Ever since a report surfaced recently that Brooklyn Lincoln junior Lance Stephenson had cut his list to UCLA, USC and Kansas, not much more has been heard on the subject.
Yet Lamont Halsey, the AAU coach for Dexter Strickland and a friend of the Stephenson family, says Stephenson’s list actually now includes Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA, with USC having been eliminated in the wake of the O.J. Mayo recruiting scandal.
“There were four schools, UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky and USC but USC is out of the mix because of O.J. Mayo,” Halsey said Wednesday by phone. “Lance is going to UCLA for a team camp at the end of next week. He’ll take one visit to Kansas and one to Kentucky. They’re more or less looking for a program with a lot of tradition that’s not caught up in any scandal, an institution with a clean slate.”
The 6-foot-5 Stephenson is the No. 2-ranked shooting guard in the Class of 2009 and has led the Railsplitters to three straight PSAL championships and back-to-back New York State Federation Class AA titles.
Stephenson and Strickland will go to Dakar, Senegal June 18-23 for an international competition with the adidas Nations program.
He will also attend the Steve Nash Nike Skills Academy in New Jersey in late June before heading to the FIBA U18 tryouts at Georgetown University July 1-3.
If Stephenson makes the team, he would participate in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Formosa, Argentina July 14-18. He and Strickland would also miss the LeBron James US Skills Academy, to be held in Akron, Ohio July 5-9.
