by Alex Schwartz

The full article on unsigned New York forward Kadeem Jack for InsideTheU.com is below. Check it out:

A player’s senior season is his last chance to make an impression on college coaches and scouting services. Kadeem Jack, a 6-foot-9, 207-pound forward from Rice (NY) certainly used the final games of his prep career to his advantage.

Jack saw his stock rise as much as any player in the class of 2010 over the past five months. Jack now has his sights set on four colleges that would love to land him.

Miami, Connecticut, Arizona, Arkansas are the four schools still in contention for Big Apple big man. All of them have offered, but Jack does not have any favorites at this point.

A recent report stated that Jack planned on announcing his college choice on April 28th, and he confirmed that he will do so around that time.

Now that his senior season has come to an end, Jack plans on visiting the three schools still on his list that he has yet to see; UConn, Miami, and Arkansas. “I’m supposed to visit Miami on the 9th and Arkansas I’m not sure yet, and UConn same thing.”

Of his lone official visit thus far, to Arizona, Jack said “it was a great experience”.

Jack, who sees himself as a combo forward, had originally planned to either go to prep school for a year or redshirt his first year in college, but that is no longer the case.

“I just think that I’m ready to play on a team and have an impact on each game," Jack said.

Jack is just 17 years old and has only been playing ball for about three years, which is why he at first felt that he might not be ready to have an impact as a freshman at the high-major level.

Miami Associate Head Coach Jorge Fernandez is the Jack’s primary recruiter from the UM staff. “I knew him a little bit from when he was recruiting Durand (Scott) and all that," Jack said. "I knew him a little bit, I met him. I’m comfortable with him, but it’s not that assistant coach you are supposed to be comfortable with, it’s the head coach, so I’m not really trying to base my decision off that."

The Hurricanes are a team for whom Jack feels he can step in and make an immediate impact. “I think it’s a place where I can go in and play right away," Jack said. "The staff is very welcoming. I can’t say much about the school because I haven’t been there, I’m just going off what Durand and them are telling me, so I can’t really say much about it.”

Jack and Scott played high school ball together at storied NYC power Rice, and although the pair does stay in touch, the presence of Scott at UM will not play a role in Jack’s decision.

“We’ve spoken, and that’s not—he doesn’t want it to be, and he doesn’t want it to be the reason why I go to a school, or Kemba [Walker of UConn] doesn’t, or MoMo [Lamont Jones of Arizona] doesn’t, or Kevin Parrom [of Arizona] doesn’t," Jack said. "Every school that’s recruiting me I know at least one person on the team so he being there is not really effecting my decision.”

Even though Jack says Scott will not play a major impact in Jack’s college choice, the two maintain a close bond. “We have a great relationship, because he played on a championship team in 2009, got to know each other," Jack said. "We been through the fire,so I think we are real close.”

Some people thought that Jack might be headed to Arizona due to assistant coach Book Richardson, a New Yorker who used to coach with the NY Gauchos. Jack, though, does not know Richardson as well as has been portrayed.

“I’m not familiar with Book like that because he left [the Gauchos to coach at Xavier] when I just started playing basketball, so we didn’t get a chance to meet [before now],” Jack said.

While at Miami, UConn, and Arizona it is a player that Jack knows, at Arkansas it is a coach that his is familiar with. “I know a staff member. He [used to coach with] the Gauchos,” said Jack.

Jack’s coaches have definitely had an impact on his basketball career,evidenced by what he feels is the strongest aspect of his game.

“My athleticism and my motor," he said. "No, actually I think my biggest strength is my toughness. Before, when I first started playing,I lacked the toughness, and after playing in a few tournaments, my coach—he doesn’t like soft players—toughened me up. So I think my toughness is my best attribute.”

As much as the coach helped him, Jack feels that playing with so many talented players at Rice has aided him too. “Durand, and playing with all those guys in practice, Kemba the year before, Chris [Fouch of Drexel], all those guys made me tough. They all like big brothers to me.”

Along with his personal work ethic, Jack actually credits some other players from New York, and the state’s hoops culture as a whole, to his stock rise these past few months.

“Working out all the time, I actually just came out from working out. I think that’s what it is, I never stop working. Coming here from New York where you see players every day, like [McDonald’s All-Americans] Tobias [Harris] or Jayvaughn [Pinkston], you see what they are doing and you wanna do that or more. Growing up in New York where there’s a bunch of good players, I attribute it to that and my work ethic.”

Although Jack does now feel his can contribute as a freshman at the next level, he knows he has work to do and recognizes the weaknesses in his game.

“My ability to put it on the floor, which I’m working on, and my ability to learn how to get my shot off because there’s certain points in the game where I can’t get my shot off and that’s something I’m working on," Jack said. "I need somebody to set me up because I can’t get my own shot off so that’s something I’m working on.”

Jim Calhoun, Frank Haith, Sean Miller, and John Pelphrey are hoping that Kadeem Jack keeps working on his game at their schools next year. In about four weeks the world will find out which one will be lucky enough to coach one of the season’s biggest stock boosters in college.

Note- photo is from http://web.sny.tv/index.jsp