DePaul News, DePaul Recruiting, Marquette Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh News, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Rutgers News, Transfers, USF Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (5/14/2009)

Here is another run through some news and notes in the Big East as the month of May seems to drag on…

Another player has left Rutgers as a transfer, but they might have a player trying just as hard to come into the program as a transfer, but his current team is holding him hostage! Marquette might be continuing the pipeline of players from under Wisconsin’s nose, but this one may sting even more since the player is a current UW verbal commitment. Also, recruiting updates on Alex Rossi, Ben Brust and DePaul’s continued efforts to beef up their staff with local recruiting talent and their offer of a local 2011 developing big man. Also, Pittsburgh basketball in the local area is having a renaissance and DeJuan Blair could be a big factor in that continuing. Tom Droney could be the next high-major talent from the usually barren area of basketball talent.

Also, DePaul looks to be adding a quality walk-on, USF is interested in a K-State transfer, there is an article on Pitt redshirt forward Dwight Miller and Jamie Dixon gives a brief look ahead ot next year in the Big East…

Illinois Prep Bulls-eye has Recruiting Updates on Ben Brust & Alex Rossi courtesy of Mike Weinstein, the Director of the Rising Stars AAU program that the two compete with on the AAU circuit.

Ben Brust missed much of the high school season with an injury and is still getting up to full speed this spring. Notre Dame remains quite interested in Brust and is tracking him closely. The article also mentioned that Minnesota, Missouri, Stanford and Auburn are beginning to show increased attention while Brust has also been offered by both Iowa and Northwestern as well as many mid-major programs. Brust is from Mundelein High School in Mundelein (IL).

Alex Rossi of New Trier High School in Winnetka (IL) has been having an excellent spring and the efforts of the 6-foot-5 shooting guard has paid off with Rossi receiving a scholarship offer Notre Dame and another was recently offered by California. Iowa, Northwestern and many mid-majors have previously offered Rossi as well and now Stanford, Virginia, Marquette and Penn State are showing increased attention in his talents.
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DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright got the memo that there is top talent coming through the Chicago-land ranks in the classes of 2010 and 2011. The hiring of former Blue Demon star David Booth as well as highly successful Chicago recruiter Tracy Webster certainly made it clear that a renewed effort is being made to keep the local talent home. Wainwright has also now made it three for three in hiring assistants with top Chicago ties as former Providence St.-Mel coach Billy Garrett has also been added to the staff. DePaul Closes Out there Staff With Garrett (BlueDemonsNation.com) as he returns to Chicago following two seasons as the associate head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Garrett was also on the Seton Hall staff under coach Louis Orr for five seasons between 2001 and 2006.

While Garrett was the head coach with Providence St.-Mel, which currently has highly regarded 6-foot-8 PF Phillip Jackson of the 2010 recruiting class, Garrett also worked with the Illinois Fire AAU program.

While on the topic of DePaul recruiting, the Blue Demons have offered 6-foot-9 class of 2011 center Nnana Egwu from St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago a scholarship. DePaul Offers Fast Rising In-State Prospect (Illinois Prep Bulls-eye), joining programs such as Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Oregon State with an early offer to Egwu.

One final note on DePaul, ChicagoHoops.com reports that 2009 Morton High School star Joe Belcaster, Jr. has decided to suit up for head coach Jerry Wainwright, and DePaul University as a Preferred Walk-On.
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Could Vander Blue follow in the footsteps of Jeronne Maymon and Wesley Mathews from Madison (WI) Memorial to Marquette University?

Well, currently, the 6-foot-3 guard is a verbal commitment for rival Wisconsin in the class of 2010. However, whispers are growing louder that he could be backing off that commitment and re-opening the process. Bucky’s Fifth Quarter tries Sorting out the Vander Blue Rumors for its readers.
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South Florida head coach Stan Heath has an open scholarship and he is not looking afraid to use it! Kansas St. Transfer Ron Anderson Will Visit USF (St. Pete Times) as the 6-foot-8(?), 250-lb power forward is looking for a new home.

Anderson averaged 5.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 18 minutes per game off the bench for the Wildcats as a sophomore. He is the son of 10-year NBA vet Ron Anderson and is a former DC Asault AAU player. He has already visited Temple and Pepperdine, and is still wide-open in choosing his next school. Anderson is expected on the USF campus early next week (Tuesday).
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Fordham continues to release players who are jumping off the sinking ship following a 3-25 season. However, despite repeated requests from point guard Jio Fontan, Fordham will not release him from scholarship. The main sentiment of why is because they believe he has a transfer to Rutgers all lined up. A former teammate stated that Fontan even promised he would not transfer to any of the local Big East programs if given a release, but the Rams are still holding him hostage despite his pleas to leave like three others have this spring.

The East Coast Bias has a story on Jio Fontan Finding His Way Out of Fordham could involve him paying his own way next season, a logical choice if it comes to that?? Why, none other than the local State University, Rutgers

This truly is an unfair situation. Scholarships are one-year deals, renewed at the descretion of the University, however, a player can not transfer unless released? Just seems like another unfair situation for the player.

Anyway, while one player might by trying to get to Rutgers, yet another is leaving the Scarlet Knights as the Earl Pettis transfer rumors we mentioned Monday were very much a fact as Pettis is to Transfer (mycentraljersey.com) out of RU.
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An interesting article looking at the impact of the landscape of Pittsburgh basketball with the help of DeJuan Blair’s popularity and the grassroots work of Daryn Freedman, who two years ago brought the venerable Hoop Mountain National Exposure Basketball Camps to town and also began running the Basketball Stars of America AAU program. The pair has helped a Pittsburgh Hoops Renaissance (Slam Online) that has 2010 G/F Tom Droney as the next high-major prospect looking at making his mark. Droney could choose from Pitt, Notre Dame, Davidson, BC, Virginia or others.
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Here is an interesting look at next year’s Big East conference through the eyes of one of its own coaches as Adam Zagoria caught up with a href=”http://w3.nbebasketball.com/big-east-team-pages/pittsburgh/”>Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon recently while the Pitt head man was in NYC for a coaches clinic. Dixon Says the Big East is in for a Big Change (ZagsBlog.net) next season after the conference saw a lot of talent move on in the aftermath of last season’s fantastic conference run. The Big East placed two teams in the Final Four, four in the Elite 8 and five in the Sweet 16. However, with Dixon’s squad, Louisville and UConn, who dominated the conference going a combined 46-8 in regular season conference action last year, losing many key players to graduation and the NBA draft, other teams will take the role of frontrunners (like Villanova and West Virginia) and a much more balanced conference battle.

The Bahama Journal has a Conversation with Pitt Panther Dwight Miller on his experiences in the United States as a basketball player. Miller, a 6-foot-8 power forward, redshirted last season after a preseason foot injury delayed some of his development. Pitt usually has talented players waiting in the wings for their turn, do not be suprised if Miller is one of the next Panthers to step up and have people scratching their heads wondering where he came from…
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