Marquette Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (9/14/2007)

September 14, 2007

The news form the summer of Charles Okwandu committing to Seton Hall may have been a bit premature, according to his coach at Harcum College in Philadelphia. Plus, recruiting updates on the Morris twins, Greg Monrie, Mookie Jones, Daniel Orton, Xavier Henry, Dominic Rutledge, Kevin Jones, Quintrell Thomas, Eloy Vargas, Tyler Zeller and Marvell Waithe.

Jide Sodipo updates the situation with Augustus Gilchrist and gives the names of some schools that Gilchrist is interested in. There is an introduction to another Gachos guard who should be a hot commodity in the 2009 class.

Also, see who is impressive in pick-up action at UConn. The newest Husky tries to assimiliate into the new live style of college and the northeast. Tory Jackson knows what to expect this time around and a Big East team is up next in CHN’s Top 144 Teams in 144 Days preview of the 2007-2008 season.

Later today we will profile American Heritage Prep School as their head coach, Danny Herz, was gracious enough to spend a few moments introducing us to his program. Tomorrow we continue our 2007-2008 Big East previews with a look at the conference’s top front court units and on Sunday, we kick off our team previews with #16.

You can read these stories and more, by clicking READ MORE below!

Click on ‘Read More’ below to view the rest of the article.

Over the summer it was reported that Charles Okwandu, a 7-foot-1, 240-pound native of Nigeria, had committed to Seton Hall and coach Bobby Gonzalez. Apparently that is unclear and news to Harcum College’s head coach Drew Kelly:

“Some of the things being said about him on the internet are flat out, not true,” said Kelly, a Villanova graduate in his third year coaching Harcum. “I’ve read that he’s going to graduate from Harcum in one year. I’ve read that he’s committed to Seton Hall. I’ve read all kinds of things about the kid and none of it is true.”

One thing is true on Okwandu and that is Long Road from Nigeria to the Main Line (The Bulletin) of Philadelphia has been a long, winding journey. The 19-year-old is just happy to have found a place to hone his game. He has never played a regulation game with real referees on the court and fans in the seats.
Nevertheless, he shows so much promise that Division 1 coaches are drooling over the talent and potential that oozes from his pores, including Villanova, La Salle, Maryland, West Virginia, and, of course, Seton Hall, where he took an unofficial visit to South Orange over the summer.

Before a major program gets their hands on Okwandu, he will play two full seasons on the Main Line at Harcum and work on getting his associates degree. Without ever stepping foot on American soil, Okwandu gave a verbal commitment to play for the University of Arizona. Difficulties arose with the acquisition of his visa, the commitment to Arizona quickly dissolved. Running out of options, Okwandu finally received a visa and left for the United States and he enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho for two years of junior college basketball. For a variety of reasons, including the fact that he did not take the Test of English as a Foreign Language, he never suited up at Southern Idaho. A mutual contact of Okwandu and Kelly brought him to Harcum and the rest is history, which will hopefully lead to a Division 1-A schools and/or a stop in the NBA.
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Gary Bedore’s KU Hoops Notebook in the Lawrence Journal-World has a few recruiting tidbits that mention Big East schools, let’s check them out:

Markieff and Marcus Morris of Living Faith Christian Academy in Cherry Hill, N.J will attend either KU, West Virginia, Villanova, Rutgers, St. John’s or LaSalle after de-committing from Memphis.

Greg Monroe, a 6’10 forward from Helen Cox High in Harvey, La., will welcome KU’s coaches into his home on Sept. 22. The country’s No. 1 prospect already has met with coaches from Duke, LSU and Georgetown and has scheduled visits with USC, Baylor, UConn and Texas.

Mookie Jones, 6-6 from Peekskill (N.Y.) High, told the West Paterson (N.J.) Herald-News that St. John’s is back on his list. Others: KU, DePaul, Rutgers, Syracuse, Marquette and Michigan.

Daniel Orton, a 6’9, 275-pound junior from McGuinness High in Oklahoma City, tells Rivals.com he’ll probably visit KU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and some Texas schools unofficially this school year. UConn, UCLA, Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio State are also on his early list.

Also, in a surprising development, Rivals reports that Xavier Henry, 6’6 junior from Putnam City (Okla.) High, said he will visit Memphis, not North Carolina for Midnight Madness. He also likes KU, Oklahoma, Louisville and Ohio State.
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6’7 forward Dominic Rutledge from Edison (N.J.) Academy has some Big East interest. Rutledge has already been on St. Joeseph’s (PA) campus for several unofficial visits and they are a finlaists, apparently with Marquette in the Rutledge sweepstakes. Providence and Pittsburgh have also shown varying degrees of interest. The information was in a Philadelphia daily News article on Forward Bryant Irwin Commits to St. Joe’s.
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The Indianapolis Star checks in on the recruitment of Tyler Zeller, the 7’0 prospect from Washington Indiana as he heads to North Carolina first, followed by trips to Indiana, Notre Dame and Purdue. Coaches Matt Painter of Purdue, Roy Williams of Carolina, Mike Brey of Notre Dame and Kelvin Sampson of IU visited either his high school or home this week as schools continue Chasing Tyler, who is the younger brother of Irish forward Luke Zeller.
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Adam Zagoria updated readers with the Latest on Kevin Jones, whose home has been a must-stop this week on the recruiting trail for Big East coaches. Jones and his family has had coaches from West Virginia, UMass, Pittsburgh, St. John’s and Ohio State in their Mount Vernon (N.Y.) this week, all making their best pitch for the 6’7 forward.

