Rutgers Basketball Recruiting: 2016 Top JUCO recruit visited yesterday

JUCO wing Bashir Ahmed says he enjoyed his Rutgers visit and they would use him anywhere from the 1-3. More later.

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 30, 2015

Last night, it was reported by Adam Zagoria that top 2016 JUCO recruit Bashir Ahmed visited campus yesterday.  The 6'6" combo guard from the Bronx played with incoming Freshman Deshawn Freeman last season at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Ahmed was named a NJCAA All-American this past season at Hutchinson.  Ahmed commented on his visit to Zagoria:

"The campus was nice and huge, the program has good history," he told SNY.tv. "It has a good atmosphere for the arena. The coaches were real cool.

"Coach Eddie [Jordan has great background. He knows how to coach. He has a history of coaching great basketball players like Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas, players that I look up to. He knows what it takes to get players to the next level."

He was identified by assistant coach Greg "Shoes" Vetrone last season when he was recruiting Freeman. Matt Agnoli at RHoopsRecruits of 247sports.com gives more detail on coach Shoes discovery:

While on a winter recruiting trip to Kansas in February, Rutgers assistant Greg "Shoes" Vetrone" saw Ahmed play against Pratt (Kan.) CC and thought "Who is that guy?!"

Cyriac, who was on a recruiting trip of his own and wasn't at the game, said he received a text later on from Vetrone, who was still thinking about Ahmed's performance that night (23 points, including four three-pointers, and seven rebounds).

"'Jay, Bashir might be a pro,'" Cyriac recalled. "Shoes was like 'Wow!"

Ahmed visited St. John's two weeks ago and has been a top 2016 target for new coach Chris Mullin.  Ahmed has also received offers or interest from Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Houston, USC, LSU and Arizona State.  He committed to Iona in 2013 before enrolling at Hutchinson CC.  The combination of playing with Freeman last season and the NBA pedigree of Eddie Jordan could be keys that seperate Rutgers from his other options.

In other 2016 recruiting news, our friends at BT Powerhouse posted about the impact that 4-star recruit Kwe Parker would have if Rutgers landed him.  However, it seems Parker is a strong Wake Forest lean and is good friends with current commit Brandon Childress.  Our friends from Blogger So Dear posted about Parker in April and currently all predictions from 247sports.com have him headed to play for coach Danny Manning's Demon Deacons. Parker has previously indicated he would make his college decision before July.

More updates to come as Eddie Jordan and staff continue building the 2016 class.