Williams has visited Kentucky and UNC more than once already and has also visited Georgetown, where his aunt, Terri Williams-Flournoy, is the women’s basketball coach.

“But we haven’t been to Nova,” Boo told Five-Star Basketball.

Without any visits, Nova would appear to be in the back of that group of four schools, but the coaching staff must be saying the right things in the meantime to keep the Wildcats in contention. Villanova has a few more months to get him on campus.

“I think he probably will get it done in the next six months,” Boo Williams told Five Star.

The nominations are made by High School Coaches, Athletic Directors, Principals, and a McDonald’s All American Games Selection Committee, but there is no set maximum for nominees. The list is released after the qualifications of the nominees are verified — they must be high school seniors in good academic standing with no more than 8 high school semesters.

The Selection Committee will vote three times in order to go from a list of up to 150 candidates, down to 24 players representing the East and West, who will be invited to the game. The final rosters will be named next month during a live selection show on ESPNU.

So, while the entire 2012 Villanova recruiting class has been nominated, it is no sure thing that either player will make the final cut.

Wishful Thinking

UPDATE 1/17: ZagsBlog.com reports that Amile could make his college decision by the end of January. Duke has been involved for about a month and Jefferson is trying to get a feel for their staff. He also likes the ability of Kentucky to develop talent and the accumulated talent in NC State’s 2012 class.

We noted yesterday via Twitter that Class of 2012 forward Amile Jefferson is getting closer to making his college decision and is “Day to Day” according to Scout.com.

At this point, Jefferson, a 6’9″ 5-Star Senior from Friends Central in Wynnewood, has narrowed his final list to Villanova, Ohio State, NC State, Kentucky, and the newly added Duke while “getting close” to making a decision.

Playing at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, MassLive has noted [video included] that “the two considered to be in the lead for his services are Villanova and Duke.”

Jefferson is ranked #20 by Scout, #12 by Rivals, and 24th by ESPN.

There is also the dark side of recruiting. Boosters get involved in recruitment of some player, agents and their runners for others. Promises are made, payments are tendered, and programs take risks — usually with the coach at arms-length or further from the dealings. This is how some coaches always seem to be around programs under investigation without ever being directly implicated.

So while Amile Jefferson has previously stated that he wanted to decide on a school in the early signing period, he understandably has a lot on his mind to consider. Nonetheless, the Philadelphia-area star has begun to narrow his list of options down. According to ZagsBlog.com, Jefferson has cut Stanford from his list of possibilities.

The 6-7 forward will decide between Villanova, Ohio State, Kentucky and N.C. State. Temple also remains on his list but has been reported as a “long shot.”

Villanova isn’t the favorite at this point either, but despite the reports from another Villanova blog that the ‘Cats are “out,” the Jefferson camp has not yet eliminated the Main Line school. More telling, however, is that Jay Wright hasn’t backed off from the talented high school senior. Wright was in the gym to watch Jefferson’s Friends Central team beat Neshaminy this past Friday.

So either Jay Wright has been wasting his time or Villanova is still in the picture — even if the photographer partially cut off an arm.

Nova makes the cut for Williams

Five-star small forward prospect, Troy Williams has been one of the most impressive players in the class of 2013 and has received interest from some of the best schools in the country. Over the summer the Phoebus, Virginia-native joined the Boo Williams 17U team (playing up one age-group) on the AAU circuit, and along with his teammate Anthony Barber, he turned a few heads.

Williams is an explosive scorer with an ability to shoot out to 22-feet, though he can be streaky at times. He can put the ball on the floor, but has a little room to improve his dribble at the next level. He is a superior athlete on the court with multiple tools to help him.

As good as he has been on the offensive side, he says that prides himself on his improved defense.

When I saw Williams back in early May, he didn’t mention Villanova among the schools that were recruiting him. He listed Georgetown, Virginia Tech, UVA, South Florida, Texas and UNC as schools that had offered or been in touch at that time. He released his “final” five choices on Twitter on Friday and Villanova was among them.

The Wildcats weren’t the first school in on Williams, but they have clearly made enough of an impression on the player to be considered along with North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgetown, and Virginia Tech.

So far, he has visited all of the schools on his list other than Villanova. He may be waiting to take an official visit to see the Main Line school, since his travel expenses can be paid for his travel from his home town over 5 hours from Philadelphia.

