Lincoln Park 5-Star Guard Meleek Thomas Staying Humble in Recruiting Process

Being the top-rated basketball player in the state of Pennsylvania comes with its perks, but also an immense amount of pressure.

Even as one of the elite players in the class of 2025, Meleek Thomas has handled all of his recruiting process in stride and with gratitude.

“Stay grounded and stay humbled and act like I have a major goal I got the get to,” Thomas said about his recruitment. “I just got to keep striving for it and stay humble.”

For Thomas, he started garnering interest from programs early on, which allowed him time to mature with the process.

“I’m glad I got introduced to that early,” Thomas said. “At first, it was excitement. You start telling a lot of people, you start posting and then my offers start flowing in. If I’m used to it this whole time and all of a sudden, I get big-headed and start bragging, I’m positive I’ll see a change in my camp invites and offers.”

As expected, the Western Pennsylvania star has been pursued hard by his hometown team in the Pitt Panthers.

There is certainly a growing desire for Jeff Capel to keep him in town and Thomas has felt that.

“It’s been good ever since I’ve been getting recruited by them,” Thomas said. “They want to keep in touch a lot and they have been in touch a lot since they started recruiting me. If I wanted to be home, they just let me know it’s home.”

Thomas tells Pittsburgh Sports Now that he does plan on making an official visit to Oakland in the coming weeks.

Along with Pitt, the five-star prospect has a long list of suitors as his top-12 schools include Kansas State, Indiana, Kansas, Duke, Auburn, Tennessee, UConn, Michigan, Miami and Villanova.

Also on that list sits Kentucky. Thomas made a visit to Lexington back on Feb. 2 and says that trip was a dream come true.

“I’ve been watching them since a kid,” he said. “You watch all the future NBA players, [Devin] Booker, De’Aaron Fox, so to go in and see that history, it was a great experience and environment.”

Kentucky is a school to keep an eye on in the recruiting process for Thomas as connections are aplenty.

Head coach John Calipari grew up in Western Pa. and he recently brought in Quaker Valley product Adou Thiero to the program.

Thomas was lucky enough to have Thiero as a sounding board during his visit thanks to their relationship they formed years ago.

“That’s my guy. When I go up there, I was asking him a few questions and he was giving me knowledge,” Thomas said. “I knew him since I was young, so that connections there.”

Even with a loaded list of top-12 schools for Thomas, he says that there are no frontrunners yet.

While the recruiting process has consumed Thomas, he is still focused on finishing out his junior year with Lincoln Park as the Leopards look to repeat in Class 4A.

The Leopards are heading into the playoffs with just three losses this season, all coming out of town, which is something Thomas acknowledges were learning moments.

“It’s been very eye-opening,” he said. “We lost our only games out of town, so we don’t want to bring any of that back to the city. When we come back, we want to learn from our mistakes and stick with each other. Things can get hard during a 32-game season. If you don’t get disconnected, it can go the best way for you as it did last season.”

Averaging 21.5 points per game, Thomas rests just behind the Leopards leading scorer and Pitt commit, Brandin “Beebah” Cummings.

The duo took the WPIAL by storm last year en route to a WPIAL crown and plan to do so once again.

“It’s been special,” Thomas said about playing with Cummings. “When you got another high-caliber player, you relate a lot. I relate a lot to him. To share some of my knowledge and him share some of his knowledge.”

On any given night, the high-scoring twosome can create magic and partly can be credited to their relationship that goes beyond the court.

“Playing with a guy that has that much talent and is elite is always great,” Cummings said. “Me and Meleek, personally we know each other deeper than basketball, it’s a brotherhood. Playing with somebody that elite plus they’re your brother, it’s a surreal experience. Whenever it comes to basketball on the court, Meleek makes it easier for everyone else. He makes Lincoln Park what we are.”

As the duo prepares for one last ride together, it starts with a Class 4A playoff matchup on Friday against Freeport.