Brian Flinn:
Future150 National Recruiting Analyst. Covering high school basketball nationally.
Springfield, MA (Future150) -- Top prospects in every class feel like they have a target on their back every time they set foot on the floor, and for good reason. The opposition is always looking to make a name for themselves at the expense of a highly regarded prospect; it’s just part of the game.
For Crossroads (CA) forward Shareef O’Neal, that target is twice as large. The son of former LSU and NBA great Shaquille O’Neal, Shareef feels a ton of pressure from the opposition; everyone wants a piece of Shaq’s son, and he tends to be at the top of team’s scouting reports.
At the Spalding HoopHall Classic, it was clear that Cambridge Rindge and Latin (MA) wasn’t going to let the California big man beat them. While he had a rough game, the opportunity to play at Springfield College wasn’t lost on the younger O’Neal.
“I mean, playing on this stage was crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever played in front of a crowd this big. My dad always supports me, he hasn’t been able to make a lot of games this year because he’s always working and we’re always traveling, so it was nice having him here to watch me,” he said.
Shaq did head down to the locker rooms afterwards to give his son some words of encouragement, a rare opportunity for the O’Neal family.
On the recruitment front, things are steady. Arizona, USC, UCLA, Texas Tech, Kansas and Georgetown are reaching out more consistently than the other schools right now, so that’s who Shareef is currently focusing on. He has already taken one visit this season, to Arizona, and it won’t be the last.
“That was my last visit I went on. I like the school a lot, they treat me like family over there and the environment was awesome. Tucson is just a great place,” he said of the Wildcats.
There haven’t been any dates set yet, but he would like to get out to Georgetown and LSU with his dad. Those are likely the next visits. The ties to LSU are fairly obvious, and despite being a legacy, Coach Jones has been sure to make Shareef feel like his own man.
“LSU, that was one of my first offers, and they told me that it wasn’t because who my dad is. Coach Jones was one of the first coaches to ever come watch me play. LSU, I like the school a lot but I want to see the campus and see what the environment at a game is like, so that’s why I’m taking a visit there,” said O’Neal.
The Hoyas are also making a push and are interested in potentially making Shareef the next great big man to come out of the D.C. area program.
“They just recently offered me, and my dad always told me that was his dream school, but Alonzo Mourning went there, so he went to LSU, but he thinks it would be awesome if I went to Georgetown,” he said.
While it seems as though O’Neal is far away from making a decision, his ties to Arizona, LSU and Georgetown are surely going to play a factor in his recruitment and could possibly keep all three programs in the running until the end. Follow along with Future150 as we continue to track the progress of one of the more intriguing prospects in 2018.
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