Michael Chandler, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound center from Northwest Florida State, has opted to sign in the spring instead of the fall as originally planned.
“Mike won’t be deciding until after the season’s over,” Allan Chandler, his uncle, told SNY.tv. “We decided that was best.”
A former Louisville, Xavier and UCF commit, Chandler has received interest from Arizona, Oregon, Memphis, Gonzaga and Iowa State, and Seton Hall called Wednesday as well.
Northwest Florida head coach Steve DeMeo said Chandler wants to wait until the spring both for academic and basketball reasons.
DeMeo pointed out that standards have changed and JUCO players now need a 2.5 GPA to graduate and qualify for Division 1 basketball, as opposed to the 2.0 that had long been the standard.
“Academically, I think he wants to focus on his work,” DeMeo told SNY.tv. “He’s been doing a great job this semester. He’s on course for a 2.5 but I think he wants to focus on that instead of going on his visits and msising school.
“He’s very focused on working with tutors and going to class. We believe he’s going to be at a 2.5 or better.”
DeMeo said Chandler also wants to develop relationships with some head coaches going forward.
“A lot of schools have been dabbling and showing a lot of interest but I think he really, really wants to develop a relationship with people and get to know them and have the head coaches get to know him, too,” Demeo said.
Allan Chandler said Mike would postpone his official visit to Memphis, but DeMeo said it could still happen.
“He might still visit Memphis,” he said. “They’ve been here a couple times. I have a great relationship with Coach [Josh] Pastner. They could call any day try to work it out with them.”
