In case you missed some of these in the last week:

Paul Harris officially announced his verbal commitment to Syracuse with a press conference this past Friday, one day after teammate Robert Garrison held his official announcement for Connecticut. However, not everyone was in a celebreating mood as a public party held in honor of Harris, Garrison and their teammates of their state champion NFS team turned violent. Here are the stories from the local papers: Buffalo News on Harris Party and Niagara Gazette on Harris Party. Harris has found himself in toruble in the past a few times with the law and spent some time in an alternative high school, Syracuse fans will have to hope that getting away from Niagara Falls will also mean that trouble will stop finding him. Paul Harris is a very engaging young man that you hope can take advantage of the opportunity he is given and is not brought down by some around him, he is a kid you really like if given the chance to meet him. I hope Harris takes the steps necessary to keep those wanting to cause trouble away from him. As the articles said, there is no indication that Harris or any of his teammates were involved in any way in the incidents from Firday night and early Saturday morning.

Here are some stories on the Harris commitment: Niagara Gazette on Harris Commitment and the Syracuse Post Standard has a long, detailed story on Paul Harris and the life he has had leading up to his commitment to Syracuse: Harris Sharpening Image. Harris also took the time to thank the people of Niagara Falls High School and their fans, from the Post Standard: Harris Thanks the Falls.

The Niagare-Gazette has a story on SU 2007 commit Johnny Flynn and the tougher task ahead of him at Niagara Falls HS with the graduation of Paul Harris and others from their state championship team. It also mentions Harris will hold a press conference to “officially” chose a college and prep school on Friday. Here is the article: Flynn has New Challenge.

SU is being fined by the state for basketball ticket gifts to state figures: SU Fined.

Former SU Orange commit Tiki Mayben officially commits to UMass: Mayben to UMass.

Projected 2006-2007 Roster:

Seniors: Louie McCroskey (G), Demetrius Nichols (SF), Terrence Roberts (F), Daryl Watkins (C), Matt Gorman (BF)
Juniors: Josh Wright (PG), Dayshaun Wright (F)
Sophomores: Eric Devenderf (G), Arinze Onuaku (BF/C), Andy Rautins (G)
Freshmen: Paul Harris (G)

Note: SU has also picked up and early 2007 commitment from Johnny Flynn (PG)

Previous SU Orange recruiting features: July 14 report and June 28 Report. Also, the July 25 Round-Up.

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As reported earlier this week, Tiki Mayben and Syracuse have officially parted ways and coach Jim Boeheim and the SU Orange currently have 2 scholarships open. There is still a cloud of uncertainty with Dayshawn Wright and if he will be back this fall with the Orange. They have recently gotten the word that key target Deshawn Sims has opted to stay in-state with the Michigan Wolverines and this leaves the SU recruiting picture a little unclear right now.

I still fully expect the Orange to close the deal with NY C Brad Sheehan, and close the deal rather quickly. From there, things seem to be really up in the air as the Orange do not look to be very far along with many prospects, of course, this is Syracuse and a lot can change in a hurry if they decide to put the full court press on a couple different players in the near future. They definitely need to add an athletic forward, the 6′8 Sims would have been a perfect fit, but SU lost that recruiting battle. A player on their radar at one time, Lance Thomas, also would have been a nice fit, but SU seemed to pull out of that recruitment and concentrate on Sims. The same might have also been true for Raymar Morgan of Ohio.

I fully expect the Orange to land a major haul in 2007, but I really do not think they want to be extending six or seven scholarships, so finding two more additions for the 2006 class will be a priority. Sheehan is a strong possibility and I will be paying close attention to some forward prospects, like Taj Gibson, Justin Burrell, Damian Saunders, Tyrell Lynch, Shamari Spears, etc to see if they enter the SU picture. However, some of those guys may find their way to the class of 2007, too. One interesting name to watch is 6′9 230 lbs Canadian Devin Brennan-McBride. He could become a hot SU target in the near future. Long and lean DC F Jacob Green is another interesting name as is NYC’s Austin Wallace and Rob Thomas.

Stay tuned…SU recruiting should be taking some different twists and turns in the weeks ahead.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA BULLS

Official team roster from the official USF athletic site: USF Roster.

Meet the South Florida coaching staff: USF Staff.

