Cincinnati News, Georgetown Recruiting, Louisville Recruiting, Rutgers News, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, Transfers, West Virginia News, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (5/19/2008)

It was definitely a newsworthy weekend around the Big East as two players pledged to Big East schools as part of the class of 2008, two highly touted 2009 prospects made verbal commitments to Big East schools and a fifth player decided to make a Big East school his new home after transferring from SEC power Florida.

In between trying to keep up with all the commitment action, Brian Crownover had an excellent article for us as he headed up to NYC on Saturday and, after a quick detour from Long Island, ended up at the IS8 tournament and provides us with his IS8 Semifinal Player Reviews from the games he saw. Also, Chris Dokish had an AAU Profile of the Unique All-Stars which are led by 2010 elite recruit Tobias Harris. And, in case you missed it, Doug Ferguson provided us with his GBOA North Event Report which included detailed scouting reports of 2009 Big East commitments Jack Cooley and Cully Payne as well as Jeronne Maymon, who is being recruited by Marquette, among others.

Elsewhere around the league, just a smorgasboard of information and news out there on the conference over the weekend and into today. The conference coaches are hoping for a calm time as their annual meetings kick off in Florida, of course the talk on Memphis and the Big East does not seem to be going away despite denials from all sides. One topic likely to be covered is how to handle the infiltration of agents in the high school game.

Other news has St. Benedict’s picking up a transfer who is a 2009 Big East commitment, Rakeem Buckles is developing quickly into a top target. Mike Williams looks to be finally ready at UC. DeJuan Blair loks forward to accomplishing a lot in his Pittsburgh career. Billy Hahn is happy in his seat next to the head coach after a couple stints as the head man. A Syracuse recruit looks to have his answer of 2008 or 2009.

Read about all that and more below…

The biggest decision over the weekend was coming from Devin Ebanks, the top player in the class of 2008 who was still available. After originally singing last Fall with Indiana, Ebanks re-opened the process this spring and was deciding Sunday between West Virginia, Memphis, Rutgers and Texas. The chance to be productive early on played a big role in his decision and the Mountaineers Land the Prized Basketball Recruit (Daily Mail) originally from NYC. Now that WVU coach Bob Huggins has Landed a Top-Ranked Recruit (Times West Virginian), he can look into the prospects in the class of 2009 and see if Ebanks will be teamed with Joe Alexander or used to take the place of Alexander. At this point, speculation on Alexander, who is projected to go in the middle of round one of June’s NBA draft, has him staying in the draft, Alexander’s Decision on NBA is Still Unknown (Daily Mail).

For more on the commitment of Devin Ebanks and an overview of the WVU recruiting situation, please visit our West Virginia Team Page and see the latest update.
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The latest update on our Georgetown Team Page has the story of Dashonte Riley committing to the Hoyas, who have been desperately in need of some good news. With the graduation of Roy Hibbert, Patrick Ewing Jr, Jonathan Wallace and Tyler Crawford, along with the transfers of Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers and the Update On…Chris Braswell (Northstar Basketball), who will now be part of the class of 2009, not 2008, the Hoyas are awfully thin for the 2008-2009 season. In fact, the news on Riley could even be better if the rumors (stress word rumors) are true that he is attempting to be ready for the class of 2008 and be part of the Hoya program for next season.
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Also over the weekend Jamel Jackson Commits to Seton Hall (NY Daily News) and the former Lincoln (NYC) High School guard will be part of the 2008 Pirate class for coach Bobby Gonzalez. After leaving Lincoln in 2005, Jackson spent two season at Boys to Men Academy in Chicago and this past season he returned to NYC and played at Technical Career Institute at the JUCO level where he averaged over 24 points per game and showed his perimeter shooting touch is still very lethal.

For more on Jackson’s commitment to the Pirates and a look at the SHU recruiting situation, please visit our Seton Hall Team Page. Jackson will have three years of eligibility at SHU beginning in 2008-2009.
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Former Mount Vernon basketball stars and good friends Jonathan Mitchell and Mike Coburn are reunited again at the college basketball level. Over the weekend, Mount Vernon’s Mitchell Decides to Transfer to Rutgers (Journal News) from the University of Florida. The 6’7 forward averaged just over three points a game as a sophomore for the Gators and decided to go elsewhere for more playing time to close his career. Mitchell also visited Seton Hall and Marshall in the process of deciding where to close out his college career.

