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Juco prizes make decisions
Posted: Wednesday May 02, 2001 11:50 AM
With two more weeks remaining in the spring national signing period (April 11-May 15), extremely few prime prospects remain who have not decided upon their collegiate destination. The number of unsigned junior-college products has also dwindled just during the past week. As of last week's column, eight of our top 25 junior college sophomores had not yet determined their collegiate plans; now, only one of them remains in limbo!
Outstanding jucos who signed national letters-of-intent during the past week include 6-2 Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College WG/PG Marcus Hatten, 6-6 Barton County (Kan.) CC SF/PF Ebi Ere, 7-0 College of Southern Idaho C Uche Okafor, 7-0 Trinity Valley (Texas) CC C Moustapha Diagne, 6-4 Schoolcraft (Mich.) JC WG/SF Derrick Bird, 6-9 Porterville (Calif.) CC PF/C Mike Mackell, and 6-8 Marshalltown (Iowa) CC PF Derek Huff.
Hatten, a former Baltimore prep ace, averaged 24.1 points this past season and was named first-team juco All-American. This aggressive driver wound up signing, as expected, with St. John's, although he kept Red Storm coaches and fans sweating until the end by making spring campus visits to Houston, DePaul and Iowa State. Interestingly, while he played the past two seasons in Tallahassee, he apparently never was courted seriously by Florida State!
Ere, a strong Nigerian who prepped in Oklahoma, inked with the Oklahoma Sooners after also considering Texas Tech, Iowa, Illinois, Houston, Providence and East Carolina. He had two excellent seasons at strong and deep Barton County while establishing himself as an elite prospect.
Okafor, another native of Nigeria, is a 240-pound athlete who didn't produce impressive statistics (9 ppg, 7 rpg) for well-balanced Southern Idaho, yet is widely recognized as one of the most promising juco prospects in the nation. After reducing the field to three finalists, he eliminated Illinois from consideration following an official visit to Champaign, then selected Missouri over N.C. State. Since the Tigers may have to release touted 6-10, 250-pound Benton Harbor (Mich.) High big man Robert Whaley from his fall letter-of-intent if charges of raping a minor prove true, Okafor is a particularly vital recruit for coach Quin Snyder's program.
Still another athletic 7-foot, 240-pound African, Diagne picked New Mexico on April 27 over Cincinnati, Missouri and Oregon. This ended an arduous recruiting war in which at least a half dozen other major colleges were involved. His letter-of-intent reportedly has been sent to Senegal so that his parents may sign it and thus make it binding under NCAA rules.
Bird didn't have a huge reputation entering the season, and he had to share the ink at Schoolcraft with 6-8 DePaul-bound PF Sam Hoskins. Bird's superb play, however, elevated him markedly with scouts, and he's now viewed as a top-25 prospect. He has cast his collegiate lot with Auburn, which has to make Cliff Ellis mighty happy.
Down the stretch this past season, Mackell was pursued avidly by the likes of Connecticut, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Oregon, Iowa State and UNLV. Regardless, he opted to recently sign with rapidly improving San Diego State, which is a real feather in the cap for Steve Fisher!
Similar to Bird, Huff wasn't widely ballyhooed when the season began, but he is now. Don't be surprised if he emerges during the 2001-02 campaign as a major factor in the Southeastern Conference for Mississippi, with which he signed.
In case you're wondering, the sole top-25 juco soph who hasn't yet chosen a college is 6-0 Odessa (Texas) JC PG Taron Barker. His final six schools are Texas A&M, Illinois, Connecticut, Auburn, Iowa State and Minnesota. Just outside the top 25 is 6-11 C Trevor Harvey, who exhibited considerable physical potential while playing alongside Huff at Marshalltown. Harvey, a native of the Bahamas who signed with South Carolina in high school but didn't qualify academically, is reportedly in the process of deciding between Miami (Fla.) and Florida State.
Regional Notes
Once again, our focus is upon signings, transfers and high schoolers bound for the NBA draft.
EAST
6-11, 225-pound senior C Simplice Njoya of Dobbs Ferry (N.Y.) The Masters School committed to Duquesne (where a friend was hired as an assistant coach) over Michigan, Southern California, Georgia Tech and perhaps others. The November letter-of-intent he signed with UNLV has been declared invalid. A native of Cameroon, Njoya is ranked No. 125 nationally in our postseason rankings of the prep class of 2001, which will be available next week.
6-7 fifth-year SF Brennan Martin (No. 132) of Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy signed, as expected, with Massachusetts after being released by Villanova from his fall letter-of-intent. The California native, a fine shooter, is following coach Steve Lappas from the Wildcats to the Minutemen.
Both 6-2 fifth-year PG/WG Jeremiah King (No. 231) of Winchendon (Mass.) Winchendon School and 6-6 Allentown (Pa.) Central Catholic senior SF Danny Hines inked with Drexel. King, who signed last fall with Massachusetts but was released after coach Bruiser Flint was dumped, instead will play for Flint with the Dragons.
6-8 senior PF/C Derrick Reid (unranked) of Richmond (Va.) Meadowbrook signed with hometown Virginia Commonwealth. He averaged 14.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots this past season.
5-11 Fitchburg (Mass.) Notre Dame fifth-year PG Mike Cleaves (unranked) signed with La Salle over Duquesne, Siena, Central Connecticut, Rider and others.