OVERVIEW: It is a new era for South Florida athletics as they join the Big East Conference. A relatively new entry into the major college sports arena, the South Florida program has many hurdles ahead of them as they try to build a winner in the Big East. Last season in Conference USA, the Bulls were 5-11 in the conference and 14-16 overall. To make things tougher, the Bulls lost their top three scorers from that team and will be relying on six players new to Division 1-A basketball and a transfer student.

Not all is lost at South Florida as head coach Robert McCullum, although not very well known nationally, is very well respected in the coaching ranks. He has experience being on the bench as an assistant at high power programs such as Illinois and Florida and spent time in the Big 12 with Kansas St. He was also very successful as the head coach at Western Michigan as he led WMU to a quick recovery in three seasons and to an NIT berth after the 2002-2003 campaign, in which they went 20-11.
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So far, things have climbed gradually for McCullum and his South Florida program. After struggling through a 7-win season in 2003-2004, the Bulls showed steady improvement last season, before ending the season with wins over UNC-Charlotte, who was ranked #18 at the time and wins over Houston and Cincinnati in the C-USA tournament, before losing to Memphis, on their home court, in the semifinals.

With so many new faces and inexperienced players at the major college level, South Florida is going to be a very tough team to forecast. Most prognosticators will certainly take the easy way out and pick them at the bottom of the conference this season. While I think that is probably about where they will finish, I will say, if you take this program and team lightly, you just might find yourself with a surprising loss and, in the future, this program does have some promising prospects with its very large fan base and alumni network. The Big East, in time, will look back on the addition of the South Florida program as a very good move.

INSPIRING STORY: One of the reasons people might overlook the Bulls this season is they just do not know some of the players on their roster. One important piece to the puzzle could be the return of Brad Mosley. After transferring from Daytona Beach CC, Mosley was the only Bull to start every game in McCullum’s inaugural season and led the Bulls in minutes, with 36.9/game and contributed 14.6 PPG from the 2-guard position. Expectations where high for Mosley as he entered his senior season, however, a life altering event forced basketball to take a back seat.

Prior to the 2004-2005 basketball season, Mosley was diagnosed with renal cell cancer and missed the 2004-05 season while he underwent treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center on the USF campus. A biopsy on November 8th provided the diagnosis. The full name of the disease is renal medullary carcinoma, which is a rare form of kidney cancer and, according to a 1996 study, there were just 40 known cases of this disease and no survivors, Mosely was determined not only to be the first survivor, but to play basketball again!

As his weight shrank to 139 lbs and the cancer spread to his lungs, Mosley began to lose some faith, but he was never one that was going to give up. Just weeks later, Mosley jogged onto the Sun Dome Floor with his teammates prior to tip-off of a game against Memphis (Read More Here) with the cancer out of his lungs and an improving condition, his teammates seemed to build on his progress and finished their season strong as well.

Here is another Mosley Cancer story: Mosley’s Toughest Opponent.

Even though Mosley is listed on the roster this season, he will probably only be a source of inspiration and morale support for his teammates. His story is an inspiring one and I hope I get to see Bradley Mosley play in the Big East someday! Our prayers are with you, Bradley Mosley!!

RETURNEES: Just five players return to the Bulls from last season: Solomon Jones, Collin Dennis, James Holmes, Marius Prekevicius and Chris Capko, a walk-on transfer from Florida. Jones started 27 out of 30 games last season and played 26 minutes a game, averaging 6.6 PPG and 6.2 rebounds while leading the team with 54 blocks. The 6’10 played for USF assistant Frank Burnell at Daytona Beach CC and will be counted on to score more inside against tough Big East foes. Collin Dennis, a Texas native, also returns for his sophomore year after contributing a solid 6.6 PPG. A versatile guard that can play either position, his ability to hit from long range will be counted on this season and he will need to improve on his percentages from last year. James Holmes is a senior who played one season of JUCO ball in his native state of Michigan at Schoolcraft College. Played nearly 20 minutes a game as a junior last season and averaged 6 PPG. A shooting guard that can knock down the open shots, but needs to be able to create more offense in the Big East. Marius Prekevicius also looks to play a more varied role in his 2nd year with South Florida. The Lithuanian, who played one season at Weatherford College in Texas, scored 5.7 PPG and shot just over 40% from 3-pt range last season. He is a very capable marksmen from long range and solid player that should be able to adapt a little more with experience. However, in the last couple days, there is increasing speculation that Prekevicius might not return to USF and opt to play pro ball in Europe. Here is a Tampa Trib article on the situation: Prekevicius Has Pro Opportunities). Chris Capko saw action in 18 games after becoming eligible after the first semester last season after transferring from Florida. Capko did not play much, but adds solid depth at the point guard spot and understands the game very well.

