Agent: Lee May Not Wait for Knicks
The agent for free agent forward David
The agent for free agent forward David
The father of a DePaul commit says he was assured by the school’s athletic director, and indirectly by the university president, that his son would be released from his Letter of Intent following the recent coaching change.
Yet DePaul issued a statement Wednesday saying Walter Pitchford Jr., a 6-10 forward/center from Grand Rapids, Mich., would not be released.
“This really caught us by surprise because the athletic director [Jean Lenti Ponsetto] indicated to me personally over the phone that Walter would be granted a release and she said that she had discussed it with the president of the school [Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider],” Pitchford Sr. said Wednesday by phone. “That made me feel comfortable.”
The future of the St. John’s basketball program could take a major turn later this month.
Remi Barry, a 6-foot-7 French national from Loomis (Calif.) Del Oro High, will visit Arizona State the weekend June 11-13 and St. John’s June 18-20.
Barry said he was looking forward to the St. John’s visit to “see if I like the campus, the people, the city. See if I feel like home or not, if I’m comfortable or not.”
He will then make a decision between those two programs and UCLA sometime later this month.
Arizona State is also in the mix for Kyle Cain, a 6-7 wing from New Hampton (N.H.) Prep, who is also considering West Virginia, Illinois and Alabama. Cain is currently visiting ASU.
Tyler Harris isn’t just Tobias’ younger brother.
The 6-foot-8 Harris — and the brother of Tennessee-bound forward Tobias Harris — is making a name for himself as one of the top ballers in the New York area.
The No. 16 small forward in the Class of 2011 out of Dix Hills (N.Y.) Half Hollow Hills West, Harris recently picked up scholarship offers from N.C. State, Virginia Tech and South Florida, according to his father, Torrel.
He previously held offers from UConn, Seton Hall, Tennessee, Duquesne, Fordham, Hofstra and Boston College.
If Jason McIntyre had been given a pro beat at The Bergen Record or gotten a job at ESPN The Magazine, The Big Lead would likely never have been born.
Instead, McIntyre went on to create the popular independent blog that was purchased by Chris Russo, chief executive of Fantasy Sports Ventures, for “a figure in the low seven figures,” The New York Times reported Tuesday on its Website.
“If The Record had moved me [from covering high schools] to stuff that I cared about, I probably would not have left or gone the blog route,” McIntyre, with whom I worked at the Herald News and Bergen Record for several years, said Wednesday in a phone interview.
“If I had gotten the job at ESPN The Magazine — they were looking for an editor — the blog probably wouldn’t have happened. Things just happened.”
In his first comments about free agency
Alex Murphy and his parents met with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and his assistants on Monday during an unofficial visit to campus.
At the end of the meeting — which came after the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions — Coach K let the 6-foot-8 Murphy know exactly how much he thought of him by offering a scholarship.
“We talked about a lot of stuff and in the end he said he really wanted me,” Murphy, a 2012 forward from the St. Mark’s (Mass.) School, said Tuesday by phone.
“It was a good feeling. Duke just doesn’t go around throwing offers out to kids. Anytime something like that happens it’s a good feeling. It’s a blessing.”
