Jonathan Holton, a 6-9 forward from Palm Beach State, signed earlier this week.

“Remi gives us outstanding size and perimeter shooting from the wing position,” said Huggins. “His size and length should also help us at the defensive end and obviously on the backboards where we struggled mightily last year.”As a sophomore at Casper College this past season, he averaged 18.2 points, connected on 41.9 percent of his 3-point attempts, averaged 4.9 rebounds and shot 82.7 percent from the free throw line. Dibo led Casper to a 24-8 record.

Dibo joins Holton, Nathan Adrian (Morgantown, W.Va./Morgantown HS), Elijah Macon (Columbus, Ohio/Brewster Academy [N.H.]), Brandon Watkins (Decatur, Ga./Grady HS) and Devin Williams (Cincinnati, Ohio/Montverde Academy [Fla.]) in the 2013-14 recruiting class.

FREE THROW

Kassoum Yakwe, a 6-8 2016 F  from Team Scan, has offers from St. John’s, Pitt and Syracuse along with interest from Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio State, according to Our Savior New American assistant Eric Jaklitsch. “He’s a shot-blocking dynamo who has a high motor, great hands, pounds the glass and has a soft jumper,” he said….Notre Dame has offered 2014 F Abdul-Malik Abu of Expressions Elite , per his AAU coach…2014 wing Terry Larrier of Team Scan picked up offers from MIami, Arizona State and Creighton…Following his visit to Rutgers yesterday, 2013 PG Allen Baez of Miami (FL) High visits UNC-Greensboro Thursday. Rutgers has yet to offer. Oregon State and Washington are also interested….Oregon State has also reached out to 2013 PG Hakim Saintil of Roselle (NJ) Catholic, per head coach Dave Boff.

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One day after SNY.tv reported that former Rhode Island forward Jonathan Holton had verbally committed to West Virginia on Sunday, the school made the signing official.

The 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward signed a grant-in-aid to play for coach Bob Huggins.

Holton also considered Memphis, Maryland and Southern Miss but never visited any of those.

“I chose West Virginia because it was the best spot for me in that they needed  a guy with energy who can rebound and score right away,” Holton told SNY.tv Sunday.

“I have a little experience under my belt. I averaged 19 points and 18 rebounds last year. I’m a huge fan of Coach Huggins, how he runs his program and I feel he can help me get to the next level where I want to go.”

“Jonathan is a prototype Big 12 forward,” Huggins said. “He can really score it off the bounce, play with his back to the basket, stretch defenses to make 3-pointers, as well as being a terrific offense rebounder. He should give us immediate help on the front line.”

At Palm Beach State his past season, he averaged 17.5 points and 14.1 rebounds while shooting 39.6 percent from 3-point range. He earned NJCAA and FCSAA Player of the Week honors.

As a freshman at Rhode Island, he averaged 10.2 points and 8.1 rebounds and was on the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team.

Holton was dismissed from Rhode Island in 2012 after getting charged with two counts of felony video voyeurism on campus.

He joins Nathan Adrian, Elijah Macon, Brandon Watkins and Devin Williams in West Virginia’s 2013 class.

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N.C. State freshman guard Rodney Purvis and a trio of West Virginia Mountaineers are all transferring.

Aaron Brown, Volodymyr Gerun and Mount Vernon, N.Y., native Jabarie Hinds are all leaving Bob Huggins‘ program, the school announced.

Purvis, whose transfer was reported by NewsObserver.com, is a McDonald’s All-American who averaged 8.3 points and 2.4 rebounds this season.

He confirmed the decision on his Twitter account on Monday afternoon.

“Tears won’t stop falling,” Purvis wrote. “I enjoyed every moment here. I still love you guys, no matter how you may feel towards me. Thank y’all !”

Several reports linked Purvis to UConn, which next year will be part of the yet-to-be-named former Big East Conference.

N.C. State will lose all five of its starters to graduation, transfer and early departure. As previously reported by SNY.tv., juniors C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown will declare for the NBA Draft, and Richard Howell and Scott Wood are graduating. Purvis started 23 of the team’s first 25 games before moving to the bench.

