Marquette News, Marquette Recruiting, NBA Draft Early Entry, Notre Dame News, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, West Virginia News, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (6/5/2008)

West Virginia is on the trail of their next big addition to their program, but first they need to await the decision of Joe Alexander, who has given some mixed signals on whether or not he will return for his senior season. It could be just o build more drama as his workouts have only helped secure his spot in the NBA lottery to this point.

St. John’s and Marquette are looking at a possible late 2008 class addition. The three NYC-area Big East teams have budding interest in a pair of 2010 big men that are new to the St. Anthony’s program in Jersey City. Tony Bergeron and his crew form recently defunct American Christian look to have a succession plan in place in the Philadelphia area. A couple high profile job openings in and around the Big East will certainly get a lot of attention. Dayton is not looking to fill an open position, but open dates on their schedule. After their success against a couple Big East powers last season, one Big East school will take a chance against them on a neutral floor around Thanksgiving.

West Virginia has an incoming recruiting class featuring Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones, now there is Another Top Basketball Recruit on WVU’s Radar (Charleston Gazette) as 6’9 Augustus “Gus” Gilchrist got his release from Maryland to pursue a transfer and the Mountaineers are expected to be in the mix for his services. With Joe Alexander very likely to stay in the NBA Draft, WVU has a scholarship and a definite need for the type of player Gilchrist is reputed to be. Gilchrist is expected to apply for a special waiver from the NCAA to be eligible to play next year, saying he was unaware of the ACC rule that his release from Virginia Tech and the Letter of Intent he signed with the Hokies to enroll in Maryland had constituted a transfer that would only allow him 2 ½ years of eligibility to play in the ACC.

The full synopsis of the Gilchrist story was detailed in the Washington Post yesterday and linked in our Big East News & Notes from yesterday.

Adam Zagoria is following the play-by-play of the recruitment of Donald Williams of Progressive Christian Academy. Williams, a 6’5 shooting guard, is looking at St. John’s and Marquette as options for next year. Russell Branch coached Williams last year for PCA where he averaged 19 points and 7 rebounds a contest for the 42-7 club (49 games?!?!?!). Williams’ Coach Likes the Johnnies (zagsblog) as an option for his player as SJU has more of a need for Williams immediately compared to the Golden Eagles. Williams is currently visiting Queens and Williams is Enjoying Johnnies (zagsblog) trip. He expects to visit Marquette next season.

Williams is a native of Baton Rouge (LA) and did not qualify out of Southern Lab High School in Louisiana. After a prep season at Progressive Christian in Maryland, coach Branch says Williams is qualified to play in 2008-2009. Schools like New Orleans, UAB, Oklahoma State and Marshall have also made a late push upon word Williams has qualified, but Williams looks content to decide between Marquette and St. John’s.
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New class of 2010 (zagsblog) as Devon Collier and Ashton Pankey are getting attention from many schools, according to Adam Zagoria’s chat with Jeff Rivera, coach of the New Heights AAU program that both play with on the AAU circuit.

The 6’7, 212 lb Collier has drawn interest from Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Wake Forest and Virginia. As for the 6’8 Pankey, who transferred from Archbishop Molloy, Rivera told Zags all of the aforementioned schools were also involved, except Wake Forest.
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It looks like Tony Bergeron and his leftover players from American Christian have founded their next landing spot as they will move From American Christian to Blair Christian (Philadelphia Inquirer) in Mount Airy, near Philadelphia. Junior guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones and freshman guard Achraf Yacoubou plan to accompany him, along with 5’10 junior point guard Danny Lawhorne of Connecticut, 6’7 junior power forward Mike Haynes (Chicago), and 6’3 junior guard Lamount Samuels (New York). All were scheduled to enroll at American Christian in the fall.
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There will be two high profile job searches conducted with Big East connections. While the conference will embark on a search for a new commissioner as Mike Tranghese, the Big East Commissioner is Announcing His Retirement later today, Notre Dame is looking for a new Athletic Director as Kevin White has accepted the same position at Duke. At ND, the AD Search Has Unique Flavor (South Bend Tribune) as past hires came from areas that nobody expected, so will that be the same this time?
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Last season Dayton made an impressive statement with pre-conference victories over Louisville, at Freedom Hall, and knocking off previously unbeaten Pittsburgh on their home floor. Those wins got the attention of prospective opponents when trying to organize this year’s schedule and UD Takes Hunt for Big-Name Basketball Game to Chicago (Dayton Daily News) where they will meet Auburn of the SEC and the Big East’s Marquette in the Chicago Classic over Thanksgiving weekend.

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