Christ the King hoops prodigy Rawle Alkins to transfer

The best high school basketball player in the city and one of the most highly recruited stars in America is waving goodbye to Queens.

Christ the King superstar Rawle Alkins announced on his Twitter account Thursday afternoon that he will be leaving the Middle Village institution to play his senior year at a prep school due to eligibility issues with the Catholic High Schools Athletic Association.

Alkins, ranked 22nd out of 100 in the nationwide class of 2016 by ESPN, played in a handful of high school games as an eighth grader in Florida before moving to Brooklyn and enrolling at Christ the King. According to CHSAA rules, he used up a year of eligibility in doing so.

"Christ the King has done wonders for me," Alkins later said on the social media website Instagram. "My journey is not over yet, it has only just begun."

A CHSAA meeting on Alkins' eligibility at Christ the King was scheduled for this September, after the start of the school year.

If Alkins stayed in Middle Village only to lose the appeal, the highly touted prospect would have been ineligible to play for the Royals in 2015-16.

The prodigy was the definition of a star during his three years at Christ the King, leading the Royals to three straight CHSAA city championships, the first three-peat in 34 years, as well as two consecutive New York State Federation Tournament of Champions titles in 2013 and 2014.

Alkins, a stocky 6-foot, 4-inch guard, has earned scholarship offers from nearly every major college basketball program in the country, including Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana and Louisville.

St. John's University has also gotten into the mix in recent months, with coach Chris Mullin offering Alkins a scholarship on his first day on the job in April. Recent reports have added that the former Christ the King star will be a top target of Mullin's over the next few months.

Alkins also took his talents oversees to compete at the Adidas Eurocamp in Italy last month, where he lead Team USA to a 3-0 record and averaged 24 points per game.

While losing the city's top player will undoubtedly hurt Christ the King, Royals head coach Joe Arbitello will still have a loaded roster at his disposal, led by budding star Jose Alvarado.

The point guard enjoyed tremendous success during the 2014-15 season and proved to be an offensive threat during Christ the King's dominant run through the city and state playoffs.

Alvarado picked up offers from Miami and Indiana this week, adding to a list that already includes Seton Hall and Fordham.