Five-star Class of 2016 big man Edrice Adebayo is a hulking specimen, a 6-foot-8. 230-pound high school kid who is built like a football player.
He picked up a scholarship offer from Louisville late last week, and on Thursday he spoke at length about his admiration for another North Carolina native, one who ended up starring for U of L and is considered a likely first-round NBA draft pick.
"I think it's a real good offer, because Montrezl Harrell was there," said Adebayo, who is from Pinetown, N.C., a town about an hour's drive from Harrell's Tarboro, N.C., home on the eastern side of the state.
"He's from where I live, so it was good to get it."
Adebayo is considered one of the top 11 prospects in his class by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals, while Scout ranks Adebayo 25th in the country. He already has scholarship offers from 14 programs, including Arizona, North Carolina and North Carolina State. Louisville assistant Kenny Johnson watched Adebayo at the adidas Uprising event in Indianapolis in late April, and the Cardinals struck up a relationship with him.
An AAU teammate of top-rated 2016 point guard Dennis Smith Jr., another top target for Louisville, Adebayo said U of L is a good fit "because they like to run."
"And I like to run," Adebayo said at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Va. "They like to go through their big men, and I think the head coach (Rick Pitino) is a good guy."
As he said in April, Adebayo isn't handling his own recruitment right now. Eric Peartree, a family friend, is serving as Adebayo's personal coach and his point of contact for college coaches. Adebayo said in April that the setup allows him to focus on basketball and his conditioning.
"My coach handles it, so I don't have stress over it," Adebayo said Thursday. "I just play basketball. It's pretty crazy (for Peartree). They call him from Monday through Friday and I don't think he gets a break."
Adebayo said he won't narrow down his college options until next April, which means his process, one that will be among the most followed in the 2016 class, will continue for quite a while.
In the meantime, he pictures himself improving, and being better than Harrell, which won't be an easy task.
"Not to say this in a bad way, but I see myself being better than what he was in high school," Adebayo said.
Kyle Tucker
He picked up a scholarship offer from Louisville late last week, and on Thursday he spoke at length about his admiration for another North Carolina native, one who ended up starring for U of L and is considered a likely first-round NBA draft pick.
"I think it's a real good offer, because Montrezl Harrell was there," said Adebayo, who is from Pinetown, N.C., a town about an hour's drive from Harrell's Tarboro, N.C., home on the eastern side of the state.
"He's from where I live, so it was good to get it."
Adebayo is considered one of the top 11 prospects in his class by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals, while Scout ranks Adebayo 25th in the country. He already has scholarship offers from 14 programs, including Arizona, North Carolina and North Carolina State. Louisville assistant Kenny Johnson watched Adebayo at the adidas Uprising event in Indianapolis in late April, and the Cardinals struck up a relationship with him.
An AAU teammate of top-rated 2016 point guard Dennis Smith Jr., another top target for Louisville, Adebayo said U of L is a good fit "because they like to run."
"And I like to run," Adebayo said at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Va. "They like to go through their big men, and I think the head coach (Rick Pitino) is a good guy."
As he said in April, Adebayo isn't handling his own recruitment right now. Eric Peartree, a family friend, is serving as Adebayo's personal coach and his point of contact for college coaches. Adebayo said in April that the setup allows him to focus on basketball and his conditioning.
"My coach handles it, so I don't have stress over it," Adebayo said Thursday. "I just play basketball. It's pretty crazy (for Peartree). They call him from Monday through Friday and I don't think he gets a break."
Adebayo said he won't narrow down his college options until next April, which means his process, one that will be among the most followed in the 2016 class, will continue for quite a while.
In the meantime, he pictures himself improving, and being better than Harrell, which won't be an easy task.
"Not to say this in a bad way, but I see myself being better than what he was in high school," Adebayo said.
Kyle Tucker
