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Amarveer Singh was not supposed to be here. At least, not yet.
Initially, Singh, a member of the 2016 class, this past March jumped the gun not only on his recruitment, but his high school career as well. Having received offers ranging from far on the West Coast, in Power Five conference schools such as California and Oregon State, to close to home mid-majors in Fordham and Manhattan, Singh had a bevy of opportunities presented to him before committing to the Seton Hall Pirates and head coach Kevin Willard.
Depending on which recruiting site you find most credible, Singh is either a three-star (Scout, Yahoo!, 247Sports) or four-star (ESPN) recruit, plying his craft at Harlem's Thurgood Marshall Academy. Originally from New Orleans, Singh also moonlighted at St. Peter's Prep (N.J.) and Cardinal Hayes (N.Y.) during high school, showing a prepotency to change. And he can certainly expect that transitioning into the college game.
What should you expect out of the 6-foot-7 wing? According to ESPN, Singh "plays extremely hard on both ends of the floor and makes things happen as a result." The worldwide leader also goes on to encapsulate Singh as "an ideal role player," but notes he may never become a go-to scorer, or program changer.
Just how important can a coach be to the recruiting process for a 17-or-18-year-old ball player? Well, in Singh's case, the lines can be traced fairly statically.
Kevin Willard has been at the helm for Seton Hall since 2010, the lead man at Iona before that, and a Boston Celtics assistant back when Singh was a toddler. A Long Island boy born and raised, Willard's father, Ralph, was the head man at the famed St. Dominic's High School, a powerhouse program on the Island. Coincidentally enough, Singh was a member of the Long Island Lightning, one of the premier AAU squad's on the Island. Surely, South Orange, New Jersey isn't Long Island, but the bloodlines lead right to the door of the Prudential Center.
Finding statistics from Singh's high school career basically equate to attempting to steal national security secrets. Newsday.com offers a short glimpse with five random stat lines from throughout this past season, but not much beyond that can be found in the dark and shadowy corners of the Internet.
What you can find, though, are YouTube clips. Granted, nearly every seventh-grader worth their in-and-out dribble has one by this point, but watching Singh makes you want to find a game with some buddies and pretend your playing rugby on the hardwood/blacktop.
Translation: this kid has a serious motor.
Singh is being heralded as the crown jewel of the three-man recruiting class the Pirates are bringing on in 2015. Along with three-star forward Myles Carter from Chicago, and two-star guard Dalton Soffer from San Diego, the trio hopes to offer depth to a squad that saw their wheels fall off towards the end of the 2014-15 campaign.
With a 2015-16 roster that boasts players from San Diego, the Five Boroughs of New York (five, in fact), New Orleans (Singh), Canada, Nigeria, and the Dominican Republic, a globe of talent has descended on New Jersey, hoping to Willard to his first ever NCAA Tournament as a head coach.