Derrick Favors and NC State

Derrick Favors has said repeatedly that he currently has no leader and that he has not started to narrow his prospective list yet. In addition to that, he’s reportedly started looking at schools outside the SEC and ACC. Still, in a recent article by Rivals, it seems that the popular opinion right now is that Favors is still leaning towards staying in the state of Georgia.

However, the current opinion also holds is that if Favors had a list, it would be Georgia, Georgia Tech and NC State. Favors states that he may begin to focus more on where he wants to go in June.

Video: Michael Snaer

I haven’t mentioned Michael Snaer ( 6’4″, SG, 2009 ), even though he reportedly has an offer from the Miami Hurricanes, simply because he hasn’t seemed to be leaning toward the U. But that doesn’t mean the Hurricanes aren’t recruiting him. Snaer is a nice guard with good size and often uses it to get to the rim. Although I don’t think overproduced highlight reels are much value in evaluating a player, here are some of his nice moves:

Snaer currently says he has no favorite, but he’s a west coast kid so of course the schools in his region are pressing him.

Mason Plumlee

Mason Plumlee got a lot of exposure this past weekend all over the state of North Carolina for three reasons:

1. He plays high school basketball in North Carolina
2. He signed to play for Duke
3. He was playing in Camaron Indoor Stadium this weekend.

So, naturally, he has become one of the more talked about players with stories like this one.

One of the knocks on Plumlee is his strength, which he acknowledges:

“Playing post defense, I know that’s going to be expected no matter where I go, but especially at Duke,” Plumlee said. “All the other stuff will come. I just need to get in the weight room and get stronger.”

Nike Memorial Day Classic Recap

Grassroots has a recap on the Nike Memorial Day Classic, including players of interest to the ACC such as Doron Lamb and Kendall Marshall.

Jeremiah Rivers to Indiana

A few Wolfpack fans emailed me a while back and asked if I knew anything about a rumor that Jeremiah Rivers might transfer to NC State. At that time all I had heard was Indiana was an option. Turns out it will be Indiana, and Rivers will play there after sitting out next season.

Cheek still interested in Wake, Negedu to visit IU

Dominic Cheek (6’6″, SG, 2009 ) may be off the UNC radar, but he’s still on the Wake Forest prospect list, and he’s certainly interested in the Demon Deacons, according to this interview at Rivals.

Negedu sets up Indiana visit

Emmanuel Negedu ( 6’7″, PF, 2008 ), a Georgia Tech recruit has set up a visit at Indiana for June 3.

Scout.com is reporting that following his Indiana visit, Negedu will visit Georgia Tech on the 8th, Tennessee on the 10th and Memphis on the 12th.

Daniel Orton no longer considering ACC

According to several recent news reports like this one, Daniel Orton ( 6’10”, C, 2009 ), is no longer considering any ACC schools, with his list now consisting of Oklahoma, Ohio State, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA and USC. Too bad for Maryland, who could have used Orton’s physical presence inside.

Brandon Knight

Amazingly, Brandon Knight ( 6’3″, SG, 2010 ) plays in the same backcourt as Kenny Boynton (6’2″, SG, 2009 ), and still has emerged as a spectacular player and lists several ACC schools that are interested, including Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Ryan Kelly’s list

A name that has become hot among ACC teams is Ryan Kelly ( 6’11”, PF, 2009 ), a highly rated player who is orginally from Pawling, NY but now plays high school basketball in Raliegh. Kelly’s current list, according to the Winston-Salem Journal, is North Carolina, North Carolina State, Davidson, Wake Forest, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and Stanford. UNC and Wake have offered scholarships already.

ACC Basketball Recruiting Roundup, 5/26/2008

So much to get to today, we might as well dive right in…

Derrick Favors

According to this article which discussed the 2008 Bob Gibbons TOC, Derrick Favors ( 6’10”, PF, 2009 ) has narrowed his list to ….fourteen schools. Also, I never thought Favors fell out of the #1 spot and it seems like his play this weekend solidified that.

