Philly.com: Earlier this week, La Salle announced that sophomore guard D.J. Peterson was to transfer so that he could be closer to his family.
Peterson has changed his mind, and now will stay with the Explorers.
"D.J. is close to his family and has missed them during his long absences from home," La Salle coach Dr. John Giannini said. "He also is close to his La Salle teammates. After deciding to transfer, he spoke with his parents and teammates and has since decided to stay at La Salle."
Giannini added that the Burnsville, Minn., native's decision "is strictly personal and not basketball-related."
NBC Sports: La Salle announced Monday afternoon that sophomore guard D.J. Peterson has been granted a release from his scholarship and will transfer to a program closer to his home.
Peterson, a native of Burnsville, Minn., averaged 3.9 points and 2.4 rebounds this season. He spent a prep season at Lee Academy in Maine.
“I’ve enjoyed my time and the relationships I’ve made here at La Salle,” Peterson said. “However, I want to explore opportunities closer to home to continue my education and basketball career. I want to thank my coaches, teammates and fans for their support during my two years here.”
In Peterson, the Explorers lose a part-time starter — he started 18 games this season — who helped the team make the Sweet 16 as a 13-seed, winning three games to get there after coming out of the First Four in Dayton. The 6-5, 190-pounder played 25.6 minutes per game, fourth on the team, and shot 40 percent from three-point range as well.
Go Bonnies: Xavier Smith, a 6-7 combo forward from Plano, Texas, has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the St. Bonaventure men's basketball program, head coach Mark Schmidt announced Monday.
Smith, who will have four years of eligibility with the Bonnies beginning this fall, posted averages of 6.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this past year for Plano East High School. The long, skilled forward's rebound total led the Panthers, who sent six other players to Division-I schools this year.
Plano East, one of the largest high schools in the nation located just outside Dallas, went 30-6 in 2012-13. Smith was ranked as the 66th-best prospect in the state of Texas entering his senior season in which he helped guide the Panthers to a spot in the Dallas 5A Elite Eight.
"Xavier is another long, talented combo forward whose best basketball is still in front of him," Schmidt said of the potential business major. "He has a great jump shot and is a tremendous rebounder and shot blocker. He creates mismatches at both ends of the floor, and we're excited about his development within our program."
NBC Sports: After seeing his playing time drop as a sophomore, wing Aaron Brown made the decision to leave West Virginia.
On Friday it was reported by HawkHillHardwood.com that Brown has found a new home, as the Darby, Penn. native will return to the Philadelphia area to play at Saint Joseph’s.
Brown will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2013-14 campaign.
As a freshman Brown averaged more than 15 minutes per game, accounting for 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per contest. But he saw a sharp decline in minutes this past season, averaging just 6.2 minutes per game and playing in only 17 of the Mountaineers’ 32 games.
News and Tribune: Former New Albany standout Chris Whitehead recently told the Hoosier Hills Hoops website he has given a verbal commitment to play NCAA Division I college basketball next season at Fordham University in New York City.
Whitehead played his sophomore year at Danville Area Community College this past season, averaging 12.3 points and 4.8 assists per game. Whitehead, who was the 2011 News and Tribune Area Player of the Year and a 2011 Indiana All-Star, made the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II All-America first team. He also won the player of the year award in NJCAA Division II Region 24 and the Mid-West Athletic Conference.
“I think I have a good shot to get some playing time right away,” Whitehead told the website about the possibility of playing his junior year at the Atlantic 10 Conference school. “That was the main thing. All I want to do is play, especially coming out of junior college.
“I expect to get an opportunity to handle the ball and get in the lane and make plays.”
Courier Press Blog: Junior college guard Andell Cumberbatch, who tweeted Monday that his college decision had come down to UE and St. Bonaventure, has committed to the Bonnies.
Cumberbatch acknowledged the choice on his Twitter account (@SmooveAce) on Thursday.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore out of Barton (Kansas) Community College listed UE in his final two schools despite not formally holding an Aces scholarship offer.
Cumberbatch is originally from East Orange, N.J., which is right down the road from St. Bonaventure. JucoRecruiting.com’s 69th-rated class of 2013 player will have two years of eligibility with the Bonnies, who compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Yahoo Sports: UMass is beginning to become a popular destination for talented New York-area guards in search of a fresh start.
Leading scorer Chaz Williams began his college career at Hofstra before joining the Minutemen. Promising sophomore Derrick Gordon was an all-conference guard at Western Kentucky as a freshman. And now UMass coach Derek Kellogg has lured a third highly touted transfer to Amherst.
Jabarie Hinds, a former top 100 recruit who spent the past two years at West Virginia, chose UMass over St. Joseph's on Thursday, according to multiple reports. Hinds started 59 of his first 60 games at West Virginia, but the 5-foot-11 sophomore opted to transfer after being relegated to the bench the final five games of this past season.
The reason for the demotion was a drop in efficiency and production for Hinds as a sophomore. Expected to shoulder a heavier burden after the graduation of stars Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant, Hinds instead struggled, averaging 7.4 points and 1.6 assists per game but shooting only 35.1 percent from the floor and 27.6 percent from behind the arc.
NERR: It’s very unusual when a player signs with one school and then ends up at another school in the same conference, but that’s exactly what has happened with Denzel Gregg.
The St. Thomas More School forward made a verbal commitment to Fordham in September before signing his National Letter of Intent during November’s early signing period.
He was subsequently released from his NLI last month, and after Tuesday’s commitment to St. Bonaventure, it is now apparent that the release had no stipulations attached, whereas most would prevent a former signee from, at least, joining any other school in that conference.
Gregg is a highly athletic six-foot-seven forward with budding versatility. He’s young for his senior class, and has shown signs of developing ball skills that should one day allow him to stretch opposing defenses out to the three-point line and create true mismatch problems.
New York Post: Fordham’s run of basketball irrelevance may have come to an end yesterday, and it happened in dramatic fashion with the signing of New York City’s top senior prospect.
Christ the King star shooting guard Jon Severe picked coach Tom Pecora’s Rams at an emotionally charged press conference at the Queens school in front of cameras, classmates and school officials.
Severe had his pick of schools from top conferences, from Pittsburgh and Wake Forest of the ACC to Rutgers, which will enter the Big Ten a year from now, and West Virginia of the Big 12.
Yet, shortly before 3 p.m., after he thanked family, friends and his coaches, and struggled to get through his brief speech, he pulled out a maroon Fordham hat and said, “Next year I will be attending Fordham University.”
“[Tuesday night] I knew I wanted to go to Fordham,” he said as he sat back in his chair. “I just went with my gut.”
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