By ADAM ZAGORIA
Chance Westry has received multiple offers to forego the college route and play professional basketball, but the 6-foot-5 guard from Hillcrest Prep (AZ) and the NY Rens wants to ultimately play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Pennsylvania native is officially listing 10 schools — Syracuse, Nebraska, DePaul, LSU, UConn, Auburn, Arizona State, Washington, USC and Maryland — and will take an official visit to USC Sept. 24-26. In June, he visited Nebraska, Auburn, LSU and Syracuse.
“I know we got USC coming and I don’t know what’s coming after that,” his father Ersell Westry said Sunday by phone. “I know the [quiet] period’s ending on the 9th, so he’ll make his decision soon.”
Both the Australian NBL and the Overtime Elite league have made pro offers to Westry, who helped the Rens reached the semifinals of Peach Jam. But his father said the focus is on his senior season at Hillcrest and then college.
The NBL reportedly offered nearly $1 million plus incentives, while sources said the Overtime offer was in the high-six figures. Overtime has signed more than 20 players, most recently including Westry’s NY Rens teammate Dominick Barlow, a New Jersey native.
“I have nothing but good things to say about Overtime,” Ersell said. “I wish them a lot of success. That wasn’t catered to what we were doing. He wants to go to school and wants to play in the NCAAs. He always fantasized playing in the Tournament. He wants to play in the Tournament.”
Yet another one of Westry’s Rens teammates, Class of 2023 Roselle Catholic guard Simeon Wilcher, also turned down a high-six figure offer from Overtime to remain in high school. The five-star guard has a slew of high-major offers and wanted to enjoy his high school prom and potentially play in the McDonald’s All-American Game in 2023.
“I wish those guys nothing but success, the people that’s running that [Overtime] organization are savvy,” Ersell said. “Their knowledge of basketball is through the roof and they’ll do well whatever they decide to do but it wasn’t catered to what we were looking for.”
The same holds true for the offer from the Australian NBL
“They reached out to us and there again he wasn’t ready to turn pro,” Ersell said. “He wanted to play in the NCAAs and always dreamed of that . And he’s got an opportunity to make that dream come true so he wants to compete and go to college.”
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