INCOMING: One player many people might be forgetting about is Melvin Buckley, who sat out last season per NCAA rules as a transfer student from Purdue. In two seasons at Purdue, the 6’6 wing established himself as a dangerous perimeter scoring that could score in bunches. As a freshmen in the Big 10 he contributed 4.1 PPG in just 11 minutes a game and shot 42.6 % from 3-pt range. He came up with a big 20 pts in a 1st round NCAA tournament game against LSU. As a sophomore he found increased playing time of 17 minutes a game and scored 5.4 PPG. He scored 14 against Big East member Seton Hall that season. Coach McCullum also went very heavy on JUCO additions by adding 6’7 Melvyn Richardson, 6’6 McHugh Mattis and 6’1 David Sills. Sills is a very interesting talent, originally from NYC, Sills was an accomplished street-baller that took on the nickname “The Enigma”. Sills never played basketball in high school and did not graduate from Bronx Regional High School until he was 20 years old. He first headed to Odessa College and earned all-region honors and then played 11 games at the College of Southern Idaho and scored 10.8 PPG, as long as all went well at Bunker Hill College in Boston where Sills was working on finishing up his 2-yr degree, he could have an immediate impact on the Bulls. Coach McCullum also welcomes 6’10 freshmen Frane Markusovic, from Split Croatia and Kent School Prep as well as Zaronn Cann and Chris Howard. Howard played scholastically at Friendly HS, where he teamed with Pitt recruit Sam Young, to win a state championship. He could be a freshmen that is overlooked by many, but have a surprising impact in the conference with his athletic ability and pure talent.

LOSSES: The Bulls were hit hard by graduation as their leading scorer and rebounder, Terrence Leather and top perimeter threat Brian Swift have used up their eligibility. Marlyn Bryant also graduates and was a key performer in the front court and Konimba Diarra has left the program. The losses of Swift and Leather create a big hole in the scoring potential of this Bulls team.

SCHEDULE: South Florida was not overly helped by the conference draw. Their mirror teams include Georgetown, Rutgers and Seton Hall. They do not play Pittsburgh or Marquette. They will definitely find life on the road in the conference very difficult and having the longest distance to travel sometimes takes a toll. They could benefit a bit with their home slate, in which they will need to claw out every win possible, to try to build on last season’s record.

OUTLOOK: It is going to be a tough road to hoe for Coach McCullum and his Bulls program. There are some interesting pieces that could make for some exciting action. Getting all the new faces on the same page and figuring out who is ready for the demanding night in and night out action of the Big East is probably going to take some time. The biggest question I have is who is going to be the steadying influence on this team at the point guard position and who will provide offense in the paint? Those are tough questions to have in the Big East. Their back court could surprise many on-lookers with talent from Sills, Howard and Buckley that many people are not aware of and some depth with Dennis, Prekevicius (if he returns) and Holmes. At times, though, I feel they are really going to struggle scoring points and finding the right combination of players to win in the Big East might be a tougher task than some realize. I do find this team very interesting, but finding their way out of the bottom four in the conference is a tough task this season. Better times should be ahead once they establish recruiting ties that will allow them to recruit at the Big East level, but those are not going to happen overnight.

August 31, 2005

Pittsburgh has lost one of their 2005 recruits and more information on where Herb Pope will be attending school this fall can all be found at our Pitt Team Page. Trevor Ferguson was not expected to make a big impact for Pitt this season and he has opted to leave their program and not enroll for the Fall semester. For more on this development, visit our Pittsburgh Team Page.

The Cincinnati Post’s Lonnie Wheeler writes that Bob Huggins’ removal from Cincinnati will cause an inevitable decline for the Bearcat program. Recruiting will be set back at least a year as the University will search for a long-term repalcement. The play on the court this season is also somewhat unpredictable, Huggins always seemed to get the best from his players, or as much as he could, can an interim coach do the same? Well, here is Wheeler’s article on the situation: Inevitable Decline.

The New Haven Register reports that AJ Price, in his first public appearance since his arrest, pleaded not guilty to 4 felony counts of larceny: Price Pleads Not-Guilty. The Hartford Courant also reports on the story: Price in Court.

The Tonowanda News has an article on the fiasco outside going away party for the members of the Niagara Falls basketball players, including Paul Harris and Robert Garrison: Falls Party.