Williams is one of the top-10 players in the class of 2013 and second at his position according to ESPN.

Washington is ranked #82 in the Class of 2013 by Scout and #84 by Rivals. Cincinnati, Xavier, St. John’s, and Miami are also recruiting the big man.

Archy has accumulated 1,498 points, 449 rebounds, 378 assists, 178 steals, and hit 1603 -pointers in his high school career.

The injury itself is far more troubling than the time missed on the court. A number of other Villanovans have missed a year of basketball before joining the Villanova team as freshmen, including JayVaughn Pinkston this season and Chris Charles, who joined the program in 2001-02. Charles’ story is one of the more interesting of the three; his original high school chose to de-emphasize athletics and when Charles attempted to transfer to Milford Academy in Connecticut, that school ended up closing its dormitories prior to the basketball season for for safety reasons.

Arcidiacono will have to undergo rehab for between 6 and 8 weeks after recovering from the surgery. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer:

“I tried to be optimistic going into this, but it turned out to be a little more serious than I thought it would be,” Arcidiacono said. “I guess this was bound to happen.”

“It’s disappointing, obviously, but this is something that will speed up the process of me getting back to playing basketball,” he said. “I’m excited about that part of it.”

Villanova’s basketball staff was reportedly consulted about the injury and surgery and has been supportive of Arcidiacono’s decision to go under the knife.

Ochefu, at 6-10, is rated four-stars by most recruiting services, and has a very strong face-up game. Scouts believe that he can also bring value at the 5, but will need to continue to refine his back-to-the-basket moves.

“We are thrilled to welcome Daniel to Villanova,” exclaimed head coach Jay Wright. “Daniel is a very well-rounded young man who is determined to excel in the classroom and on the basketball court. He has a knack for shot-blocking and rebounding that will be a great asset to our team and is a skilled offensive threat. His coach, Seth Berger, has prepared him well and our staff is looking forward to helping Daniel reach his potential.”

He is joined in the 2012 class by Arcidiacono, also rated four-stars by recruiting services. The 6-3 point guard is skilled on the ball and has the ability to be a distributor, but also has a penchant for putting the ball through the hoop. Arcidiacono has also made a name for himself as a shooter and has good range, hitting a good percentage of shots from beyond the arc.

Both of Arcidiacono’s parents were athletes at Villanova.

“To add Ryan to our basketball family is truly a great Villanova story,” Wright stated. “This is a young man who has a unique appreciation for what our university offers. His parents, Joe and Patti, have stayed connected to their alma mater and it’s thrilling to bring in the next generation to our campus.

“On the floor, Ryan is a complete player who has been well schooled by his coach, Jerry Devine. His court sense, vision and uncanny shooting eye give him the opportunity to become the next great Villanova guard. Ryan is committed to becoming the best player he can be and our staff cannot wait to begin working with him when he enrolls at Villanova.”

CBS Sports’ Jeff Borzello also posted his projected landing spots for the top uncommitted 2012 recruits. Amile Jefferson, was third on his list and projected to choose N.C. State. Savon Goodman was ranked 12th and projected to reclassify to the 2013 class while he works through some academic issues.

Borzello notes that Jefferson is “wide open” but planning to make a decision during the early signing period, so hope isn’t lost for Villanova, but the talented forward has not made an official visit to Villanova and has not been spotted on campus in recent days. Jay Wright would love to add the Philly kid to his roster next season, however.

Update: Adam Zagoria reports that Savon Goodman’s high school coach believes that Goodman will attend college next year.

According to Zagsblog.com, next weekend’s official visit to Stanford will be Jefferson’s last. Afterward, the 6-foot-7 forward is expected to sit down with his family to sort through his college options.

Jefferson reportedly had a good time at NC State this weekend, and the Wolfpack have a loaded 2012 class coming in. Guards Rodney Purvis and Tyler Lewis are both highly-regarded in recruiting circles, and Lewis may be one of the best ball-handlers in the class. T.J. Warren of Brewster Academy might be their best recruit so far, however, when the 6-7 wing signed on last week. Warren can fill up a stat sheet quickly.

After next weekend’s trip, they hope to cut his options down and begin the process of coming to a final decision.

Jefferson has not made an official visit to either Villanova or Temple, and it is very unclear how interested he is in either school.