Beginning Sunday, Gerard Jones, Kevin’s brother and advisor, said they hope to have in-home visits with as many of these schools as possible: Rutgers, Seton Hall, Indiana, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, Michigan and Kansas.

Gerard runs down his thoughts for Zags on each school that had visited as of yesterday and their thoughts on Seton Hall and Rutgers in the recruiting race.
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Adam Zagoria also caught up with Ro Russell, the coach of Grassroots Canada, who wanted to clear the air a bit on his relationship with the Rutgers coaching staff as internet sites place a lot of blame towards Russell for some of his players not making it to RU. Russell assures fans that he is a “pro-Rutgers” guy and he is not to blame for Olu Ashaolu (Louisiana State) and Antwi Atuahene (Arizona State) not ending up at Rutgers. He also said Marvell Waithe still hopes to come to Rutgers, but is caught up in the red tape of the NCAA Clearinghouse.
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One final note from zagsblog is that St. Patrick forward Quintrell Thomas Will Officially Visit Rutgers this Weekend, and the Scarlet Knights are hoping they can land the 6-8 power forward. After the Rutgers visit comes Maryland (Sept. 21), Kansas (Sept. 28) and UNLV (Oct. 12). It is also possible Thomas could visit Houston sometime in October.
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Jide Sodipo, Director of Scouting at MidAtlanticHoops.com has just learned that former Virginia Tech bound Augustus Gilchrist, a 6’9 power forward/center from Progressive Christian Academy in Ft. Washington, Maryland will enroll in college next semester. The release of his Letter of intent is not official yet and the paperwork is still in his final stage, however Sodipo has learned that Gilchrist will show some interest in Kansas State, Virginia, Georgetown, Kansas, West Virginia and Florida as part of the recruiting process.
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Franz Beard’s Basketball Confidential indicates the race for Eloy Vargas seems to be about over as Florida head coach Billy Donovan is close to locking up the 6’10, 220, Plantation, FL American Heritage forward. Pittsburgh and Louisville have also been in hot pursuit.

We will have more on the American Heritage program this afternoon as Danny Herz,
Head Basketball Coach & Dean of Students of American Heritage, was gracious enough to spend a few moments giving us some insights into his program.
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Mike Melton updates his Basketball Spotlight News blog with On The Come Up with Omari Lawrence, a 6’3 shooting guard from St. Raymond’s in NYC that also played with the NY Gauchos this past summer. Expect Lawrence to be pursued by several Big East schools in the class of 2009.
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The UConn Huskies blog at the Hartford Courant has some Other Pick-Up Observations from recent sessions on campus. Doug Wiggins has been playing very well and there is hope that Stanley Robinson is beginning to put it all together. AJ Price is also looking to be stronger physically, which can only help this coming season.

Mike Anthony of the Courant also profiles UCONN frosh Donnell Beverly as the New Kid in the Backcourt Tries to Fit In. Beverly, a 6-foot-4 point guard, was considered a late bloomer coming out of Leuzinger High, where he averaged 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as a senior. UConn, LSU and California came calling in the spring for the Lawndale (CA) native when he decided to become the newest piece of the Huskies’ backcourt. Beverly is trying to get a handle on the rigors of the classroom, a new life in general and a new set of teammates. Beverly, a lefthander, rebounds well and is steady. He gives UConn a slightly different look as a classic playmaker, instead of someone else looking to score.
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Notre Dame’s Tory Jackson surprised the Big East last season on the court when he was thrust into the starting lineup after 12 games when Kyle McAlarney was suspended and subsequently kicked out of school for a semester after being arrested on charges of marijuana possession. Jackson responded by helping the Irish to a surprising fourth-place finish in the conference as he averaged 9.5 points and 5.8 assists after becoming a starter and made the Big East All-Rookie team. This season, Jackson is Poised for More with Irish (Yahoo! Sports) as the sophomore guard from Saginaw (MI) will team with McAlarney in the Irish backcourt.
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CollegeHoops.Net continues their series on the Top 144 Teams in 144 days as a preview to the 2007-2008 college basketball season. They are up to team #65 and it is a squad from the Big East: #65 Providence Friars. They have slotted the Friars at #10 in the conference.

Here are the other schools previously profiled from the Big East:

#92 Seton Hall
#99 Cincinnati
#107 DePaul
#131 St. John’s

It is safe to assume that CHN’s #15 and #16 teams in the Big East South Florida and Rutgers. Neither made it into their Top 144.
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