Arizona Recruiting, Arizona State Recruiting, baylor Recruiting, Connecticut Recruiting, Florida State, Georgia Tech Recruiting, Illinois Recruiting, Kansas Recruiting, Kansas State Recruiting, Louisville Recruiting, LSU Recruiting, Marquette Recruiting, memphis Recruiting, Missouri Recruiting, North Carolina State Recruiting, Oregon, Penn State, Seton Hall Recruiting, SMU Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Syracuse Recruiting, Texas Recruiting, UCLA, USC Recruiting, USF Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting, Virginia Tech Recruiting, Wake Forest Recruiting, Washington Recruiting

HOT WEEKEND FOR XAVIER RATHAN-MAYES IN EYBL TRANSLATES TO HOT RECRUIT

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

Xavier Rathan-Mayes of CIA Bounce put on an offensive show this past weekend in the opening leg of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League in Minneapolis (MN). The timing could not have been better as the NCAA reinstated the April open evaluation period and college coaches were in the building to see Rathan-Mayes fill it up all weekend.

All in all 40 NIKE affiliated AAU teams participated in the opening weekend and CIA Bounce was one of just six to finish the weekend with a 4-0 record. Rathan-Mayes finsihed the four games with an 18 points per game average, good enough to be tied for 7th in the league in scoring overall.

“It felt great to be able perform in front of the coaches, it’s an opportunity I’ve prepared for all my life since I was a small kid” Rathan-Mayes told NBE this morning, “[and it] felt great being out there with the guys winning games.”

The opening weekend of the EYBL seems to brin out the best in teams as they figh for spots in the championship round held at the Peach Jam in July. The college coaches being in the building added an extra level of excitement for onlookers, but Rathan-Mayes said it was business as usual on the court aseveryone wanted to get that W.

“I don’t really think there was an added level because the intensity is always at a high level playing in the EYBL,” he said. “It’s the best league in the country and those are the events all coaches come to see.”

This past weekend Rathan-Mayes had a goal to show coaches he can be a consistent scorer. Having a reputation of a scorer that can get on a roll and be unstoppable, he wanted to prove he can produce in a consistent manner. Point proven as he put up games of 28,22 and 16 points in his four outings. His 28 point explosion got the event started off in CIA Bounce’s 20-point dismantling of Team Final, an expected EYBL championship contender on Friday.

“I just wanted to come out and have a strong weekend, really wanted to come out and make a statement prove to everyone what I’m truly capable of doing on a night in and night out basis,” he said.

A strong performance like that with college coaches looking on certainly brought more attention to his recruitment. Offers and contact have been flowing in since the games wrapped up on Sunday.

“Since the weekend I have received offers from South Florida, Seton Hall, LSU, UCLA, Baylor, Oregon and SMU,” he said. “Other schools that I know have been in contact have been Missouri, Memphis, Syracuse and a few others.”

It was not as though Rathan-Mayes was not on anyone’s recruiting radar before the weekend. Back in February he told NBE he already had offers from Louisville, Kansas, Arizona, Florida State, NC State, Penn State, Marquette, USC, St. John’s, Texas, Washington, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Villanova, Connecticut, Arizona State, Virginia Tech and Kansas State among others.

Rathan-Mayes is just adding the new offers and interest to the previous schools and taking it all in.

“Right now I’m considering every school [and] I’m still wide open,” he said. “No favoritess or leaders right now and [I] don’t have a time or date for when I will make a decision.”

Xavier Rathan-Mayes and his CIA Bounce teamates will once again be in front of college coaches this weekend when the EYBL rolls into Hampton (VA) for the Boo Williams leg of the tour. Can they continue their undefeated winning ways? Plenty of interested onlookers will be waiting to see.

Check back here throughout the weekend and beyond as NBE will be covering all the action from the weekend ahead.

Be Sociable, Share!

•