Before sustaining an unfortunate and untimely knee injury playing football last September, Tony Wroten Jr. was well on his way to becoming the #1 rated point guard prospect in the stacked 2011 HS Class. That’s saying a lot, considering the class is loaded with a plethora of game-changing pont men like Myck Kabongo, Marquis Teague, and Quinn Cook.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2010, and Wroten has made a full recovery after starring for USA Basketball on the gold medal winning U17 Elite squad and tearing it up on the prep AAU circuit this Summer. According to numerous scouting services, Wroten once again ranks anywhere from the #9 to #31 rated prospect in the entire ‘11 Class, heading into his senior campaign.
Controversy as well as an overwhelming amount of hype have surrounded the 5 star recruit ever since middle school as he was once the #1 overall rated prospect in the class as an incoming freshman. The Wroten family once even sued Garfield School District in Seattle, Washington in ’08 after Wroten Jr. was kicked out of the school over reportedly failing to meet residency requirements to remain a student in the district. The family eventually won as Tony began to develop quite a following on Youtube and Twitter, for his above the rim style of play from the PG position, and for being one of the most frequent tweeters among all HS recruits.
Here is Tony Wroten’s player evaluation by ESPN:
“Wroten is one of the more intriguing prospects in the country. He is a tall left-handed point guard with overall great size. He is a power guard who uses his strength to ward off opponents to get in the paint area. Once in the lane he can deliver passes that are down right incredible. His mid-range jump shot is playable and he can finish over most bigs due to his length and power. In addition, he has a tremendous feel for the game and can seemingly drop passes in the tightest of situations.”
At 6‘4, and 185 lbs, Wroten Jr. physically and by style of play draws instant comparisons to former Kentucky phenom and #1 overall NBA Draft pick John Wall. Possessing athleticism through the roof, he has the potential to be an elite level defender and is still developing a jump shot to match his outstanding ball-handling and dime-dropping skills. Until recently scouts thought Wroten had lost some explosiveness, no doubt because of his recent knee injury, but Tony quickly squashed those rumors by being one of the best players at the recent U17 World Championships and Super 64 AAU event in Las Vegas.
Being an avid Twitter user, Wroten regularly updates his thousands of followers of his every move, especially when it comes to his choice of which college to attend upon graduation. While most top tier recruits have already committed prior to their senior season, Wroten is both taking his time and having fun with making such an important decision.
He recently tweeted that he had narrowed his choices down to 5 schools, with his final decision coming soon. The lucky winners of the Wroten lottery appear to be Louisville, Washington, Kentucky, Villanova, and Connecticut.
With UConn’s recent recruitment violation issues still unresolved, consensus thoughts are that they will soon be out of the mix, with Louisville, Kentucky, and Nova probably in the Top 3. Villanova had been his favorite before the injury, but UK and the “Ville” have probably snuck in as his #1 and #2 choices recently.
Wroten is good friends with fellow Top 10 player in the ‘11 Class, and Kentucky commit Anthony Gilchrist, as many perceive that as an inside scoop helping Wroten sway towards the Wildcats. But with Marquis Teague already committed to UK, can two top flight PG’s co-exist in Lexington? No doubt John Calipari is reminding Wroten of the success of Wall and Eric Bledsoe playing so well together last season. Conflicting reports have Wroten making an official visit to Louisville sometime early this month, with the date and outcome still unknown. Surely Tony will let us all in on the outcome via Twitter.
In my opinion, Wroten has the potential to be the most exciting and flashy player in the entire 2011 Class, similar to CJ Leslie at NC State this season. If he is fully healed from the knee injury, one of those Top 5 schools will be getting an outstanding, play-making floor general who could help them go far come Tourney time, as well as becoming an instant fan favorite.
Check out Tony Wroten Jr Showing Off this Summer:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
