TARIQ CAREY LIKES ACC; HAS EARLY FAVORITE

September 1, 2010 by NBE Blogger

Newark (NJ) guard in 2012 class is looking for respect as one of best in his class

by MATT WHITFIELD

Perhaps overlooked and underrated because he doesn’t play at one of Northern New Jersey’s perennial Top 25 USA Today programs, Tariq Carey feels he deserves some respect. Carey is an active guard with good athleticism and size for a rising junior. The Newark (NJ) Eastside product plays hard on both sides of the floor and has really improved his all-around. He has an ability to get into the lane and finish or distribute. Carey can score with contact at the rim and showed a much improved ability to connect from three-point range on the AAU circuit when NBE saw him with the NJ Playaz 16U team. Defensively, he is very aggressive and is adept at racking up steals and starting fast breaks.

With all that ability and an impressive list of schools involved in his recruitment, Carey is scratching his head when he looks at top 100 rankings around the internet.

“I definitely feel I’m underrated, but that comes with it [playing at Newark Eastside versus one of Northern New Jersey’s many prep powers],” said Carey recently at the Five-Star Super Session camp in Brewster (NY). “It’s really not a big deal to me, but as far as one to be noticed I feel I’m noticed, but I just want to be in the Rivals Top 100. I think I should be in the Rivals Top 100 and Scout.”

Carey however has gotten a good deal of interest from colleges at this early stage.

“Interest is [from] a lot of schools…Missouri, Creighton, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Villanova, La Salle, Georgia, so it’s a lot of schools,” said Carey. “As far as offers Georgia offered and Seton Hall, Creighton and Wake Forest are pending on the season because they are waiting for their 2011 class to be done.”

Carey says Notre Dame, Creighton and Wake Forest are recruiting him the hardest, but it is the ACC program of the group that stands out as he has grown up a fan of the Demon Deacons..

“Yea right now there definitely number one,” said Carey of Wake Forest.

Carey has already visited the campus in Winston-Salem in June as he was down there for their Elite Camp, but he will likely return in the near future for another visit once basketball practice begins in October and take in a football game as well..

“They told me they wanted me to come down for their Midnight Madness and come down for any games, football or basketball,” said Carey.

Creighton also is likely to get a visit this fall from Carey and he also made an unofficial to Villanova with a few of his high school teammates.

“I actually went up there [Villanova] for an open gym and I played with the team,” carey said. “They invited us to an open gym. It was real good I played with Malk Wayns and Corey Fisher and I held my own.”

Despite Carey’s proximity to the Prudential Center, The Rac and Madison Square, he is not overly interested in playing in the Big East.

“I wouldn’t mind playing there [in the Big East] but as far as that being my main conference I want to be in now, the ACC is really where I want to play at,” said Carey.

Speaking to NBE last weekend at the Five-Star Super Session Camp, Carey indicated the areas of his game he will be working on the most before entering college as a freshman in the fall of 2012.

“Getting stronger, making my jump shot more consistent, basically strength and conditioning stuff like that,” said Carey.

Carey made the switch this summer from NJ Elite to joined Jimmy Salmon’s NJ Playaz AAU program and will likely see his game pick up even further over the coming months. For Wake Forest basketball fans and staff, Tariq Carey is on to keep tabs on in the coming months, even if other websites aren’t.