Darrun Hilliard, a 6-foot-5 2011 shooting guard from Liberty (Pa.) High, is expected to announce that he will attend Villanova during a press conference at his high school Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Hilliard also considered Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Iowa, Michigan and Boston College.
Hilliard averaged 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists last season while leading the Hurricanes to their first appearance in the Pennsylvania Class 4A semifinals.
Jayon James’s long and winding road to college appears to have ended on a happy note.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound point guard from Paterson (N.J.) Catholic signed scholarship papers on Tuesday with Iona, where he will join a tremendous 2010 recruiting class.
“I signed today,” James, who goes to campus Aug. 23, said by phone. “It just felt like it was the perfect fit for me, the best situation at the moment.”
James becomes the second Paterson Catholic player to commit this week, and potentially the last ever from the storied program to go Division I. 6-9 forward Derrick Randall verbally committed to Rutgers Sunday. The program closed its doors in June.
James averaged 5.7 points, 4.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals on a team loaded with Division 1 talent.
Paterson Catholic coach Damon Wright said James, who can play the point-forward and point-guard spots, brings a high basketball IQ.
Anthony Davis is pulling a LeBron James.
He’s made his decision but won’t let the public know for a couple of weeks.
“Yes, it’s the LeBron wait and see time,” Anthony Davis Sr. said Tuesday night by text.
The 6-foot-10 Davis out of Chicago Perspectives Charter has likely chosen from among Kentucky, Ohio State and Syracuse. DePaul appears to be a long shot.
He visited Kentucky Sunday and DePaul Monday.
“Both were great,” Davis Sr. said via text Monday night. “Still waiting 2 visit Ohio State and Syracuse.”
He has already visited Ohio State but not Syracuse. Now it appears Davis won’t take any further visits.
Mount Vernon point guard Jabarie Hinds has cut his list to seven schools.
The 6-foot, 175-pound Hinds is considering Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Miami, UConn, UNLV and West Virginia.
“I only have two official visits planned in September, Oklahoma State and UNLV,” Hinds, the No. 23 point guard in the Class of 2011, said Tuesday.
“I’m going to take four officials just in case I don’t sign in the fall. I’ll have one extra visit.”
NEWPORT, R.I. – The Big East explored
NEWPORT, R.I. – After receiving 22 of a possible 24 first-place votes, Pittsburgh is the overwhelming favorite to win the 2010 BIG EAST championship in the conference’s annual preseason media poll.
The Panthers had 190 points in the preseason voting of media representatives from each of the eight BIG EAST markets. In addition to the 22 first-place votes, Pittsburgh had two second-place votes, making the Panthers the heaviest favorite in the preseason balloting since Louisville had 190 points in the 2005 poll. Pittsburgh and head coach Dave Wannstedt return 12 starters from last year’s team that went 10-3 overall and was 5-2 in BIG EAST play, dropping the two conference games by a combined four points. The returning players include the 2009 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year in tailback Dion Lewis and one of last year’s BIG EAST Defensive Players of the Year in defensive end Greg Romeus.
Maurice Harkless has trimmed his list to eight schools.
The 6-foot-8 Queens, N.Y. native wrote on Twitter he’s considering the following schools after spending next year at South Kent (Conn.): St. John’s, Maryland, Florida, N.C. State, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Arizona and Memphis.
I asked Harkless if that means UConn is definitely out and he said, “Yes.”
Harkless recently decommitted from UConn.Harkless was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Hoop Group Elite Camp in Reading, Pa., in early July.
