BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (8/19/2008)
The academic woes of several 2008 incoming recruits continue as Roscoe Davis officially does not make the grade and will not be a part of the WVU incoming class of 2008. George Teague, who recently became the third USF recruit not to make it, hopes to be a Bull in the future.
Notre Dame continues on their tour of Ireland and are playing some impressive basketball. The tough part of the trip, competitively, is just ahead. Canadian Liam McMorrow has come to America to play basketball at Marquette, it was quite a journey for the former hockey player.
Recruiting stories on Kyrie Irving, Durand Scott and Kevin Parrom are found. St. John’s looks to strengthen the recruiting draw of their staff and there is also a Seton Hall season preview available online today.
The news about 2008 West Virginia commit Roscoe Davis needing another season of prep school has been speculated on for quite some time. Now it is official as the WVU signee is Academically Ineligible (Daily Mail) and will not enroll at West Virginia this year.
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As reported yesterday, George Teague became the third South Florida recruit among their 2008 class to not make the grades to be eligible for the Bulls this season. Teague’s situation was surprising as he was already attending summer school at USF and working out with his would-be teammates when the NCAA flagged a religion course he took at St. Augustine Prep in New Jersey as not meeting core class requirements. Teague thought he had the right combination of core class GPA and standardized test scores, but that was not the case without the religion class. It is off to another year of prep school for the big man and Teague Seeks USF Return After Prep School (St. Petersburg Times).
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The meat (and potatoes) of Notre Dame’s Ireland exhibition schedule really kicks into high gear later this week as the Irish will take on Ireland, Poland and Iceland in the inaugural Emerald Hoops International Series. A local Ireland paper takes a look at the event as the Fighting Irish are Primed for Hoops Battle (Herald).
Kyle McAlarney continues his player diary from Ireland for the South Bend Tribune and his limited clothes options has made it time for a different sort of suds in Ireland as its Time for Soap Suds on Hoop Trip. The Irish upended a bigger, older, but slower Poland team, 104-86, on Monday.
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As of a year ago, Liam McMorrow had never played in an officiated five-on-five basketball game. A late growth spurt taking him from 6-foot-8 to 7-foot tall has taken him off the ice skates in his native Canada to a full scholarship for basketball at Marquette. The late Growth Spurt Alters Plans (Toronto Sun) for McMorrow who enrolled and played basketball at Durham College last year in Canada. In a freshman season in which he averaged over 8 points and 6 rebounds a game, McMorrow has taken his game to the States and will sit out the 2008-2009 season per NCAA transfer rules.
On the recruiting front, Adam Zagoria catches up with Rice High School star Durand Scott. Zags caught up with Rice head coach Mo Hicks, who also works for Scott’s AAU team, the NY Gauchos, and he reports that Scott will visit Pittsburgh, Miami, UCLA and Louisville officially. He will wait to decide on a 5th official visit, but it could be used on one of two local schools, Seton Hall or St. John’s, both of who he will make unofficial visits to in the near future. Scott also participated in the recent Connecticut Elite Camp, but the Huskies were not mentioned as getting another visit from Scott in the ZagsBlog.net article, Durand Scott Narrowing List. Memphis and Xavier, along with UConn, were schools also mentioned as involved.
Scott will participate in this Friday’s Boost Mobile Elite 24 event at Rucker Park.
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Kyrie Irving has had a big summer and the 2010 recruit is a Summer Stock booster (Northstar Basketball) that has been getting a lot of recruiting interest. Irving recently told Alex Schwartz that Wake Forest, Ohio St., Providence, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Memphis, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Rutgers, among others have shown great interest with offers from the New Jersey contingent of the Big East, RU and SHU.
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Many people were not only surprised that St. John’s decided to bring Norm Roberts back for the 2008-2009 season, but the Redstorm also gave the embattled coach a new contract. Coach Roberts is taking steps to improve the program and one way he will look to do so is through local recruiting. St. John’s Adds Two Assistants to Help With Local Recruiting (NY Daily News) including Kimani Young, director of the New Heights youth development program, who takes the manager/video coordinator post and Oswald Cross, who coached Our Savior Lutheran High and the L.I. Panthers AAU program, takes an administrative position.
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JohnnyJungle.com goes One-on-One With Kevin Parrom. With the addition of Oswald Cross to the St. John’s staff, expect them to make a big push for both Kevin Parrom and Omari Lawrence.
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CollegeHoopsnet.com continues their profile of the Top 144 teams in 144 days and at #100 is Seton Hall.
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