News broke last night that 2015 guard Justin Jenifer committed to Cincinnati. Let’s find out more about the newest possible (hey, we don’t know what could happen) Cincinnati Bearcat guard.
Jenifer is listed at 5’9 or 5’10 depending on where you look, 160 pounds. That’s the same kind of profile as Devan Downey, who was at Cincinnati for a season before thriving at South Carolina. Jenifer had an official visit to Cincinnati this weekend and that was all he needed to see. He came away with some lofty words about Cincinnati.
“Based on how they played this season, I really like how they played, I think I could fit in. I’m short, so people have always doubted me. I just used that as motivation. I’m a flashy player. They’re up and down. They’re fast. They’re up-tempo and they play full-court defense.”
I’m not sure what UC game he watched when they were up-tempo, but I like his enthusiasm. Jenifer is a pass first point guard. Don’t believe me?
Justin is a pass-first point guard
That is from Scout’s Brian Snow, who added the following:
“Justin is a pass-first point guard who is fast with the basketball and can also make shots. He has a toughness about him that is very good. He needs to continue to learn to value the basketball and show more intensity on defense, but he was a top target for the Bearcats and they closed following an official visit.”
Jenifer put up 18 points and 13 assists per game his junior year. We don’t have shooting stats on him so it’s hard to say from a purely statistical way what he needs to improve offensively. The passing probably doesn’t need to improve a lot for him to come in and be great at that aspect. He sounds like someone who can get to the rim at will, and sometimes even by will. That’s a great thing to hear.
The thing that makes me the most excited, and probably the coaches and other people like you as well, is that Jenifer is lauded for his basketball IQ. Point guards in high school with high basketball IQs aren’t exactly frequent. Someone who can see the angles is a huge asset to bring to Clifton. A knock on him is that his defense needs to improve. I think that will happen when/if he comes to Cincinnati.
Star rating wise, most have Justin Jenifer as a 3 star recruit. ESPN does, Rivals does, Scout does. His 247 composite is 3 stars. 247 rates him as a 4 star recruit and 100th nationally. Rivals had him at 112. Whatever Future 150 is, they love Jenifer. They rank him 60th with 4 stars. They say he has good athleticism, upper body strength, change of pace, ball handling and his basketball IQ.
If ratings aren’t you kick and you judge someone by the schools that recruit them, then Jenifer hits all the buttons in that one as well. He had offers from Georgetown, Memphis, Miami, Penn State, Rutgers and South Florida. Louisville, Syracuse, Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee were among some of the other schools interested in his services. Jenifer was in demand for the July recruiting period. UC got a jump on him.
Here is a video from when Jenifer was the student athlete of the week:
With the caliber of recruits Mick Cronin and his staff have brought in the past couple of years, the future of Cincinnati basketball looks bright.
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