Rakeem Christmas, No. 1 center in 2011 class, has IU on short list

Rakeem Christmas, the No. 4 recruit in the nation for the class of 2011 “wants more for himself,” his coach, Kevin Givens, said.

“One of the things we’re blessed with is to have a kid ranked this high come to an institution like ourselves,” said Givens, the coach at Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb. “It says a lot about him, his character and his aunt’s character.”

Christmas is beginning his first season at the private school after playing at Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia.

The Academy has a solid basketball history and was No. 22 in the nation, according to rankings from USA Today, during the 2007-08 season.

However, it is also a highly-rated school academically, called “one of the top educational values available for families” by Private School Review.

“They want something different,” Givens said of Christmas’ aunt and legal guardian, Amira Hamid. “They want the academic piece for this kid.”

Christmas is 6 feet 9 inches and 230 pounds of athleticism, Givens said.

“He’s solid,” Givens said. “Pure muscle.”

He also has a long reach, with an 88.5-inch wingspan. Givens said that reach gives Christmas a decided advantage, along with his overall athletic ability.

“He can do a little bit of everything,” Givens said. “He’s very aggressive to the basket in terms of slam-dunking and that sort of thing, and he has a nice touch from the 15- to 19-foot range, and also he can take the average 6-foot-9 guy off the dribble and score inside. He’s got a lot of things that he can do. For us, we’re going to put him in situations where he can do it all.”

For Givens, “doing it all” entails putting up about 20 points per game and grabbing 10 to 12 rebounds for his team, something Christmas is rather accustomed to as a big man.

Givens called Christmas “demonstrative,” meaning his abilities are distinguished from other players in his class.

With Christmas being the No. 1 center in the class of 2011, that is obvious to Givens.

What isn’t obvious to Christmas’ coach is his status on recruitment thus far. They haven’t spoken about it at all yet, mainly because that is currently not their priority.

“One thing I want him to focus on is getting himself acclimated to the school,” Givens said. “We’re one of the top schools in the country academically, so that’s my first concern.”

Givens said Christmas has taken the school switch in stride.

“He’s been doing great academically, which we were sort of surprised at,” Givens said. “He’s making the transition. We’re also a religious-based school too, in terms of Christianity, so he has to make that transition, as well. We do realize that some of this stuff may be a culture shock, but so far, so good.”

Hamid is also pleased with her nephew’s progress.

“He really likes his new environment,” she said. “It’s a small school, so everybody knows him. The teachers have been very helpful. Everybody kind of really just took him in. It’s been a couple of weeks since school started, but it’s been going very well.”

In a press release earlier in the summer, Christmas announced his move to the Academy and also released his top eight schools under consideration. His schools were Baylor, Florida, Georgetown, IU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and Villanova.

Hamid said IU has been a player in Christmas’ recruitment since about eighth grade and they hear from coaches Roshown McLeod and Tom Crean often. 
 
However, due to his new surroundings, Christmas has no plans to visit or have in-home visits with any of those schools this year.

“He just transferred to a new school, so our focus has been on getting acclimated at ANC,” Hamid said. “The academics there are pretty tough.”

Christmas has faced some challenges in his life, the main one being the loss of his mother when he was young.

“My sister, who was his mother, passed away when he was 5 years old,” Hamid said. “He’s lived with us since he was 3 within my household. The plan always was once I moved up here, once I graduated from college, that he was going to live with me ... regardless of sports. That just sort of happened on its own.”

Christmas is the first member of his family to work his way to this level of athletic prestige.

“We usually have a lot of tall males in our family,” Hamid said. “But as far as the sports side, he’s definitely the first person to take it this far.”

Givens hopes Christmas can help take his team far, as well.

“Our front court will be 6 foot 11 inches, 6 foot 9 inches and 6 foot 6 inches,” Givens said. “We’re thinking we’ve got one of the best front courts in the country. We’ll have some size and we’ll have some depth. With that kind of front court, it looks like we may be one of the top 25 teams in the country.

“He definitely takes us to that national caliber level.”

As for shortening his list or making a decision, there is no timeline, Hamid said.

“Whether it’s in January of ’10 or January of ’11 doesn’t really matter,” she said. “When we feel it’s right, that’s when everybody else will know about it.”