Perhaps Friar fans thought the most meaningful on-campus visitor to Friartown in October would be Shaquille O’Neal at this year’s Late Night Madness on October 14th. Those fans would be mistaken. Just a week removed from DJ Diesel spinning beats to entertain Providence students and recruits alike, the Friars got a visit from a top-10 recruit in the class of 2018 when 6’8 wing Khavon Moore tripped up from Georgia to see the Providence campus on Saturday.

Khavon Moore @KhavonMoore of Westside (GA) makes a Big East visit The 5-Star guard is on campus at Providence pic.twitter.com/zV9JYHZ95Q — Shun Williams (@OntheRadarHoops) October 22, 2016

Moore, who is ranked 9th in the class of 2018 by 247Sports’ Composite National Ranking, has been on a bit of a tour of the country to get as much intel on each program that is recruiting him as he can. Ed Cooley appeared on WEEI 103.7FM on Saturday morning in what was an apparently different timeslot than was scheduled and Cooley intimated to John Rooke and Scott Cordischi that the change was a result of Moore’s visit. Cooley began his interview with John and Scott by saying “we did have a scheduling change and I apologize for switching the schedule up, but what we have the change for is well worth the change, trust me.”

Cooley cannot comment publicly about recruits that have not signed a National Letter of Intent with Providence so he couldn’t come right out and say they changed the schedule because they are hosting top-10 recruit Khavon Moore. A source did confirm to pcbb1917.com that Moore took the trip specifically to see Providence and wasn’t just in the area for something else. The Friars have shifted their focus to the classes of 2018 and 2019 now that they landed two big men to complete their class of 2017 months before the November signing period begins on November 9th. Cooley and his staff also haven’t been afraid of continuing to pursue the most highly ranked players with another 2018 offer out to top-20 player Immanuel Quickley.

As for Moore, the Friars began earnest pursuit of him in July when they took in one of his 16U Atlanta Xpress games and then subsequently offered. Moore grew up in Syracuse until moving to Georgia and it wasn’t until the 7th grade that Moore began playing organized basketball. He quickly blossomed into an elite player and took his game to new heights between his freshman and sophomore years at Westside High School. His scoring production jumped from 14 points/game as a freshman to over 21 points/game as a sophomore. The “Strengths” section of Moore’s ESPN’s Scouting Report reads:

“Moore is an extra long, athletic and skilled forward that is fun to watch make plays off the dribble on the break where he can rebound and ignite the break or from a variety of spots on the perimeter in the halfcourt including the post where Moore is also an excellent passer when he draws double coverage. Moore loves to beat his defender with the left to right crossover and he can knock down the rhythm dribble three or off the catch as well when his feet are set.”

The two things mentioned in the “Weaknesses” section are improvement of 3-point shooting and bulking up.

Moore has offers from Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Memphis, NC State, Oklahoma, Providence, St. John’s, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UConn and Wake Forest. The competition will no doubt be serious as Moore also has interest from Kentucky and John Calipari, but Cooley has shown he has no fear and will keep pushing to bring top talent to Friartown. Getting a player of Moore’s reputation to travel over 1,000 miles to your campus for an unofficial visit is big news and it’s another sign that Cooley is rapidly turning Providence into a basketball program instead of just a basketball team.

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