6-4 Baltimore Southern senior WG Darshan Luckey (No. 261) signed with St. Francis (Pa.) over interest from Georgetown, Purdue, Wagner and others. He averaged 17 points and eight assists per game for 19-6 Southern.
6-7 1/2 junior SF Danny Miller is transferring from Maryland, likely to either Notre Dame (where he visited April 27-29), Rutgers or Villanova.
6-2 sophomore WG Jon Crispin is leaving Penn State, where he averaged 7.2 points this past season. He reportedly has been in contact with Duke and Florida.
6-5 freshman SF Peter Mulligan is trading up from Maryland-Baltimore County, preferably to a school in the ACC, Big East or Atlantic 10. The 2000-01 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds.
SOUTH
6-7, 215-pound senior SF Illian Evtimov (No. 262), the brother of former North Carolina big man Vasco Evtimov, signed with North Carolina State over South Carolina, Charlotte, Davidson, American, Tulane, Richmond and Furman. The Bulgaria native, a fine perimeter shooter, averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists this past season for Winston-Salem (N.C.) Bishop McGuinness. As a junior he averaged 14 points for Class 4-A (large-school) state champion Winston-Salem R.J. Reynolds.
6-4 senior WG Ben Bowling (unranked), who transferred back to Hazard (Ky.) Perry County Central in February from Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Westminster Academy (where he had been ruled ineligible to play), signed with Tulane over interest from some other Conference USA schools and Indiana.
5-11 Durham (N.C.) Southern senior PG Ivan Jenkins (unranked), who averaged nearly 23 points, signed with Winthrop over Central Florida and Furman. He also considered prepping at either Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy or Fork Union (Va.) Fork Union Military Academy.
Outstanding 6-4 junior SF/WG Rashad McCants of New Hampton (N.H.) New Hampton School gave an early verbal commitment to North Carolina over Clemson, Wake Forest, Maryland, Virginia, Kansas and Indiana. McCants is a native of Asheville, N.C., who averaged 25 points this season and was MVP of the 2000 AAU Boys' (16-under) National Championship in Detroit.
National top-35 junior Brandon Stockton, a 5-10 PG who led Glasgow (Ky.) High to the 2001 Class A (small-school) state title, gave an early verbal commitment to Kentucky over Auburn and Butler. He averaged 29.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.3 steals while connecting on 38 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Top-55 junior Lee Melchionni, a 6-7 1/2 lefthanded SF who averaged 15 points, nine assists and three steals for 27-3 Fort Washington (Pa.) Germantown Academy, gave an early verbal commitment to Duke (where his father, Gary, started at point guard) over Villanova.
7-0, 310-pound senior C DeSagana Diop (No. 7), a native of Senegal who was a 2001 McDonald's All-American at Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, officially entered the NBA draft on April 26. His college finalists were Virginia, Georgia Tech and North Carolina.
6-8, 240-pound senior C/PF Ousmane Cisse (No. 5), a native of Mali who was a 2001 McDonald's All-American at Montgomery (Ala.) St. Jude, apparently will enter the NBA draft, though he hasn't yet submitted the necessary paperwork. A press release was issued by Cisse's guardian, attorney Don Jackson, which stated Cisse's intention to go directly from high school to the NBA. Louisville, Arkansas, Duke, Virginia and others have been recruiting Cisse.
MIDWEST
6-5 senior WG/SF Clark Williams (No. 183), who averaged 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal as Lilburn (Ga.) Berkmar repeated as Class 4-A (large-school) state champion, signed with Ohio State over Central Florida, St. Bonaventure and interest from Boston College, Virginia, Villanova, Rhode Island, Providence and Tulane.
6-3, 175-pound senior WG Shawn Wiggins (No. 275) of Washington (D.C.) Spingarn signed with Dayton. He averaged 23 points and four assists as 27-8 Spingarn reached the city finals before falling to Catholic League champion Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic.
6-11, 247-pound sophomore C Ivan Kartelo is transferring from Notre Dame to Purdue. Kartelo, a native of Croatia who played in 16 games last season for the Fighting Irish and scored just 12 points, also considered Northwestern and reportedly turned down an opportunity to officially visit North Carolina and coach Matt Doherty, who originally recruited him to South Bend.
SOUTHWEST
6-7 1/2, 205-pound senior PF Berry Jordan (unranked) of Jacksonville (Fla.) Arlington Country Day signed with Arkansas over interest from Virginia Tech, Tulane and Marshall. Jordan averaged 16.8 points, 13.6 rebounds and 6.1 blocked shots as Arlington Country Day reached the Class 2-A state final.
Highly regarded 6-3 junior WG/PG Chris Rogers of Portland Woodrow Wilson gave an early verbal commitment to Arizona. He also was interested in Duke and North Carolina, though neither had offered him a scholarship.
WEST
6-8, 225-pound senior PF Shami Gill of Toronto Pocock High signed with Washington State over interest from Rhode Island, Duquesne, Boston University and others.
6-8 sophomore PF Mike Puzey, who previously announced his decision to leave Utah, will enroll this fall at Utah State.
6-11, 275-pound senior C Tony Key (No. 56), a talented albeit academically marginal Russellville, Ky., native now attending Compton (Calif.) Centennial, appears to be headed for the 2001 NBA draft, says his most recent high school coach. Key received recruiting attention from West Virginia, Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky and many others.
Brick Oettinger is talent evaluator for the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook and recruiting columnist for the ACC Area Sports Journal. For more information on either publication, call 1-800-447-7667.
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