Mick Cronin is building a New York City pipeline

Cincinnati's Mick Cronin is starting to build himself a nice little pipeline between the Queen City and the City that never sleeps.

The most recent addition is Jermaine Sanders, a 6'5" wing from the Class of 2011 who surprised a lot of folks by committing to the Bearcats yesterday. A product of Rice High School, Sanders is a strong, left-handed* slasher with deep range and a knack for finding a way to score. He should do well filling in for the likes of Rashad Bishop and Darnell Wilks, two wing forwards that are seniors this year.

Jermaine Sanders is the last New York area kid to head to Cincinnati.
(photo credit: NY Post)

(*While I'm on the topic, I love the description that recruiting guru Tom Konchalski gave about lefties to Adam Zagoria: "He's got to work on his right hand. Most left-handers have trouble pledging allegiance with their right hand. He's profoundly left-handed.")

Sanders commitment came just days after Shaquille Thomas committed to Cincinnati. Thomas, the nephew of former Villanova Wildcat and current NBA forward Tim Thomas, is an athletic, 6'7" wing also in the Class of 2011 that hails from Montclair, NJ, and is a product of NIA Prep in Newark.

With the commitments of Thomas and Sanders, Cronin has now landed two players from the New York City area in two of the last three classes. In 2009, he brought in Sean Kilpatrick of White Plains and some kid named Lance Stephenson. And Bishop, a native of Paterson, NJ, is a senior this season.

There are worse places than New York City to establish a recruiting pipeline.