September went by in a blur for New England boys basketball recruiting.
After a slow start to the cycle, college commitments for New England’s boys Class of 2027 ramped up during the last month. It felt like there was an announcement almost every day, and they came from the top prospects in the region. About half of our updated Best of New England Top 50 rankings have now secured their commitments, and at least a dozen of them did so during September.
The month saw our top-ranked boys prospect make his commitment, and there was a swarm of some of my favorite players in this class who followed behind him. There were some hidden gems who went off the board to every level of college basketball.
Here are five takeaways from the month of September in boys basketball commitments.
The No. 1 player goes off the board
Pemberton’s pledge to Michigan State and Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo on Sept. 18 was the commitment highlight of the month – and I think it’s one of the best fits so far in the 2027 class.
The 6-foot-1 point guard from Methuen, Mass., was one of the bigger stock-risers in the country this summer, and there may be no better college program for guard development than Michigan State. Izzo has molded the likes of Mateen Cleaves, Cassius Winston, Denzel Valentine and many other high-profile guards in his legendary career. He also seemed to desperately want Pemberton, showing up to his house at midnight at the start of the official contact period.
Like Mass Rivals director Vin Pastore told me, the coaching dynamic at MSU will be perfect for Pemberton. Pastore is a fiery coach who keeps his players accountable, and Pemberton – who experienced that for the last four years – will get the same kind of hard coaching from Izzo. I also think Pemberton has the ability to play right away in a major role next season. He’s played against elite, older competition since he was in eighth grade playing on the 17U Rivals team. It shouldn’t take long for him to get adjusted to Division 1 basketball.
Early steals
We only have just more than 30 commitments to sift through, but I like a lot of the fits already. It’s such an interesting time for recruits right now. Ten years ago, many of the players in our Top 50 might be heading to high-major programs. But now, they’re heading to mid-major to low-major programs with the idea that they’ll get significant playing time early. That’s true for many of the region’s 2027 recruits.
A few September commitments stick out in this regard. Hotchkiss star Alonzo Archbold, No. 17 in our rankings, is heading to Pepperdine. Tilton’s Samuel Owusu-Aduomi, ranked No. 27, committed to Dartmouth. Darrow’s Nalajah Christopher (Worcester, Mass.) pledged to Boston University. New Hampton guard Stetson Merritt, ranked No. 20, is heading to Buffalo. These are all players who have thrived as consistent standouts in NEPSAC, and I believe they’ll each be impact freshmen.
Div. 3 commitments
A vast majority of the 2027 commitments in New England have gone to Division 1, but there are a handful of Division 3 commits off the board. I think Middlebury got a steal with Rivers star Jack Millward (Winchester, Mass.), an All-NEPSAC Class B Large first team selection who can do everything on the offensive end, from scoring and 3-point shooting to playmaking.
Peter Kumar (Medfield, Mass.), who shot 45 percent from 3-point range last season with Beaver Country Day and then carried that momentum into a strong grassroots season with the Middlesex Magic’s HGAL team, committed to Haverford College. St. Sebastian’s senior Tim Civello (Weymouth, Mass.), another high-level 3-point shooter with good positional size at 6-foot-5, is a great addition for Grinnell College, too.
Program winners
Several Division 1 programs have had great early success in the region, including a few local schools. I love the class Holy Cross is putting together with Brimmer & May guard Ladanion Payne (Boston, Mass.), Milton Academy center Spencer Booth (Scarborough, Maine) and Phillips Exeter postgraduate Rowan Hoffman. Payne and Booth are both in our Top 50 rankings.
Brett MacConnell, a longtime assistant at Princeton who spent the last few years at Stanford, returned to the Ivy League as the new head coach at Dartmouth and has used his strong ties to the region to his advantage. Owusu-Aduomi and Worcester Academy star Cole Blackburn (Boston, Mass.) are two big-time additions for the Big Green.
Two more outside-the-region programs are early winners in New England: Navy and Siena. The Midshipmen picked up two commitments in the last week from Top 50 prospects in Phillips Andover star Jabari Edmonds (Providence, R.I.) and Cushing big Coley Mark (Brookline, Mass.). Both are underrated coups – and Team New England teammates – who continue to get better. The Saints are continuing to win in the region, too. Siena and new head coach Nevada Smith have a future backcourt of Middlesex Magic teammates, Dexter Southfield’s Malik Adamson (Dorchester, Mass.) and St. Thomas More’s Dillon Callahan, who are both elite defensively. Good luck scoring against that duo.
Who’s on deck?
I highlighted 20 of the top uncommitted prospects earlier this week, and I naturally have my focus on the top-ranked players. St. Thomas More stars Declan Griffiths (Simsbury, Conn.) and Patrick Otey (Westwood, Mass.) will visit Providence together on the weekend of Oct. 24. Griffiths also has a visit scheduled to Vanderbilt. I would expect his goal is to commit before the start of the season in November.
Cushing guard Anthony Vick (Boston, Mass.) could be nearing a decision soon. He took a visit to Cal-State Fullerton earlier this week and it went very well; he’s also considering offers from Marist, UMBC and others.
