Harvard Signs Another Three-Star Recruit

The Harvard men’s basketball team added a seventh member to its 2016 recruiting class with the verbal commitment of three-star recruit Henry Welsh. Welsh, a 6’9” center from Loyola High School in Los Angeles, took to Twitter Wednesday morning to announce his decision to join the Crimson.

As a junior at Loyola, Welsh averaged 11 points per game and was second on the team with 9.2 rebounds per contest. He was the third member of last season’s team, which finished the year with a 20-10 record, to commit to a Division I program. Point guard Max Hazzard is now a freshman at UC Irvine while Stone Gettings will travel to Cambridge on Jan. 29 as a member of Cornell’s team.

Several recruiting outlets laud Welsh’s length and his steady improvement over three seasons at Loyola. One website says that the center has “a nice touch around the basket” and “is a good passer, especially from the high post”.

In addition to Harvard, Welsh also took official visits to UC Irvine and Lehigh. He is the third big man to commit to the Crimson in the class of 2016, joining top 100 power forward recruits Chris Lewis and Robert Baker, Jr.

Welsh is also the second pledge Harvard coach Tommy Amaker has received in the last week. Bryce Aiken, a four-star point guard from Randolph, N.J. committed to the Crimson last Thursday. Harvard’s recruiting class for next season is currently ranked as the 27th-best in nation by 247 Sports.

He is the second player in next year’s class from Los Angeles County to commit to the Crimson, joining point guard Christian Juzang. Current freshmen Robbie Feinberg and Tommy McCarthy and junior Zena Edosomwan also hail from Southern California.

Assuming Siyani Chambers ’16 returns to the team next fall following his ACL tear and all of this year’s non-graduating players return, Harvard will have 21 players competing for playing time next season.