|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
| |
|||
| Wednesday, February 7 |
|||
| Recruits must consider coaching rumors By David Benezra and Mark Mayemura Special to ESPN.com | |||
|
A Happy New Year to everybody! There certainly was a lot of holiday hoops action and even some recruiting news. The beginning of the new year is also a time for coaching rumors to start swirling a little more madly then the "mystery mixer" in the holiday eggnog.
One of the nation's more highly regarded prospects in the Class of 2002 is 6-foot-10 junior Michael Thompson out of Providence Catholic H.S. in New Lenox, Ill. Well, Thompson held a press conference on Jan. 4 to announce his verbal decision
Thompson had narrowed his choices down to Duke, Georgetown, Illinois, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Stanford. He had taken unofficial visits to each campus except Georgetown and Stanford. Illinois and Notre Dame were the early leaders, but after traveling to Tobacco Road and seeing Duke and North Carolina, the Carolina programs became the leaders for Thompson, although Georgetown made a late push.
Thompson, who is still a work in progress, announced for Duke, giving the Blue Devils their second "Blue Plate Special" out of the junior class, with 6-3 off guard J.J. Reddick (Cave Spring HS/Roanoke, Va.) already in the fold.
Regarding the class of 2001 recruiting, Providence received a commitment from 6-7 senior Ryan Gomes (Wilby HS/Waterbury, Ct.), who is a strong power player. Earlier, Long Beach State, which had a very successful early signing period, received a commitment from 7-foot senior Alex Graham (Redlands HS/Redlands, Calif.).
South Florida, a program that is continuing to make steady upward progress, received a commitment from 6-5 senior Kelvin Brown (Dillard HS/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), an athletic talent who was somewhat overlooked in the early period.
Coaches and recruits A strong rising senior to watch is 6-8 combo forward Nick Curtis (Oxnard H.S./Oxnard, Calif). UNLV was the likely leader before the disruption caused by the departure of head coach Bill Bayno. The Rebels are still in the picture, but Oregon is strongly involved and Arizona State is taking a good look. Other schools involved in Curtis' recruiting during the early period were California, SMU, UC Santa Barbara, USF, Washington State, and Xavier. The athletic senior has a big upside as he is young for his grade and still growing. Speaking of UNLV, interim head coach Max Good has previous head coaching experience at the Division I level, having coached at Eastern Kentucky. Good has a great reputation among college coaches from his days as the man in charge of the nation's most powerful prep school program -- Maine Central Institute, in Pittsfield, Maine. His reputation is based on getting talented players to play at a consistently high level of effort, therefore, getting more out of their talent. He is not only qualified, but an excellent choice to lead the program. High-profile candidates are available, however, and Las Vegas is a high-profile town. Although we don't see it as a fit, Bobby Knight has been mentioned as a "sheriff" who can come in and tame a wild west program like UNLV's. A more probable candidate is Boston Celtics head coach Rick Pitino, who resigned Monday. The word is out that Pitino and a high-level UNLV booster have already had discussions about the UNLV job. Pitino would need a high-profile job and Las Vegas and Michigan (rumors about Michigan opening have been around since before last summer) certainly fill those requirements. Despite having brought in a good recruiting class (current freshmen), rumors about Steve Robinson's job security are floating around, although Florida State would pale next to those two in Pitino's eyes. However, the prospect of competing in the ACC, having the talented state of Florida to recruit in as a home base, and building a program that could compete with Duke and North Carolina could draw his curiousity. Another interesting situation to keep an eye on involves Louisville. As everyone knows, the program has been slowly sinking over the last several years. There is now a movement underway amongst certain boosters to oust the legendary Denny Crum from the head coaching position he has occupied for 30 years. However, the signing of a major talent like point guard Carlos Hurt in the fall, was a huge one for the program, both cosmetically (prestige) and physically. And the Cards are right there for the top power forward in the country in 6-7 Ousmane Cisse (St. Jude/Montgomery, Ala.), whose brother is a freshman for the Cardinals. How much of an issue is Crum staying or leaving; or, whether it's a matter of importance at all to Cisse, is not known at this time. Confirmed sighting Wondering where 6-10, 260-pound senior Tony Key is? Well, the well-traveled native of Kentucky is at Centennial High School in Compton, Calif. Key is one of the more highly regarded big men left on the board. Key, who started the school year off at Emmanuel Academy in Durham, N.C., relocated to Centennial after Emmanuel shut down. Also joining Key at Centennial is another teammate from Emmanuel, 6-foot point guard Roscoe Biggers, who previously starred at Wadleigh H.S. in New York City. Mark Mayemura and David Benezra cover the national college basketball recruiting scene, both high school and junior college recruiting, at their Recruiting USA (www.recruitingusa.com) website. Call (818)783-2244 for subscription information. | |
ALSO SEE Recruiting: Pretty good leftovers Recruiting: Who got who? Recruiting: 'Jewel' of the islands Recruiting: Bruins get their Bozeman Recruiting: Bear or Bare market for Bruins? Recruiting: Extra work pays off for UK | |
|
|