Mescheriakov Is a Hoya

This was a big surprise to me. I knew we were looking at this kid, but becuase (1) we don't have any scholarships available for next year, (2) we were pursuing Kris Joseph a very similar top-25 player, and (3) Mescheriakov is largely unknown and not highly ranked or recruited by major D1 programs, I assumed this wouldn't happen. Well, Jeff and Roy declared for the NBA and Joseph committed to Syracuse, so I guess JTIII thought he was worth a scholarship. He joins Wattad as two complete unknowns in next year's class, along with two McDonald's All-Americans. He was evidently headed to Loyola before JTIII saw him and became interested.
The Joseph loss is hugh, by the way. He is a local stud who (unfortunately) comes from Canada and grew up a Syracuse fan--still we were in his top 2 and there were rumors he was going to pull the trigger for GU. I wonder if Broadus's departure impacted his decision. BTW: We lost out on Yancy Gates to Cincinatti, so we can cross him off the list. It also looks like we've dropped on Samardo Samuels's list. I have to say that I'm kind of disappointed. I expected a post-Final Four glow to help recruiting. Hopefully, we win out with some of the other major targets on our list.

G'town Adds a Good One
I had alluded to this possibility over the winter and now it appears to have happened. With Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert NBA-bound, Georgetown has scholarship openings and the Hoyas will use one on St. John's (Md.) forward Nikita Mescheriakov, according to a person close to the player. Mescheriakov, a 6-7 Belarus native who has been in the U.S. for one year, plans to sign a letter-of-intent in the near future. He is the younger brother of former GW standout Yegor Mescheriakov.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/recruitinginsider/



UPDATE (from Jester of Magellan):

Here's a photo of Mescheriakov from the Washington Post. In case you can't tell, he's the second from the left. Nikita was a Second Team All Met selection this past year.