At West Virginia, Brown is a 6-5 sophomore guard from Darby, Pa., who averaged 1.2 points and 0.9 rebounds. Rob Brown, Aaron Brown’s AAU coach, said the player had no list of choices yet.

Gerun is a 6-10 sophomore from the Ukraine who averaged 1.3 points and 0.7 rebounds.

And Hinds is a 5-11 sophomore who averaged 7.4 points and 1.8 rebounds.

He initially chose West Virginia over UConn, UNLV and UCLA on SNY.tv.

Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino said he had no current list of options.

“I just want to say thank you to my teammates & the fans for the all the love and support I received,” Hinds Tweeted.

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“It just felt like home to me on my visit,” Patterson told SNY.tv by phone. “A lot of love they showed me. It’s a good program.”

The 6-foot-3 Patterson is a former Indiana commit who also considered  Xavier, Villanova, UConn, Miami, Providence and SMU.

“I’m a two guard who can shoot it,” he said. “A regular two guard. I will be getting out in the passing lanes and I’m able to shoot it, create shots off the dribble.”

Patterson will suit up in the ACC for the Orange beginning in 2013. He joins point guard Tyler Ennis, small forward B.J. Johnson and big man Chinonso Obokoh in Syracuse’s recruiting class.

“I’m really looking forward to that,” he said. “A lot of competition, I’m looking forward to getting after it.”

A former Broad Ripple Creek High School star, Patterson reportedly failed to meet academic requirements in summer school and was then denied admission to Indiana. He then opted to spend the year at Brewster (N.H.) Academy instead of transferring.

“He’s already qualified,” Brewster coach Jason Smith previously told SNY.tv. “He’s fully NCAA qualified. He ended up here only because of the timing with Indiana. Once he was denied admission to Indiana, he had six or seven high-major Division 1 schools that wanted him this year.

“He had three days to make a decision and he opted to come here.”

Now he’s heading to Syracuse.

“Ron is an athletic guard who has shot the ball very well from the perimeter this fall,” Smith said Saturday. “He’s an excellent defender and has tremendous length, which will be very effective and beneficial in Syracuse’s zone.”

WILLIAMS TO WEST VIRGINIA

Devin Williams, a 6-8, 230-pound center from Montverde (Fla.) Academy, committed to West Virginia, a source with direct knowledge told SNY.tv.

The Rivals No. 11 center in the Class of 2013, Williams also considered Memphis, Ohio State and UCLA.

“Devin can play any kind of way, up and down or half-court,” Michael Duncan, Williams’ AAU coach, previously told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “He’s more successful in a half-court setting. He could play up and down, too, but he’s a hell of a dude in the half-court setting.”

He added: ”He’s got an unbelievable work ethic. He works nonstop. Every day. Pool work, yoga — he puts it in. The dude knows how to compete. I think that’s important.”

Elijah Macon, another 6-8 forward who previously committed to West Virginia but then failed to qualify, also re-committed.

“A lot of things have been going on,” Macon told WVGazette.com. “But I’ll be there. I’ve got my grades together now and I’m ready to go.”

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Free agents cannot formally sign deals until July 11.

“We’re just real excited because it’s a good fit,” Neff said. “We had a strategy. The bottom line is we wanted to get him to a certain team and this is precisely the kind of team we wanted to get him to that would develop him.”

Neff said Jones will play with the Cavaliers’ summer league team and could potentially play with their D-League franchise.

“He’s looking forward to showing some people that they missed on him,” Neff said.

The 6-foot-8 Mount Vernon, N.Y., native went undrafted during Thursday’s NBA Draft but will now join a roster of familiar faces, including former St. Patrick star Kyrie Irving, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, former St. Benedict’s Prep forward Tristan Thompson and Philadelphia native and former Syracuse star Dion Waiters, the No. 4 pick in the draft.

A second-team All-American, Jones was devastated when he wasn’t picked in Thursday’s draft, but vowed he would make a team as a free agent.

“Of course this whole situation is going to make me hungry,” Jones told SNY.tv then. “I felt like I should’ve been a first-round pick, at most top 40.

“But I mean, things happen. So just gotta find a new way there, but I’m going to make a new way there, regardless, no matter what.”

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If that doesn’t materialize, he expects Jones to go in the second round.

