Seton Hall in Aquille Carr's Top 5, Quality Education Package Deal Brewing and more

Seton Hall nearly landed a consensus Top 50 player in Kyle Anderson last Monday. Less than a week later, word broke that 2013 consensus Top 50 player Aquille Carr (Patterson HS, MD) has the Pirates in his Top 5 along with UConn, Syracuse, Memphis and Kentucky. All five schools have offered the sub 5'9 point guard.

Carr is well known for being offered a $750,000 annual contract to play for Lottomatica Virtus Roma, a professional Italian basketball team, this spring despite still being a sophomore in high school. While that might seem ridiculous, Aquille's Hoop Mixtape has been viewed over 2 million times on YouTube and he already has a detailed Wikipedia page.

While his height (between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-8) is a possible concern, it doesn't look like Calhoun, Boeheim, Calipari, Pastner or a professional basketball organization are worried - Willard shouldn't be either. Reggie Rankin of ESPN gave Carr flying colors after watching him at the Under Armor Grind Session recently. Carr has the handle and passing ability of Eugene Harvey at his best multiplied by three. While not his forte, Aquille also has a quick release from beyond the arc.

Although we reported the mutual interest between Carr and the staff months ago, the level of mutual interest has caught everyone by surprise. While just about every Pirate fan doubted Kevin Willard's chance at landing Kyle Anderson when the power house programs started offering, he was right there at the end.

How will the recruitment of an equally talented but perhaps more hyped Aquille Carr pan out? 

For more on a possible 2012 commitment package consisting of two Quality Education (NC) players and more recruiting updates, follow the jump.

The coaching staff has been after 2012 PG Jevon Thomas of Quality Education (NC) since his de-commitment from St. John's. Only recently did the second piece of a potential package deal surface - the staff just offered 2012 PF Cinmeon Bowers.

With it looking very possible that Kevin Johnson won't qualify and the likelihood that 2012 PF Christopher Obekpa (Our Savior New American, NY) is headed elsewhere, another forward beyond Daniel Dingle (St. Raymond, NY) is being targeted. Like the St. Raymond power forward, Bowers is also in the vicinity of 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-7.

Bowers also holds offers from Iowa, DePaul and Maryland. His offer from the Terps was from Gary Williams, not current coach Mark Turgeon.

UPDATE 9/28, 1PM: Jevon Thomas verballed to Dayton this morning. So much for a package deal.

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• Kareem Canty Update: We have confirmed that Canty is leaving Westwind Prep (AZ) for Marshall to start his official visit this Thursday and will return on Sunday. We've learned from a reliable source that a commitment to Marshall this weekend "would not be surprising"
• Seton Hall, along with Rider, Bucknell and USC, have expressed interest in 2014 G Jordan Forehand of St. Anthony (NJ).
• The Pirates remain on the list of 2013 SF DeAndre Bembry of St. Patrick (NJ). 
• Per Hudson Catholic (NJ) head coach Nick Mariniello, "Seton Hall's done a great job" in recruiting 2013 PF Mike Young.
• It looks like the staff has renewed its interest in DeMatha Catholic's (NJ) 2013 center BeeJay Anya. I still maintain that Seton Hall has little chance in landing one of the best power forwards in the 2013 class but the staff hasn't given up.
• Despite a recent NBESports piece that says Seton Hall is still actively recruiting 2012 PF Richard Peters of Westwind Prep (AZ), we have reason to believe that the interest is minimal at best. Assistant coach Shaheen Holloway was at Westwind a little over a week ago to only watch Kareem Canty workout.
• Seton Hall watched 2015 behemoth Karl Towns of St. Joe's Metuchen (NJ) workout on Monday.
• 2013 G Davon Reed will visit Rutgers this Saturday. A ton of schools have been coming after the Princeton Day (NJ) star recently.