Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
De’Ron Davis Enjoys Mississippi State, Decision Coming Thursday (UPDATED)
De’Ron Davis enjoyed his weekend official visit to Mississippi State and will announce between the Bulldogs and Indiana on Thursday at 3 p.m. Colorado time at Overland Park High School.
“He’s going to take a couple days, man, and really sleep on it and process everything,” Overland Park (CO) coach Danny Fisher said by phone. “Weigh the pros and cons of both places and then I think he’s going to be ready to make his shoutout.”
The NCAA early signing period runs Nov. 11-18.
The 6-foot-10 Davis is ranked the No. 10 power forward in the Class of 2016.
He has already taken an official to Indiana and now is done with his trip to Mississippi State.
“He really enjoyed it, man,” Fisher said. “They were pretty impressive. They’re very advanced in their physical development. Their strength and conditioning, they have some state of the art equipment and that was really impressive for him. They made a really good academic presentation to him, managing his academic progress and keeping him up to speed and not letting him fall behind with the rigorousness of the season.
“With the class they have coming in, we got a chance to talk to the Kegler family and we’ve spoken to Schnider Herard’s family, so they kind of laid out all the stops and they did a good job. He was impressed.”
Coach Ben Howland has already lined up a loaded class of Herard, a 6-10 center who committed last week, along with point guards Lamar Peters and Tyson Carter as well as shooting guard Eli Wright.They are also in the hunt for Oak Hill wing Mario Kegler, who is expected to announce Wednesday, and has discussed playing together with Davis at the next level.
“Mario is really looking forward to the opportunity to play with De’Ron,” Fisher said. “They’ve been together on the adidas circuit and Mario and his family made it sound like De’Ron’s presence at Mississippi State would influence Mario in his decision on some level. They’re tied together in the sense of them trying to put that front line together of Kegler, De’Ron and Herard. That’s attractive.”
If Howland lands both Kegler and Davis, it will only add to his already impressive recruiting run, which included landing current freshman point guard Malik Newman last spring.
Meantime, Indiana remains highly attractive for Davis, too.
“Coach Tom Crean is an absolute powerhouse coach,” Fisher said. “They’ve built a great relationship. Coach Crean’s ability to develop players and the history of Indiana basketball, the Field house and their academic program for De’Ron is really, really impressive as well.”
Wherever Davis lands, Fisher says he’ll make an impact.
“He’s going to bring a ton of versatility, man,” he said. “He’s going to bring a 6-10 presence that comes with that size in terms of defense, in terms of being able to do things back to the basket. He has that ability to shoot the ball out to 17 feet. He can ball fake and put the ball on the floor and make kick-out plays. He’s a versatile power forward. He can make plays for other people, his IQ is really high.
“His versatility is going to be what I think either of these two is going to take the most advantage of.”
Photo: InsidetheHall.com
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
De’Ron Davis enjoyed his weekend official visit to Mississippi State and will announce between the Bulldogs and Indiana on Thursday at 3 p.m. Colorado time at Overland Park High School.
“He’s going to take a couple days, man, and really sleep on it and process everything,” Overland Park (CO) coach Danny Fisher said by phone. “Weigh the pros and cons of both places and then I think he’s going to be ready to make his shoutout.”
The NCAA early signing period runs Nov. 11-18.
The 6-foot-10 Davis is ranked the No. 10 power forward in the Class of 2016.
He has already taken an official to Indiana and now is done with his trip to Mississippi State.
“He really enjoyed it, man,” Fisher said. “They were pretty impressive. They’re very advanced in their physical development. Their strength and conditioning, they have some state of the art equipment and that was really impressive for him. They made a really good academic presentation to him, managing his academic progress and keeping him up to speed and not letting him fall behind with the rigorousness of the season.
“With the class they have coming in, we got a chance to talk to the Kegler family and we’ve spoken to Schnider Herard’s family, so they kind of laid out all the stops and they did a good job. He was impressed.”
Coach Ben Howland has already lined up a loaded class of Herard, a 6-10 center who committed last week, along with point guards Lamar Peters and Tyson Carter as well as shooting guard Eli Wright.
They are also in the hunt for Oak Hill wing Mario Kegler, who is expected to announce Wednesday, and has discussed playing together with Davis at the next level.
“Mario is really looking forward to the opportunity to play with De’Ron,” Fisher said. “They’ve been together on the adidas circuit and Mario and his family made it sound like De’Ron’s presence at Mississippi State would influence Mario in his decision on some level. They’re tied together in the sense of them trying to put that front line together of Kegler, De’Ron and Herard. That’s attractive.”
If Howland lands both Kegler and Davis, it will only add to his already impressive recruiting run, which included landing current freshman point guard Malik Newman last spring.
Meantime, Indiana remains highly attractive for Davis, too.
“Coach Tom Crean is an absolute powerhouse coach,” Fisher said. “They’ve built a great relationship. Coach Crean’s ability to develop players and the history of Indiana basketball, the Field house and their academic program for De’Ron is really, really impressive as well.”
Wherever Davis lands, Fisher says he’ll make an impact.
“He’s going to bring a ton of versatility, man,” he said. “He’s going to bring a 6-10 presence that comes with that size in terms of defense, in terms of being able to do things back to the basket. He has that ability to shoot the ball out to 17 feet. He can ball fake and put the ball on the floor and make kick-out plays. He’s a versatile power forward. He can make plays for other people, his IQ is really high.
“His versatility is going to be what I think either of these two is going to take the most advantage of.”
Photo: InsidetheHall.com
