Crestwood's Trevon Thomas' recruiting turned upside-down by COVID-19
Trevon Thomas just needed a few more days.
The Crestwood basketball team had just clinched the OSBA and OFSAA high school basketball championships and Thomas was on his way to getting some serious Division I basketball interest when the COVID-19 virus became a pandemic and the everything stopped.
Thomas, a 5-foot-11 senior, was wrapping up an incredible 2019-20 campaign in which he averaged 24 points and nearly five assists for the Lions. Had come on late in the year, according to his Crestwood coach Ro Russell, and Thomas' recruiting was really starting to pick up.
"He had maybe nine high majors that were coming to Crestwood in March to see him play," Russell said. "Starting that Monday, (March) the 16, that's when coaches were all lined up to come up."
But when the NBA shut down on March 11, the NCAA quickly halted recruiting trips and Thomas began to worry.
"I saw other people in my class start committing and that's when I started worrying," Thomas said. "I was really stressed out at one point."
The recruiting process can be a complicated and at times cruel game for a lot of children.
Thomas had multiple Division I basketball offers earlier in the year to low- and mid-major programs, but he thought he could do better and decided to hold out for something higher. When those programs didn't hear back from him, they moved on.
It wouldn't have been an issue for him if not for the Coronavirus. Had things gone as planned, Russell said Thomas' gamble would have worked.
"100% he would have been a high-major player," Russell said.
Now Thomas is scrambling a little bit. Russell is making calls to his college contacts, sharing Thomas' tape and trying to use social media to sell coaches on one of the OSBA's most talented seniors.
Had he committed months ago, Thomas wouldn't be in this position, but after a brief panic, Thomas said he's not too concerned about his recruiting.
"I know that with God... I'm going to get something," Thomas said. "I don't really regret it."
*All media content from Universal Hoops*
