Famous Still Going to USF
After South Florida head coach Stan Heath
After South Florida head coach Stan Heath
Lance Stephenson still hasn’t picked a college, but he is scheduled to play hoops on Thursday.
The 6-foot-5 Stephenson is one of several high-profile players who will compete in the 2nd Annual Frankie Williams Charity Classic at the Theodore D. Young Community Center in Greenburgh, N.Y. (See game info below.)
The event is slated to feature Kevin Parrom (South Kent/Arizona), Sean Kilpatrick (White Plains HS/Cincinnati), Dante Taylor (National Christian Academy/Pittsburgh), Durand Scott (Rice/Miami), Omari Lawrence (South Kent/St John’s) and Sherrod Wright (Mt. Vernon/George Mason).
Fordham athletic director Frank McLaughlin wants star point guard Jio Fontan to return to school, but Fontan and his family say he will never play for Fordham again.
McLaughlin has repeatedly ignored interview requests from the media (myself included), but he did tell a Fontan confidant that the school will not release the young man from his Letter of Intent because it wants him to be a part of the program’s future.
“We had a very good conversation. [McLaughlin] was kind enough to give me a call back,” said Todd Washington, a senior adviser to the President of the Puerto Rico Basketball Association who is advising the Fontans in the matter. “They just voiced how much they care about Jio and that Jio’s the cornerstone of their program. They have no hard feelings. They know what Jio’s position is but that they’re hoping that Jio comes back.”
He added: “The impression that I got is that Fordham is just not going to release Jio under any circumstances.”
You have to feel for Josh Pastner. The
Scottie Reynolds wasn’t invited to the NBA Combine this weekend in Chicago, but he still hopes to get selected in the June 25 NBA Draft.
“It wasn’t disappointing at all,” Reynolds said Friday by phone, referring to the 52 players invited to the event. “Would I like to be there? I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t. It just didn’t fall my way. I kept a great attitude about it. And I’m just going to the next day, and controlling the things I can control.”
Latavious Williams says he’s still committed to Memphis, but the latest allegations against the program may cause him to end up elsewhere.
“I’m still committed,” he said Friday by phone. “Right now they’re looking into that [allegations that someone else took the SAT for former point guard Derrick Rose]. I’m going to take my time and chill out.”
Williams is set to graduate May 29 from Humble Christian Life Center in Houston, and he said he and his family were still discussing the latest news about the NCAA charging Memphis with “major violations”.
“We are just talking about the situation and the violations,” he said. “We’re trying to see what ‘s gonna happen.”
Memphis is scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions June 6.
“Everybody is very concerned about the situation but [Memphis coach] Josh [Pastner] is a great guy and everybody really, really respects him and we want to give him the benefit of the doubt and find out what went on and what the repercussions might be,” Humble coach Carlos Wilson said. “We want to find out what the best decision for Latavious would be.
“We’re going to kind of wait and see what happens with the June 6 situation, which is right around the corner.”
Things are going from bad to worse for Derrick Rose.
One day after the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Rose may have had his SAT taken by someone else, his hometown Chicago Sun-Times now reports that Rose had his grades changed in high school.
The paper cites sources who say Rose and three other Chicago Simeon teammates had their grades changed for a one-month period after their June 2007 graduation. The grades were then changed back after the transcripts were mailed out to colleges.
