ZAGSBLOG first reported during the Final Four that St. John’s coach Steve Lavin would reach out to Oak Hill Academy guard Doron Lamb and now it has come to pass.
Calvin Lamb, Doron’s father, said Lavin called him shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday to express interest in Lamb, the 6-foot-4 shooting guard ranked among the top five nationally in the Class of 2010.
“I just got off the phone with Coach Lavin like five minutes ago,” Calvin said.
“He just talked about the style of play that Doron could come in and start and be a floor general and be a good fit with the nine seniors that they have. He could be the one player that could get them over the hump to the NCAA tournament.”
Calvin said no meeting with Lavin had been set and that he had to huddle with Doron before making any future plans.
“I gotta talk to my son,” he said.
Lamb, a Queens, N.Y. native, originally said he would announce his college choice Saturday at the Jordan Brand Classic in New York and would choose from among Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, UConn and West Virginia.
Lavin now has a scholarshp to give after 6-7 St. Peter’s Prep forward Ronald Roberts was released from his Letter of Intent Tuesday. Roberts had been former coach Norm Roberts’ lone signee for 2010.
“This morning Ron and his father asked for their official release from St. John’s,” St. Peter’s Prep coach Mike Kelly said. “That was subsequent to a meeting [Monday] night with the coaching staff at St Peter’s Prep and his family. We were concerned that St. John’s coaching staff had no familiarity with Ron and it was in our best interest to move on.”
Kelly said Roberts would reconsider his options and that St. Joe’s was “certainly a school that showed a lot of love early on in the process.
“Coach [Phil] Martelli has gotten a number of guys into the pros and had some great teams so they’re definitely high on our list. But Ron hasn’t made any firm decisions yet.”
The NCAA is currently in a dead period which ends Friday, but sources said St. Joe’s was “trying to set a meeting [with Roberts] as soon as possible.”
Once a player signs with one Big East school he can never sign with another one, so Roberts cannot join another league program.
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter