an offer from Davidson.