Steve Goins officially joins Maryland basketball

Good news for Terp fans, Steve Goins (C, 6’10”, 2009) has been deemed eligible to play by the NCAA clearing house.

ACC Basketball Targets

Two players we added over the summer as ACC targets and should have mentioned before now: Harrison Barnes (SF, 6’6″, 2010), with an offer from Duke in hand, and DeMatha’s Victor Oladipo (SF), who has an offer from Maryland, Virginia, Clemson and Virginia Tech, among others. No word yet on who might have the inside track.

Tristan Spurlock is a Cavalier

A big get for Virginia and the ACC, Tristan Spurlock (SF, 6’7″, 2009) has committed to the Virginia Cavaliers.

Assistant coach Bill Courtney led the Cavaliers’ pursuit of Spurlock, who also had scholarship offers from such schools as Georgetown, Wake Forest, Louisville, N.C. State and Florida State.

Spurlock is a pure SF, has the size to really be effective and can shoot from deep. He can and will play from the perimeter, can rebound and handle the ball. Should easily be a starter and star for Virginia.

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ACC Basketball Recruiting Roundup; 6/24/2008

And now…Roger Franklin
A player we’ve not discussed so far is Roger Franklin (6’6″, SF, 2009), a Texas player who has offers from Virgina and Indiana (among several others), told Rivals.com that Georgia Tech has been recruiting him heavily.

Franklin is an extremely smart solid player, who has a great game in the paint and plays good defense. He’s very strong and his shot is decent. Really, Franklin will be a solid get for whichever team lands him. It has been said that Indiana has a good shot at him. Stay tuned.

Maryland, meet Sterling Gibbs

Alex has an interview with Sterling Gibbs (PG, 6’1″, 2011), a player who’s grown a little since he first came on the radar and whose brother will play for Pitt next season.

While Sterling says Arizona is his ‘dream school’, someone let Gary Williams know that he’s interested in Maryland.

Mfon Udofia tears it up at the NBPA Top 100

Virgina and Georgia Tech target Mfon Udofia (PG, 6’2″, 2009) has apprarently been setting the world on fire at the NBPA Camp this week:

Rising high school senior Mfon Udofia, one of Virginia’s top guard targets for the class of 2009, looked like an Energizer Bunny — one who had just downed about 10 cups of coffee.

Virginia is tying to use this week’s camp in Charlottesville to gain favor with the highly rated point guard, who is thought to be favoring Georgia Tech. Udofia goes on to mention that he likes the idea that people compare him to Rajon Rondo. Mfon is also considering Wake Forest and Miami.

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.

Wolfpack recruiting; More on Emmanuel Negedu

Wolfpack target Thomas Robinson

Special thanks to The Sports Idiot, who covers all things Pack, for the news that NC State is recruiting Thomas Robinson (6’7″, PF, 2009), out of Riverdale Baptist in Maryland and playing AAU ball for the Squash All Beefs. Robinson just arrived on the national recruiting scene and an offer from NC State is not known at this time, but he does have offers from Georgia and George Washington.

There are several ACC schools who are interested in Robinson in addition to the Pack, including Boston College, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

More on Emmanuel Negedu

When Emmanuel Negedu (6’7″, PF, 2008 ) pulled out of his commitment to Arizona and opened it up for four new schools (including Georgia Tech), immediately Indiana and Tennessee seemed likely possibilities. Indiana has already shown interest, as has Memphis (who sees him as a replacement for Dorsey), so the Yellow Jackets will have to work hard to make their case.

Kenny Boynton Dribbling Drillmaster

Okay, so I asked my analyst buddy why he thinks Kenny Boynton will play PG in college, and he told me that Kenny can shoot like a scoring guard but his size and ballhandling would make him more effective at the point, like Jay Williams was at Duke. Then he sent me this video link to show that Boynton really can handle the ball:

So, basically, if Boynton goes to a college where he will play point, he could be devastating. Duke is pushing for Kenny hard, and it seems like the big stage in Durham would be attractive to a player of his caliber, but Miami is close to home and could offer Boynton the opportunity to run the show like Derrick Rose did for Memphis. Right now, with John Wall becoming the top PG but seemingly headed out of the ACC, Boynton is a very hot ACC prospect.

DeShawn Painter chooses Florida

Scout.com is reporting that DeShawn Painter (6’9″, PF, 2009), who had offers from ACC schools Clemson and Virginia, has chosen the Florida Gators as his school.

Peyton Siva to Louisville

I mentioned a few days ago that Peyton Siva (5’11”, PG, 2009) was one of the point guards offered by Miami but wasn’t considering the Hurricanes, has decided to attend Louisville and is officially ‘off the board’ for the ACC.

Danny McElroy

A note on a player who already commited, Danny McElroy (6’7″, PF, 2009) had agreed to attend Cincinnati but has now backed out and is opening his recruitment back up. No idea if he is considering ACC schools yet.