Much traveled point guard Kelvin Amayo is headed to Iona — and he hopes it’s his last stop.
“Yeah, I just committed,” Amayo told SNY.tv. “I talked to Coach [Tim] Cluess.”
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Amayo recently left Marshall, as first reported by SNY.tv, because he said they did not have a scholarship for him. Before that, he had committed to Towson but was ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA.
Now he will enroll at Iona May 13 and the school will go through a waiver process for immediate eligibility and an additional year of eligibility. He will have at least three years of eligibility remaining.
“They’re going to go for the waiver right way because I was misled [at Marshall],” Amayo said. “They didn’t have a scholarship.”
Marshall has had 13 players on scholarship since the fall, sources told SNY.tv. Sources said Amayo did not show up for practice Jan. 7, the day he announced he was leaving, and still hadn’t informed head coach Tom Herrion of his decision as of that night.
Now Amayo, who turned 21 Jan. 9, hopes to play at Iona beginning in the 2013-14 season. He could play anywhere from the one to the four with the Gaels.
“I’m going to go to school in May,” he said. “I probably [won’t play] till the beginning of the season next year. I’ll have four years.”
The Hillside, N.J., native has a “very good relationship” with David Laury, another former Newark NIA Prep product.
Amayo will join a core that will include Laury, incoming junior college wing Isaiah Williams, and guards Sean Armand and Tavon Sledge, which could be Iona’s most talented core to date.
He was recruited by associate head coach Jared Grasso and likes the entire staff.
“Coach Grasso did a tremendous job recruiting me,” Amayo said. “When I went up to Iona for the unofficial, every member of the coaching staff was there, telling me what I needed.”
He added: “I needed a place where I can blossom. I can’t afford another place where I don’t know what the coach was thinking.”
In other Iona news, a source told SNY.tv that “it’s not looking promising” that 7-footer Norvel Pelle, who committed last August, will suit up for the school. The NCAA still hasn’t moved forward on the questionable eligibility of the one-time St. John’s pledge.