August 31, 2005

The University of Pittsburgh released the following statement concerning their basketball program yesterday:
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PITTSBURGH –University of Pittsburgh Head Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon announced Tuesday that junior transfer Mike Cook has enrolled in fall classes while freshman Trevor Ferguson did not enroll in fall classes. The University of Pittsburgh began its fall semester on Monday.

A six-foot-four-inch guard/forward Mike Cook (Philadelphia, Pa./East Carolina/Friends Central H.S.) transfers to Pitt from East Carolina where he averaged 12.8 points per game in two seasons with the Pirates. As a sophomore in 2004-05, Cook led East Carolina in scoring (15.0 ppg.) and averaged 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists. As a freshman in 2003-04, Cook earned All-Conference USA Freshman Team honors after averaging 10.4 points per game. Cook will be eligible to compete for Pitt in the 2006-07 season.

“We excited about the addition of Mike Cook to our program,” Dixon said. “He is a proven player who has performed at a high level. We look forward to his continued development during his redshirt season and his contributions in 2006-07.”

A six-foot-five-inch freshman guard from Odessa, Fla., Ferguson signed with Pitt in April. Ferguson was one of five 2005 signees including freshman forward Tyrell Biggs (Nanuet, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep, N.J.), junior college transfer Doyle Hudson (Eleutheray, Bahamas/Roane State J.C.), freshman guard Levance Fields (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian H.S.) and freshman forward Sam Young (Clinton, Md./Hargrave Military Academy). Biggs, Hudson, Fields and Young began classes on Monday.

“Trevor will not enroll at Pitt because of personal matters,” Dixon said. “We are currently working with Trevor to determine his future. We wish Trevor success in his ongoing pursuits.”
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The announcement of Cook was just a formality, since the University could not comment until classes began and it has been widely reported that he would be enrolling at Pittsburgh as a transfer student. He is expected to make an immediate impact for Pittsburgh when eligible to play next season.

The news on Trevor Ferguson is a little more newsworthy. It was widely speculated that Ferguson could be asked to redshirt by the Pitt staff this season. Several things have happened at Pittsburgh since coach Jamie Dixon aggressively pursued the 6′5 Ferguson last spring. One, Carl Krauser decided to return. Two, Mike Cook transferred into Pittsburgh. Three, Gilbert Brown, another 6′5 perimeter player, verbally committed to the Panthers. It might have been a while before Ferguson was going to see the court and early playing time was one of the factors in his decision, but at this time, that does not look like it was going to happen.

The Pittsburgh Sports Report’s Keystone Recruiting Newsletter also has the story: Panthers Lose Swing man. If you are a Pittsburgh football or basketball fan, or a recruiting follower of the Keystone State, you should definitely sign up for their 100% FREE Newsletter!

So, what does this mean for Pitt recruiting? Well, since Ferguson was not in line to play much this year or in the near future, it opens up one scholarship in their 2006 class, which now gives them two to give out, which will give them some added flexibility on the recruiting trail. They have Gilbert Brown committed and they have been concentrating on big men like Mike Davis, Taj Gibson, Jonathan Mandeldove, Hamady N’Diaye, Jason Love, Jamal McLean and Epke Udoh. Pitt could now add two of these big men, or, see if they can get back in the mix, or closer to the top with players such as Eugene Harvey, Lazar Hayward, Kelvin Lewis, etc. This will be something to follow as we move into the Sepetember evaluation period and official visit season!

Also, the transfer news of Pitt 2007 recruit Herb Pope seems to have died down and Pope talked to Keystone Recruiting yesterday, who origianlly reported first (props to them!) that Pope was not intending to transfer a Florida prep school. Here is their report on Pope returning to Aliquippa: Pope Back at Aliquippa. It seems he is very committed to Pittsburgh, but one of the oddest quotes I have seen in a long time comes from Pope: “Cincinnati just lost their coach so you never know if the Big East will fall apart. So I just want to make sure.” Pope also recently said he was told by another college coach that the Pitt staff would not be there by the time he gets to Pitt, so, Pope is definitely the target of some interesting recruiting tactics. LOI signing day probably can’t get here soon enough in the next 15 months for Pitt fans on this one!!

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette also has articles on both stories: PPG: Pope at Aliquippa and PPG: Ferguson back in Florida. The ferguson article does shed a little more light that he had become homesick while at Pitt for summer school.