“A team in the first round has committed to him,” agent Bill Neff told SNY.tv. “The question is, what does that mean? I never trust anything other than what happens on draft night.

“He’ll get drafted,” Neff added. “It’s either them in the first or early second.”

Legendary Hall of Famer Jerry West also sees the Mount Vernon, N.Y., native going in the second round. And DraftExpress.com has the 6-foot-8 Jones going at No. 17 in the second round to the Utah Jazz.

“He did OK in the first day of the combine,” West told Register-Herald.com. “But the second day of workouts with the (Los Angeles) Lakers he did not do nearly as well.

“I think he probably will be drafted somewhere around the second round, if not in the first round. But we’ll see what happens when the draft starts.”

Jones, who just missed out on Big East Player of the Year honors to Marquette’s Jae Crowder, averaged 19.9 points and 10.9 rebounds in his senior season under coach Bob Huggins.

Thomas Robinson of Kansas, a fellow power forward projected as a top four pick, averaged 17.7 points and 11.9 rebounds.

At 22, Jones is one year older than Robinson.

“He just doesn’t excite you,” Neff said of the perception of Jones by many NBA decision-makers. “You’re going to pick someone else that excites you more and then go, ‘Sh–, we missed him.’ He’s going to make someone look stupid.”

Jones has already worked out for Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Golden State, San Antonio and the Lakers.

He’s slated to work out for Memphis Monday and then possibly Cleveland sometime before the draft.

“We call him Donald Duck because everybody tries to duck him [in workouts],” Neff said, adding that several top players had declined to work out against Jones.

Of those that have, Neff said Jones outplayed likely lottery picks Tyler Zeller and Meyers Leonard as well as Andrew Nicholson.

“He just murdered them,” Neff said. “He’s not sexy, he’s just productive.”

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Matt Humphrey, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard who previously attended Boston College and Oregon, has signed a grant-in-aid to attend West Virginia.

 A Chicago native, Humphrey completed his undergraduate degree with a bachelor of arts in human development from Boston College and will have one year of eligibility remaining.

“Matt will give us much needed experience on the front line,” said Mounties coach Bob Huggins, whose team is joining the Big 12. “In having played in the Pac-12 and ACC, his familiarity with multiple offensive and defensive schemes will help us at both ends of the floor.”

As a junior at Boston College in 2011-12, Humphrey started 29 games and was second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game. He led the Eagles in minutes played (30.3) per game and steals (34), was second on the team in 3-point field goals made (55) and was third on the team in assists (50).

As a sophomore at Oregon in 2009-10, Humphrey played in 19 games, making four starts. He missed 12 games because of a knee injury. Humphrey played an average of 16.2 minutes per game, averaging 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.  

“His size and length will definitely make us a better defensive team on the perimeter and should help us create matchup problems for opposing defenses,” says Huggins. “He will give us another 3-point threat, which will enable us to stretch defenses and open up the posts for our inside guys.”

In other transfer news, Providence transfer Gerard Coleman is headed to Gonzaga, according to CBSSports.com.

The 6-4 Coleman averaged 13.2 points last season.

He will have two years of eligibility remaining.

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NEW YORK

But his longtime friend and roommate Darryl “Truck” Bryant isn’t afraid to let his feelings fly.

“We’re roommates, we’ve been roommates for four years so of course we spoke about it but at the end of the day we both know he got jerked. We both know it,” Bryant, the former St. Raymond’s High School star, told SNY.tv exclusively following West Virginia’s final game in the Big East Tournament, a 71-67 overtime loss to UConn.

Bryant was referring to Jones being left off at least one ballot for First Team All-Big East honors despite leading the conference in scoring and rebounding and then losing out on Big East Player of the Year honors to Marquette’s Jae Crowder.

“Not so much disrespected as disappointed that every coach didn’t see what I tried to do out there on there on the court and try to lift my teammates every game with the passion I play with every game,” said Jones, the Mount Vernon, N.Y., native who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

“But things happen that’s out of our control. And that was definitely out of our control. So just gotta keep on moving forward.”

West Virginia will begin play in the Big 12 next year without Jones, without Bryant, and the Big East will welcome in Temple.

But Bryant still can’t believe what happened to his friend here in the last few days.

