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ROSELLE, N.J. — While Montverde (FL) Academy’s Bruno Fernando remains one of the top uncommitted frontcourt players in the Class of 2016, the 6-foot-10, 225-pound forward hinted on Sunday that a decision will be made in the very near future.
“It’s coming up,” said Fernando, who one Division-1 coach recently compared to Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder due to his knack for rebounding and game-changing presence on the defensive end of the floor. “I’m really looking forward to making my commitment soon.”
Where Fernando will land is a mystery, though the frontrunners appear to be SMU, Alabama, LSU, Marquette, N.C. State, and Florida State. He has a trip planned to Alabama in the coming weeks.
SMU head coach Larry Brown and assistant Jerry Hobbie were courtside Sunday at Roselle Catholic for the PrimeTime Shootout to see Fernando, as coach Kevin Boyle and Montverde, ranked No. 2 nationally by USA Today, took care of business against Pope John XXIIII, 83-43.
“It’s not the first time [Brown] has come with Coach Jerry to see me play,” Fernando said. “This just shows that he cares about me a lot. He cares about me as a person more than he does about me as a basketball player.”
Fernando, who hails from Angola, has a connection with fellow countryman Yanick Moreira, who played under Brown at SMU during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. Because of that, SMU was one of the first schools to pursue Bruno, with plenty of high-major programs quickly following suit. Watching him for a few possessions, it’s not hard to see why.
“You saw his ability to rebound and block shots, that kind of stuff-that’s his trademark,” said Montverde assistant coach Rae Miller. “His offensive skills are getting better. It will take him some time to get there, but I think by the time he’s a sophomore in college he’ll be a much, much better offensive player.”
Miller likens Fernando to former Clemson Tiger and 16-year NBA veteran Dale Davis. His offensive game is raw and undeveloped, but with a little seasoning the sky is the limit.
“I think that if Bruno plays with the type of energy that he’s capable of, he can help turn a program around very early in his college career,” Miller said.
Montverde Class of 2018 five-star Silvio De Sousa led the way against Pope John with 26 points and 9 rebounds. The Eagles’ tour of New Jersey is now complete, having defeated St. Joseph of Metuchen, Roselle Catholic, and Pope John in a span of four days.
REID HEARING FROM KENTUCKY, SYRACUSE
It’s no secret by now that Naz Reid can score with the best of them.
After all, the 6-9, 220-pound forward, ranked as the No. 6 overall player in the Class of 2018 per Rivals, patterns his offensive game after Andrew Wiggins and Kevin Durant.
In Roselle Catholic’s thrilling 73-69 victory over Huntington Prep (W.V.) on Sunday at the PrimeTime Shootout, however, Reid displayed another elite trait: his defensive versatility.
“He had a tough matchup, because he was either going to be on [Michigan State commit Miles Bridges] or their shooting guard [Micah Thomas] who’s probably going to Maryland [or Louisville],” said Roselle Catholic head coach Dave Boff of Reid. “So he had two tough covers, two completely different types of covers. Sometimes that’s hard, to guard a bruiser and then guard a fluid wing, and he kind of was able to transition between the two pretty seamlessly.”
Roselle Catholic (17-6) looked destined for a blowout victory in the first half before Huntington Prep roared all the way back. Boff credits his star sophomore with getting the team refocused in the huddle during crunch time.
“When everything was going wrong, who was the one guy on the bench telling everybody ‘Calm down, we’re good’?” Boff said. “That’s the leadership, that’s what we need. That’s a great job.”
Reid also finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, while senior Matt Bullock paced Roselle with 22 points and 12 boards.
Kentucky and St. John’s have monitored Reid closely, while Syracuse has shown face quite often. Associate head coach Mike Hopkins and assistant Adrian Autry have recently been in to see him. Reid, who allows his coaches to handle the recruiting side of things, is fixated solely on the Union County tournament as well as the New Jersey state tournament, which begins in early March.
“Naz is really starting to come along,” Boff said. “Early in the year, I was asking for a little bit more consistent effort and stuff, but he’s really come on. His maturity has fast-tracked, his leadership has fast-tracked, and he’s playing just tremendous basketball for 32 minutes a game.”
The same can be said for Roselle Catholic as a whole, as the Lions put Friday’s hard-fought loss to Montverde behind them just in time to pick up a marquee win over Huntington.
“I’m just really proud of the guys,” Boff said. “This is a weekend, when you set it up at the beginning of the year, you think to yourself ‘What are we doing this weekend? We’re going to play Montverde and Huntington in 48 hours?’ To play as well as we did against Montverde and come up a little short, and then not to have a letdown [Sunday]-to come out and play as well as we did says a lot about our guys right here.”
