NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Malik Newman is injured and unable to play at this week’s Peach Jam, but that didn’t prevent him from stopping by the Under Armour Association Finals in Georgia to shake Diamond Stone’s hand, according to Tweets from Steve Jones of the Louisville Courier-Journal.
The 6-foot-4 Newman has insisted all along that he and the 6-foot-10 Stone will be a package deal in college, telling Jones, “I think that team [that gets us] is going to win the NCAA championship.”
Newman told SNY.tv at the LeBron James Skills Academy that UConn, Kansas, Kentucky, N.C. State and Miami are schools that have been recruiting the duo as a package deal.
“[Stone]’s a great player, he’s a great person,” Newman said then. “I’d love to play with him in college because he’s a dominant post player. That’s something I’ve always wanted to play with because I figure that if he can get the post going, that can help me out because that can really spread the floor.”
Stone, who recently visited UConn on a trip Newman did not make, has been less committal on the package deal, telling Jones there’s a “50 percent chance” he and Newman will go to the same school.
Among the coaches watching Stone on Thursday at the Under Armour event were Kentucky’s John Calipari, Kansas’s Bill Self and UConn’s Kevin Ollie.
Newman also said he plans to cut his list to about five schools after the USA Basketball U17 training that begins July 24 in Colorado Springs, CO.
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