Point guard Lorenzo Cason talks South Florida offer, updates recruitment
Heading into the June 23-25 “Scholastic” live period in Gainesville, FL, Victory Christian guard Lorenzo Cason already held 16 offers. He left Gainesville with 17 after South Florida head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim offered the Lakeland prospect.
BullsInsider.com spoke with Cason a few days after Abdur-Rahim made the offer.
“That was the first time they contacted me,” Cason said of the offer. “It was the head coach. It was a it was a quick conversation, but he told me how he likes my game and how he’d love me to come to USF and how fit in the program.”
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In addition to the Bulls, Cason listed offers from Chattanooga, Duquesne, FAU, FGCU, High Point, Indiana State, Jacksonville State, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, New Mexico State, Portland, Presbyterian, Sam Houston State, Samford, Seton Hall, Siena, Stetson, Stony Brook, Tulsa, UIC and VCU. He also said that he is hearing from Cincinnati, Florida and Florida State and Mississippi State.
“I’ll say FAU, Murray State, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Chattanooga,” Cason said. “I just got USF.”
Cason has never been on the USF campus but he took an unofficial visit to Gainesville on June 26 but the Gators did not offer on the visit. Still, about the visit, Cason said “It went great,” before adding that Florida is “going to continue watching me this July.”
In both his junior and sophomore seasons, Cason averaged 27.6 points per game. Ranking him top-five in the FHSAA both years but he did more than just score. Cason also averaged 7.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.8 blocks over those two seasons. There are high school players who are 6-foot-7 and bigger who don’t pull down seven rebounds per game. We asked Cason what the secret was to his rebounding proficiency and his answer was rather simple.
“Wherever the ball is, go get it.”
His productivity, and his team’s success the past two seasons, has put Cason at the top of the scouting report for each of Victory Christian’s opponents. How does he deal with that?
“Every game is a puzzle,” Cason said. “Every game I have to figure out how they're guarding me. How can I break down their strategy to make it easier for me? So, getting my teammates involved early, that helps me a lot. To be honest.”
Despite his output, the previous USF coaching staff never offered. Did that bother the Lakeland native?
“I mean, yeah,” Cason admitted after a few seconds of silence. “Because they didn’t offer me it made me just want to get better to make them offer me.”
The new staff made a point of watching Cason and fortunately they saw him in Gainesville before he tweaked an ankle and was sidelined on the final day of play.
Cason, who runs with the 1Family travel team program in the NXTPro 16 circuit, got off to a great start in the important July live period in Houston. One administrator with a well-known High School basketball program who saw Cason last week in Houston told BullsInsider.com “LJ is the best player I saw in Houston. That kid is a pro.”
RUSS’ REACTION
Cason has the physical tools, the skill and work ethic to be a very good college basketball player. Murray State was smart to get him on campus early. We expect Cason to take an official visit to FAU. The Bulls just recently entered the mix with Cason and I’d be surprised if they don’t invite him to visit. A Florida offer would change the dynamics of his recruitment.