“He averaged 20 and 10 every night,” Bryant said of Jones. “That’s just unacceptable for one coach to leave him out. I mean he’ s clearly dominant. He’s a heck of a player….He’s the most dominant player in the league.”

The problem for the Mountaineers (19-13), whose NCAA Tournament fate now rests with the Selection Committee, is that Jones wasn’t allowed to be dominant down the stretch of this game.

After the rugged forward helped West Virginia build a 63-54 lead with under four minutes remaining, he failed to score a single basket the rest of the way as UConn closed regulation and the extra period on a 17-4 run.

“I don’t think he scored a heck of a lot over the last 15 minutes,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “In fact, I don’t remember him scoring.”

That’s because he didn’t.

After Jones missed two attempts in the OT and Bryant’s shot was blocked, somebody named Paul Williamson was firing one off the side of the backboard for the Mounties.

“[Jones] was playing with a bunch of freshmen that don’t have any idea what the hell they’re doing,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.

“They look him off. They don’t mean to. They’re good kids, they don’t mean to.”

Credit Shabazz Napier (26 points), Jeremy Lamb (22) and Ryan Boatright for stepping up for the defending NCAA and Big East champion Huskies, who are hoping to repeat their magical run of 2011.

Two years ago, Jones won a Big East Championship here and then celebrated to the strains of “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

He was hoping for one last special run in front of friends and family here at the Garden.

“It’s just tough because me and Truck  definitely wanted to go out winners of the Big East Tournament our senior year and it’s tough,” Jones said.

Instead, Jones and his teammates head home uncertain of which tournament they will play in next.

“I think they’ll make it,” Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com told SNY.tv, “but it will be a nervous selection Sunday.”

“We’ve played more games against top 100 people than anybody in the country,” Huggins said. “They say play a tough schedule, we have. We’ve played more games against Top 50 teams. We’ve done everything they’ve asked us to do other than maybe win a couple games.”

Jones’s Big East career is now officially over, completed in a disappointing way for a proud warrior from “Money Earnin’ Mount Vernon.”

Disrespected or not, he just wants a chance to continue his career on the biggest college basketball stage there is.

“We’ve got to keep on moving forward,” Jones said in a statement that sums up his career, “and hopefully make it into the tournament and try to make a run in the tournament.”

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NEW YORK — Rick Pitino

“Some coaches have their assistants fill it out and it’s just an oversight and it’s not mean-spirited,” Pitino told SNY.tv at Madison Square Garden. “It’s just an oversight. I don’t know who it was, obviously.

“It’s someone who maybe lost that recruiting battle.”

For the record, Jones picked West Virginia over Indiana, Pittsburgh, UMass, Seton Hall, Rutgers and St. John’s out of Mount Vernon High School. Here’s the old-school ZAGS to prove it.

Sources close to Pitino said he voted for Jones for Player of the Year.

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NEW YORK

“Anybody who would do that didn’t play in the league this year,” Calhoun told SNY.tv exclusively following No. 9 UConn’s 81-67 victory over No. 16 DePaul in the Big East Tournament.

A year ago, at least one league coach failed to put UConn’s Kemba Walker on the Big East First-Team…and we all know how that worked out.

Next up for the defending Big East and NCAA champion Huskies is a date with Jones and No. 8 West Virginia in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

“Jones, to me, is the best player in this league,” Calhoun said of the Mount Vernon, N.Y., native. “That’s who I voted for.”

As first reported by SNY.tv Monday night, Marquette’s Jae Crowder was named the Big East Player of the Year.

Marquette coach Buzz Williams, who could not vote for his own player, voted for Jones for Player of the Year, sources told SNY.tv.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins told reporters in New York he felt Jones should’ve won the award.

“I thought K.J. would be the player of the year,” Huggins said, according to WVIllustrated.com. “You look like what he did in scoring and rebounding, you take seven freshmen and a transfer with two other guys that have been in the program at all and win 19 games and really maybe could’ve, should’ve won a bunch more – I thought he was phenomenal.”

Huggins was stunned that one coach didn’t put Jones on the First Team.

“Whoever it was who didn’t deem him first team, I mean, how can he not be a unanimous pick for first team?” Huggins asked. “Who can name six players in the league that are better than what he is?”

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