Cincinnati Recruiting, Connecticut Recruiting, Marquette News, Marquette Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Providence Recruiting, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Syracuse Recruiting, USF Recruiting, West Virginia News, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (9/18/2009)

*********Follow NBE Sports on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NBESports*****

The TGIF edition of the Big East News & Notes covers a lot of ground this week as there is a commitment to take note of for Pittsburgh in the class of 2011. The news is plentiful today as West Virginia reinstates Truck Bryant, Marquette loses a player for the season and there are tons of recruiting news and notes on a variety of players that Big East programs are visiting and recruiting this fall.

Below are links to stories from around the web and news and notes NBE has collected this morning. As mentioned, this is a full update with a little bit for everyone…

————–

The bad news at Marquette continues as it was learned Thursday that freshman point guard Junior Cadougan suffered a ruptured right Achilles’ tendon during a conditioning session and Cadougan is Likely Out for the Season (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Cadougan was expected to enter practice as the favorite to start at point guard replacing the graduated Dominic James because of his toughness, floor vision and passing ability. With the recent foot injury of Darius Johnson-Odom, the Golden Eagles enter the start of official practice with likely three scholarship guards. Luckily, Maurice Acker opted to return to the program at the end of August.

Sources confirmed to NBE this morning that Cadougan is likely done for the season and that Johnson-Odom should be ready to return when official practices begin October 16th.
——————————————————————————

While the Golden Eagles are losing a point guard, West Virginia is getting one back as WVU Reinstates ‘Truck’ Bryant After No Contest Plea (TheSportingNews.com) on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and failing to give information and render aid. He also pleaded no contest in August to a charge of failing to exercise due care in a June accident in which his car struck a pedestrian without causing serious injury.

“Darryl has done everything that has been asked of him on all fronts,” coach Bob Huggins said in a statement. “I believe he has earned the opportunity to be reinstated to our team.”
——————————————————————————–

With Brewster Academy just starting classes earlier this week, they have limited the traffic of visiting coaches this week to Wednesday and today (Friday) to allow their players to get acclimated to their new environment and class schedule. Still, Pittsburgh was there right away to meet with Maurice Walker on Wednesday. Today, Kansas assistant Joe Dooley will be at Brewster to watch Walker workout with his teammates.

“The visit with Pittsburgh went well,” Brewster head coach Jason Smith told NBE this morning. “I would say they are a school Maurice is very interested in at this point.”

‘Mo’ had taken an unofficial visit to Pitt last month and has yet to schedule any official visits this month.

Also on Wednesday, Providence made a trip to the Wolfeboro (NH) campus to check in on 2011 point guard prospect Naadir Tharpe.
——————————————————————————-

Speaking of Pittsburgh recruiting, the Panthers are on the board in the class of 2011 as they picked up an early verbal commitment from 6-foot-1 combo guard John Johnson of Girard College High School near Philadelphia (PA). Johnson Visited Pitt and Considered commiting since. After a visit from the Panther staff, the pledge was made this week.

“”I think that could be my home away from home,” Johnson told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I like their style of play, and it’s not too far from home that my family can’t see me play.”

The Girard Hoopster Commited to Pitt (Philly Inquirer) over St. Joe’s, St. John’s, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Penn State.

NBE correspondent Chris Dokish has more on Johnson’s verbal: Panthers Get Commitment from Top Combo Guard.
——————————————————————————–

ESPN affiliate TheShiver.com has some news on the recruitment of 2011 big man Desmond Hubert out of Cream Ridge (NJ). Hubert, a 6-foot-9+ center who plays AAU ball with the NJ Playaz and attends New Egypt High School, had a strong summer which got the attention of Kansas coach Bill Self as KU Shows Interest in ’11 Big Man (ESPN) along with Xavier, Wake Forest, Providence, Pittsburgh, St. Joe’s, Rutgers, LaSalle, Penn State and Harvard.

Hubert, like most young big men, is a player whose defense is well ahead of his offense at this point. However, he has the physical tools that college coaches love to work with and should develop into an excellent college player in the future with added strength and skill development on the offensive side of the court.
——————————————————————————-

The Indianapolis Star’s Recruiting Center Kyle Neddenriep has updates on a couple more 2011 big men that are showing up on Big East radars in the recruiting process. First, 6-foot-10, 225-lb Mitch McGary is getting a lot of early attention from the Big 10 and Cincinnati has shown interest recently. Purdue Offered a Scholarship to Chesterton’s McGary according to the Star. As a sophomore, McGary averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds a game.

Also according to the Indy Star, Terre Haute (IN) North junior Justin Gant will make an unofficial visit Saturday to Notre Dame according to his father, Michael Gant. The 6-foot-9 forward has offers from Bradley, Evansville, Indiana State, Iowa, Rice and Southern Illinois and was one of the many visitors to Michigan last weekend to take in their football game atmosphere when the Irish came to Ann Arbor.
——————————————————————————-

The Baltimore Sun’s Recruiting Report has a very informative AAU Recap on Cecil Kirk with some new Big East recruiting info.

