MLive: Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo announced Wednesday that the Spartans have added Alvin Ellis III to their 2013 class.
Ellis, a former Minnesota commit, signed a valid Big Ten tender to attend Michigan State next fall. Ellis - a 6-4, 190-pound guard out of De La Salle High School in Illinois - joins forward Gavin Schilling in the 2013 class.
Making matters more interesting is the fact that Schilling and Ellis are former teammates, having played together as juniors at Chicago De La Salle before Schilling transferred following their junior season.
"Alvin will be a great addition to our backcourt," Izzo said. "We like his offensive skill set, especially his shooting touch, hitting 40 percent from three each of the last two seasons. He’s got good length and versatility, with the ability to defend a couple different positions on the perimeter."
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.”
Zags Blog: At about the same time that Eddie Jordan officially became the new head coach at Rutgers, another former Scarlet Knight moved on.
Mike Poole, a 6-foot-5 junior wing, pledged to Iona after visiting the campus Wednesday.
“Mike felt it was time to move on and get a fresh start after his experience at Rutgers,” his mentor, Nate Blue, told SNY.tv.
“It had been a long, trying three years and he is very excited about moving on to a successful winning program at Iona. The Iona staff has known Mike since high school and he is very comfortable with them on and off the court.”
MLive: After the Western Michigan University basketball players learned late Tuesday afternoon that freshman Darius Paul is leaving the team, Shayne Whittington left University Arena and enjoyed dinner with teammates.
A couple hours after the meal, the surprising news was not any easier for Whittington to digest.
Paul, the Mid-American Conference’s Freshman of the Year, has decided to transfer from WMU and was granted an unconditional release. Paul said Tuesday he did not know where he’ll transfer.
“I mean, our approach is going to be the same,” said Whittington, the Broncos’ center and leading scorer and rebounder. “Of course it’s going to be a big loss.
“He’s been a really good friend – that’s something we’ll lose. But, like we always do, we’ll pick up where we did last year. We’re mostly going to be missing our friend, I think.”
City of Basketball Love: La Salle picked up a commitment on Tuesday afternoon, as Class of 2013 forward Tony Washington of the Miller School announced he would be playing for the Explorers. The 6-foot-10 power forward also had interest from South Florida and Auburn.
According to a Tweet by Rivals.com writer Glenn Elrod, the senior made his decision to play his college basketball in Philadelphia late Tuesday afternoon.
Washington, who plays high high school basketball at the Miller School of Albemarle, which is located in Charlottesville, Virginia, plays his AAU basketball with the Carolina Cougars, as he is originally from Greenville, South Carolina.
Washington has good size at 6-foot-10, and weights 210 pounds. According to Rivals.com, his rebounding is “outstanding,” and he is said to have good shot blocking abilities as well. In his senior year, he averaged 12.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, according to MaxPreps.com
Delco Times: With 6-11 Daniel Ochefu as the only player taller than 6-6 on its projected roster for next season, Villanova was in desperate need of a big man.
The Wildcats found their man in their backyard.
Darryl Reynolds, a power forward who graduated from Lower Merion in 2012 and attends Worcester Academy in Massachusetts, announced Tuesday that he is headed to Villanova.
Reynolds selected the Wildcats over Utah, South Carolina and Seton Hall. He becomes the third member of Villanova’s 2013 recruiting class, joining 6-6 forward Kris Jenkins (Gonzaga) and 6-5 guard Josh Hart (Sidwell Friends).
Evans, a sophomore point guard at Brevard Community College in Florida and Hoover High School graduate, has agreed to transfer to the University of Akron next season.
“He is going to fit in great at Akron,” Hoover head coach Randy Montgomery said. “I think the one small crack in the armor that Akron has is at point guard. They have an abundance of talent everywhere except at point guard and I think that was one of the deciding factors for him.
“He feels he has a great chance to play in the NCAA Tournament with Akron and that has always been a goal for him. It’s also an outstanding place to get an education.”
My Central Jersey: North Brunswick High School senior guard Iverson Fleming thought he was heading to an island; Long Island that is. He made a non-binding commitment to Hofstra University early during this past season.
But when Pride coach Mo Cassera was relieved of his duties this offseason, Fleming said that he “had mixed emotions.
LIU, which had been courting Fleming well before Hofstra came into the picture, became an appealing spot for Fleming to land himself. He signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Blackbirds last Friday.
Fleming feels LIU, which has made the NCAA Tournament the last two years, is the perfect landing spot to continue his playing career.
Villanova: Guard Tony Chennault has informed the Villanova coaching staff of his plans to transfer to another university after one season as a Wildcat. Chennault, a native of Philadelphia, played his first two seasons at Wake Forest University before transferring to Villanova prior to the 2012-13 academic year.
"We are going to miss Tony," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "He was a major part of our run to the NCAA Tournament last season. We respect Tony's decision and he will always be a part of the Nova Nation."
Chennault appeared in all 34 games Villanova played in 2012-13 as a reserve after receiving a hardship waiver from the NCAA. He averaged 3.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 18.5 minutes per game. The product of Neumann-Goretti High School scored a season-high 11 points at Monmouth on Dec. 22 and added 10 points and four rebounds in a February victory at DePaul.
