Notre Dame Prep shooting guard Ricky Ledo has accepted an invitation to visit next week with Puerto Rico Basketball Federation executives, practice with the team and see if he wants to represent Puerto Rico in Olympic qualifying.
“Ricky’s dream has always been to play for the USA team, that’s his dream,” Todd Quarles, a close family friend and founder of the Expression Elite AAU team, said Friday by phone. “And he wants to make sure that if he goes down there [to Puerto Rico] it won’t hurt any possibilities, but at the same time to explore every opportunity.
“So the Federation has invited us to spend some time with them learning about Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican basketball and see if there’s an opportunity for Ricky to play in the Olympic qualifying event in Argentina [Aug. 30-Sept. 11].”
The 6-foot-7 Ledo has family connections to Puerto Rico on his father’s side, and Todd Washington, the founder of the Puerto Rico Playmakers AAU team, reached out to Quarles.
Ledo, the No. 1 shooting guard in the Class of 2012 according to Rivals, has an opportunity to play the two guard for Puerto Rico because wing Angel Vassallo is injured and starting two guard Larry Ayuso was suspended. David Huertas was injured earlier this year, but has accepted an invitation to play.
Florida shooting guard Mike Rosario was also offered a chance to try out for Puerto Rico, but cannot compete due to a scheduling conflict.
“Mike really wanted to play but recognized the importance of fulfilling his obligation to the university, his teammates and coaching staff,” Washington said. “Mike’s decision shows how much he has matured. He will get his chance to once again represent Puerto Rico in the future.”
As far as recruiting goes, Quarles said Ledo has taken unofficials to Providence and UConn, but Kentucky, Syracuse and others are also in the mix.
“He hasn’t even begun right now to break that down,” Quarles said. “I’m sure eventually he’ll start taking some unofficial visits, but he hasn’t even done that with the exception of UConn and Providence because it’s right there in our back yard.”