John Wall, Derrick Favors, Kenny Boynton video

Meanwhile, WRAL in Raliegh has posted some video of John Wall (6’3″, PG, 2009 ), Derrick Favors, Kenny Boynton (6’2″, SG, 2009 ) and others who participated in the TOC.

Florida in the mix for Kenny Boynton

Now it appears that Florida is in the thick of Boynton’s recruitment following a campus visit.

Dominic Cheek

Is Dominic Cheek ( 6’6″, SG, 2009 ) still being recruited by North Carolina? At one time, it was considered a lock, but now some people think things have cooled and UNC may not even be recruiting Cheek anymore. This may be the case, as Cheek now lists his schools as Villanova, Wake Forest, Kansas, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Florida, Connecticut, Texas and Maryland. So Wake and Maryland are options, but no UNC is listed.

Nolan Dennis, Ryan Kelly

Meanwhile, two more UNC targets, Nolan Dennis ( 6’5″, SG, 2009 ) and Ryan Kelly ( 6’10”, PF, 2009 ) , played their games at the Dean Dome. Kelly has been coming on strong and looked good at the tournament. Dennis is a hot target for UNC right now.

If this is your first time here, thanks for visiting and you should sign up for the ACC Basketball Recruiting email updates.

Emmanuel Negedu, assistants a factor?

As expected, Tennessee is an option for Emmanuel Negedu (6’7″, PF, 2008), the best available player now from the 2008 class, and it seems that one of the reasons being cited for his pulling out of his commitment to Arizona is the turnover in assistant coaches.

If that’s true, it would seem that Memphis might have the edge considering that Josh Pastner, the AZ assistant who recruited Negedu to the Wildcats is now with Memphis. Of course, Pastner is aware of this and has made overtures to convince Negedu to stay at Arizona, and often with these situations, the players do not follow the coaches as you might think.

ACC Basketball Recruiting Roundup, 5/24/2008

Mason Plumlee excites Cameron

Future Duke big man Mason Plumlee (6’11”, PF, 2009) enticed fans at Cameron Indoor on Friday with a 14 point outing during his debut on Coach K Court.

Lorenzo Brown and NC State

Lorenzo Brown (6’5″, G, 2009) is an excellent guard and I’ve mentioned before that he seems to be leaning toward NC State, and a lot of Pack fans would like to see him commit while he’s playing in Raliegh this weekend.

Kenny Boynton scores 33

Duke and Miami target Kenny Boynton (6’2″, G) is one of the best guards in the class of 2009 and he put up 33 points in his TOC opener.

Emmanuel Negedu, redux

Indiana Hoosiers site InsideTheHall.com has a good breakdown on Emmanuel Negedu’s (6’7″, PF, 2008 ) options and where he might end up. All of the schools would seem to offer a lot of immediate playing time, including Georgia Tech.

ACC pays off for the NBA; More DeRozan Rumors

Hey, high school basketball recruits! You want to make the NBA? Come an play in the ACC, which has 51 current NBA players, including players you’ve been watching this month like Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, and Rasheed Wallace.

DeMar DeRozan rumor follow up

In the closest thing I’ve seen regarding fact-fiding regarding DeMar DeRozan’s potential opting out of his LOI to USC, comes in this note from Nike’s HighSchoolHoop.com:

ESPN’s four-month investigation of O.J. Mayo’s relationship with Rodney Guillory, Bill Duffy Associates and USC might have a domino affect that touches the Trojans ‘08 Class. Tim Floyd’s star recruit DeMar DeRozan is supposedly going to opt out of his letter of intent if USC is punished for the Mayo fiasco.

One of the most interesting developments brought to light by this little tidbit , is how DeRozan’s dad apparently kept his high profile superstar son away from any kind of money game previously:

To add another wrinkle to the story, Guillory supposedly contacted DeRozan a few years back to get him to play on his AAU team. But DeRozan’s dad Frank had no part of it.

So, if this is to be believed (and only time will tell), IF USC gets disciplinary action for OJ Mayo, there is a good chance that DeRozan would bolt. Of course, that means that someone has to prove that USC knew that OJ Mayo was taking money. Of course, a lot of people knew. It was pretty obvious. But proving that with hard evidence might not be so simple.