He did not attend Hoops Mania at Villanova this year, but has attended the event in the past. Jay Wright spent much of the summer open period watching Jefferson play and giving him a strong sales pitch for the Wildcats.

According to Adam Zagoria, Amile Jefferson will visit Kentucky next weekend, meaning that he will likely miss Villanova’s “Hoops Mania” spectacle that has become one of the major recruiting events for Jay Wright and his staff. Jefferson hopes to make his college decision before basketball season starts on November 13th, but his coach told Zagsblog that his decision may ultimately come after the early signing period.

So far, Jefferson has visited NC State, Villanova, Temple and Maryland unofficially, has taken an official visit to Ohio State last weekend and is slated for an official visit to Kentucky next weekend.

His high school coach claims that he is taking official visits to schools that are further away from home and may rely on unofficial visits for the schools that are in the area. Presumably, this is because travel to official visits is paid for by the schools.

So what about Villanova? Are the ‘Cats still in the mix? According to his coach Jason Polykoff:

“Yeah, I think Villanova will still be in the mix,” he said. “What other schools I don’t know….He does like ‘Nova. It doesn’t matter to him that it’s local. It has more to do with the school itself and the program.”

Jefferson still maintains a long list of schools he is interested in, almost a dozen of them. This late in the game, that makes the talented big man one of the nation’s biggest recruiting wildcards.

Update (10/13): Zagoria now writes that Jefferson will also visit UConn this weekend and will be joined by 2013 ‘Nova targets, Kuran Iverson and Austin Colbert.

Elite 24 (ESPN Photo)

According to Dave Krupinski, the Digital Media Director at the Hoop Group (a company that has it’s finger on the pulse of AAU basketball and recruiting) and operator of JohnnyJungle.com, the culprit behind the de-commitment of Savon Goodman may have been a late push by UCLA to reel him in as a package with his NJ Playaz teammate, Kyle Anderson. UCLA has been hard after Kyle Anderson, whose top five also includes Seton Hall, St. Johns, Georgetown and Florida.

This summer, Savon Goodman switched his AAU allegiance to the NJ Playaz team that Anderson plays point guard for. Presumably, UCLA now believes that in order to land Anderson, they will have to bring in a friend and teammate as well. That said, UCLA is also trying hard to recruit Anderson’s friend, Shabazz Muhammad, one of the top 2012 shooting guards. Locking down Anderson and either Goodman or Muhammad would likely propel UCLA to the top of the recruiting rankings.

According to sources, Savon Goodman visited the UCLA campus while he was in Southern California for the Boost Mobile Elite 24 competition. It isn’t clear yet whether the visit was classified as an “official” one for NCAA purposes, but it has been suggested that it was (Update: Krupinski now confirms the visit was unofficial).

We also know, thanks to Krupinski, that Savon Goodman participated in the Boost Mobile event because of his relationship with Kyle Anderson, who at 6’8″ is considered both nation’s top 2012 point guard by Rivals and the number-2 small forward by ESPN.com.  Goodman traveled to California with Jimmy Salmon, the  director of the NJ Playaz AAU team.

Prior to this summer, Savon Goodman had played AAU ball with the Team Philly organization that former Villanovans like Reggie Redding and Kyle Lowry emerged from. Though some of the current NJ Playaz talents have been targeted by Villanova, none of the players from their 2011 Summer U17 team were considering Villanova, except Goodman, who committed before joining the club.

Is it a done deal that Goodman won’t change his mind and commit to Villanova again in a few months? Some reports have suggested that that is the case, but there is no official word from Goodman at this time. His recent behavior, however, must be a little troubling to observers — changing AAU teams is not unheard-of for high school stars, but now de-committing and transferring high schools (without so much as a courtesy-call to his former coach), seem like drastic moves for a 4-star player in the weeks leading up to his senior year in high school.

Whatever it is, something is brewing over in the Goodman camp. If the UCLA rumor proves true, it is likely that switch to join the NJ Playaz organization has been very central to this story.

UPDATE 11:30am:It also appears, according to sources, that Goodman’s grades have not been very strong at Academy New Church, and he may not have the academic credentials to get through the NCAA clearinghouse. A move to transfer to Constitution High School might be an effort to improve his academic profile enough to avoid a year at prep school.