According to Cecil Kirk director Anthony Lewis, “UConn, South Florida, Seton Hall, Missouri and some other schools” are recruiting 6-foot-8 Lake Clifton forward Cleveland Melvin. Melvin averaged 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks per game as a senior for Lake Clifton. He’ll do a post-grad year with Barton at Notre Dame Prep

Durand Johnson, a 6-foot-7 wing that can light it up from the outside, has transferred to Lake Clifton for his junior season. Johnson is being courted by the same schools as Melvin, plus Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech.

Antoine Myers, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Forest Park, is hearing from South Florida, plus several Atlantic-10 and Colonial Athletic Association schools according to the Sun. Raphael Akpejiori, a native of Senegal who plays at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas, is hearing from “South Florida, Missouri and a host of A-10 and Colonial schools, [plus] LaSalle, St. Bonaventure, Texas A&M Corpus-Christi,” Lewis told the Recruiting Repoprt.
——————————————————————————-

Carson Desrosiers is sorting through the recruiting process which took him to Wake Forest for an official visit last weekend and saw Arizona State and Marquette make in-home visits shortly after. While the recruiting process has kept him busy, Desrosiers is Enjoying the Ride (Scott Hazelton Basketball) and closing in on his decision. Next up is a visit to Arizona State this weekend.
——————————————————————————-

While the Clock is Ticking (Hoops Haven) on the start of the 2009-2010 college basketball season, Jerry Carino puts out a few new names that the Seton Hall is following for the class of 2010.

—Chris Johnson, 6-6 postgrad forward from Arizona, a nephew of former Boston Celtics star Dennis Johnson whose young brother Nick is a highly regarded point guard.

—Julian Washburn, a 6-8 senior forward from Texas who recently arrived at St. Patrick. The son of former. N.C. State star Chris Washburn and his brother Chris Jr. is a 6-7 sophomore at St. Pat’s.

—Jesse Morgan, a 6-4 postgrad shooting guard from Philadelphia who is doing a year at South Kent Prep in Connecticut (see yesterday’s News & Notes for some additional Morgan recruiting notes).

—Robert Sampson, a 6-8 senior forward from The Bullis School (Md.) who is the youngest son of former NBA center and Virginia legend Ralph Sampson.
—————————————————————————-

The New England Recruiting Report made a stop on their fall prep tour for a Prep Profile on Worcester Academy this week. While Tyler Olander, a 2011 big forward, has been getting most of the recruiting press out of Ed Reilly’s program, another name to know is 2010 guard Billy Baron, son of Rhode Island coach head coach Jim Baron and younger brother of former URI star Jimmy Baron. The younger Baron also has a number of high major schools set to check him out this fall as Notre Dame, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Seton Hall and Penn State are all set to visit the Worcester Academy gym.

Olander is a 6-foot-9 forward who claims offers from “UConn, Providence, Marquette, Penn State and Vanderbilt and continues to see increasing interest now that he is a member of the 2011 class.
——————————————————————————–

Ron Bailey continues his tour of open gym’s in the DC area with a visit to a Team Workout at Ballou (i95ballerz.com). The leader of the team is Donte Thomas, a 6-foot-3, 190 pound senior guard who Bailey’s thinks is probably the best all-around scorer in the D.C. area. Rutgers, Hawaii, San Jose State and Binghamton have reportedly offered Donte, while Xavier and West Virginia are interested. They’ll have to wait until after Donte attends prep school next year putting him into the 2011 class.
———————————————————————————-

Joseph Young committed to Providence recently and the thought was the Friars landed a perfect compliment to fellow 2010 recruits Gerard Coleman and Ron Giplaye because of his outside shooting ability. However, the commitment became a little uneasy as Young’s father, a staff member at his alma mater, the University of Houston, was quoted in a local paper expressing disappointment in the decision.

“Do I want my son to play here? Man, do I want him to play here. My heart is really, really broken right now,” Michael Young told the Houston Chronicle. “I’m trying to get this decision turned. There’s still time. I’m trying to get him to have a change of mind and really look at the whole situation.

“I’m really ashamed,” Young added. “I’m really ashamed for me to be a basketball coach here, and my son is a good basketball player, and he’s not coming here.”

Michael Young was a star member of the Cougars’ historic Phi Slama Jama teams and played in the Final Four in 1982-84. Now he’s the program’s strength and conditioning coach.

However, things look better now for PC and Michael Young Says Son Will be a Friar (Providence Journal) and the family fully supports the decision.

“Joseph is a Friar,” Michael Young told Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal on Thursday. “He’s happy about it and me and my wife are excited about it.”
——————————————————————————

Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com also has the latest on the recruitment of Kyrie Irving and Doron Lamb, which also includes an update on top 2011 guard prospect Anthony Wroten as it now looks like Syracuse is the leader in his recruitment.
——————————————————————————–

Throughout the recruiting process several Big East programs were involved with Middlesex (MA) School’s 6-foot-8 wing Rod Odom. However, it is looking more and more like Odom will land outside the Big East with Sean Miller and NYC native ‘Book’ Richardson making a strong push from Arizona. Miller’s Persistence Pays Off (AZStarnet.com) and Odom will take an official visit to see the ‘Zona program. Boston College and Harvard are also scheduled for official visits at this point.

Be Sociable, Share!

•