For more on Mitchell’s decision and a closer look at RU’s recruiting, please visit our Rutgers Team Page and take a look at the most recent update.
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And finally, back on Friday Peyon Siva Gave a Verbal Commitment to Louisville (Seattle Times) as the Franklin High School star out of Seattle (WA) opted to end his recruitment and pledge to Rick Pitino’s program. The class of 2009 point guard has been a high priority of coach Pitino and staff for several months.

For more on Siva’s commitment, as well as a closer look at the Cardinals’ recruiting efforts, please check out our Louisville Team Page.

Dan Hurley and his St. Benedict’s Gray Bees program is getting stronger as Lamar Patterson is Leaving McCaskey (LancasterOnline.com) High School in Lancaster to transfer to the powerful prep program in Newark (NJ). Patterson, a 2009 Pittsburgh commitment, was recently elevated to a five-star rating and a ranking of the 15th best player in the class of 2009 by Rivals.com according to the article.

Lamar Patterson is looking to prepare better mentally and physically for the Big East to earn playing time as a freshman, the nationally challenging schedule of St. Benedict’s should help him accomplish that goal.
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Following a transfer from Texas, a preseason Achilles tendon injury and a full two years, Mike Williams will finally make it on the court for the Cincinnati Bearcats. UC is Ready to Welcome Williams (Cincinnati Enquirer) into the mix and hope he is a source of offense to help star junior Deonta Vaughn score points for Mick Cronin’s club.
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Billy Hahn helped put together the pieces for Maryland’s national championship squad a few years back. He has been the head coach at Ohio University and at LaSalle, he has seen the highs of coaching college basketball and the lows as a scandal brought down his coaching career at LaSalle. Surviving all of that and now on the bench again with Bob Huggins has helped put the coaching business in perspective for the 54 year old assistant coach. WVU’s Hahn Says He is Happy Being an Assistant Coach (Register-Herald) and working with friend Bob Huggins. His goal is to help West Virginia reach the same heights as he helped Maryland reach in his time there.
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As a freshman, Rakeem Buckles was not the most highly regarded prospect in the class. The 6’6 forward out of Miami’s Monsignor Pace High School did not have the coordination to dunk a basketball. Now, the 6’8 junior is one of the fastest rising talents in the class of 2009 and Buckles is a Slam Dunk Now (Louisville Courier-Journal) and Rick Pitino and the Louisville staff was ahead of the game in getting an early commitment from the high-potential prospect. Some of that potential is rapidly turning into talent and Buckles is rising up the recruit ranking charts with some impressive spring performances on the AAU circuit.
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Alex Schwartz of Northstar Basketball caught up with Pitt freshman DeJaun Blair, Who Has a Lot Left to Accomplish and a Lot of Time to Do it after completing his freshman year as a Panther and being the Big East’s co-freshman of the year with Jonny Flynn of Syracuse.
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There has been some question as to if James Southerland would be a 2008 recruit for Syracuse or slip into the class of 2009. The blog The Orange Squeeze notes from a recent Queens Courier article that Southerland is Set to Join Syracuse for the 2008-2009 Season and is all set academically.
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The annual Big East coaches meeting convene again in Florida beginning this week and the Big East Looks for a Calm Time (South bend Tribune) for a change as some of the uncertainties of past meetings have been calmed with the success of the league the last two seasons.
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One topic likely to be discussed at length by coaches and administrators is how to avoid a repeat of the OJ Mayo fiasco in the future for Big East schools. While the High School Ranks Have Been Infiltrated by Agents (NY Times) it is going to be an uphill battle in some cases for coaches to make sure everything is on the up and up with the players they recruit who have many influences pulling at them. It is an interesting time in college basketball with the one and done scenario front and center of future change.
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One topic not likely to get a lot of attention at the meeting, despite the reports last week from Fox 13 TV in Memphis that the Big East and the University of Memphis were in ‘serious’ talks about the Tigers Possibly Upgrading to the Big East causing a stir. Big East Associate Commission John Paquette quickly shot down the rumors when contacted by the NBE Basketball Report as the Big East Refuted the Memphis Report and Paquette echoed Commisioner Mike Tranghese’s comments made a week earlier in the Hartford Courant when answering the rumors that East Carolina was aggressively pursuing a place in the Big East. Even denials by Memphis Athletic Director RC Johnson does not seem to make this story go completely away as the Commercial Appeal had a story yesterday that Johnson is Joining the Chase for the Big East, although maybe not immediately, but more likely positioning Memphis to be ready if the eight all-sports members of the conference decide to split from the rest.

For now, the Memphis AD Denies Negotiating with the Big East (SportingNews.com), but that can also be left open for interpretation. Memphis to the Big East? Anything’s Possible according to Dave Hickman of the Charleston Gazette.

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