St. Anthony’s star has busy summer as one of nation’s elite prospects in 2009

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Dominic Cheek is piling up the offers as he heads into the summer before his senior year.

Cheek, a highly athletic and skilled 6-foot-5 wing from St. Anthony of Jersey City, recently picked up offers from Louisville and Memphis.

“I talked to Rick Pitino and everything,” Cheek said at the Rumble in the Bronx at Fordham University. “It was exciting.”

He added that former Pitt and current Memphis assistant Orlando Antigua is recruiting him for John Calipari’s team.

Cheek, ranked No. 4 among shooting guards in the Class of 2009, also listed Tennessee, Villanova, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Florida, Connecticut, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Texas and Maryland.

“I’m still wide open right now,” said Cheek, who hit a bunch of 3-pointers while also making athletic forays to the hoop in leading the Playaz to several victories. “I don’t have a favorite right now.”

Cheek said he plans to “start cutting the list down soon.”

Before that, he will head next week to the NBA Top 100 Camp at the University of Virginia before playing in the Paul Pierce Nike Skills Academy in Los Angeles in late June.

His summer schedule includes a stop at the FIBA U18 tryouts at Georgetown University July 1-3. Dexter Strickland of St. Patrick of Elizabeth and Lance Stephenson of Brooklyn Lincoln are among the other Class of ‘09 players trying to make the 12- member team that will travel to Formosa, Argentina later in July.

The team will be coached by Bob McKillop of Davidson, with Anthony Grant of Virginia Commonwealth and John Thompson III of Georgetown as the assistants.

“We have the best young players in the country participating in the trials and we’ve assembled an outstanding coaching staff to coach with them,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, chair of the USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee. “The USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee did an outstanding job of identifying a tremendous group of young players who will compete for a roster position on the USA Basketball U18 National Team.”

In order to prepare for the tryouts, Cheek said he lifts weights daily and also works out with a trainer at St. Anthony.

“I’m hoping he makes the team,” said St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley, whose team went a perfect 32-0 and won the New Jersey Tournament of Champions as well as a mythical national championship. “We’re going to attempt to have him as prepared as possible. He’s meeting our strength guy every day, five days a week to try to accelerate his conditioning. He wants to be in the best shape possible to make that team.”

“It would be very exciting because not too many people get to try out and make the team,” Cheek added.

If Cheek fails to make the squad he said he will attend the Reebok All-American Camp in Philadephia July 6-10 before playing in other grassroots events..

Next season, St. Anthony will be without six Division I seniors who will be off to college, but Hurley’s team brought in New York City transfers Devon Collier and
Ashton Pankey, both of whom play for New Heights.

“I played with them last week at Rutgers Team Camp,” he said. “They’re coming along great.”

Cheek said he will play some point guard next season now that Jio Fontan is off to Fordham.

With the North Carolina-bound Strickland leading the way, St. Patrick may be installed as the favorite to win the T of C, but Cheek says don’t count out the Friars.

“We’re going to surprise a lot of teams next year,” he said.

Be sure to check out Adam’s blog, zagsblog.net for more recruiting information and Rumble in the Bronx notes, including the news of Brian Oliver’s commitment to Georgia Tech.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 15th, 2008 at 4:32 am and is filed under Adam Zagoria, Connecticut Recruiting, Louisville Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, Uncategorized, Villanova Recruiting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.