Jelani Hewitt is off the board.
A 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard who averaged 16 points and 6 assists at Oakland Park (Fla.) Northeast High School, Hewitt committed to Georgia Southern Monday morning.
“I actually just committed 10:30 this morning,” Hewitt said by phone. “I chose Georgia Southern over Tulane, Rice, George Washington and St. Bonaventure.”
Hewitt said he liked everything about Georgia Southern, especially head coach Charlton Young.
“I just liked the situation,” he said. “When I took the visit [a week ago] I liked the people over there. When I met up with the players, I liked the players there. When I got there it was a no-brainer.”
As far as his playing status, Hewitt hopes to challenge for time next year as a freshman.
“Basically that’s another reason why I picked the school,” he said. “I can go in as a freshman and play right away. Coach ‘CY’ teaches you through your mistakes and I’m going to go in there as a freshman as the point guard.”
Hewitt joins a loaded recruiting class that includes stud Eric Ferguson, a 6-8 wing from the Winchendon (Mass.) School; Marvin Baynham, a 6-8 PF from Miami Norland; Trey Bussey, a 6-3 SG from Lithia Springs (Ga.) ; and Sam Mike, a 6-8 PF from Columbia (Ga.) High.
“I’m just real excited,” Hewitt said. “It’s a good program. “We got the No. 1 incoming recruiting class in the Southern Conference, so the Southern Conference better look out. I know we’re gonna do big things.”
CURRY TO WEST VIRGINIA
Darrious Curry signed a grant-in-aid to attend West Virginia next season.
“Darrious fills a void that we have at small forward with the losses of Da’Sean (Butler) and Devin (Ebanks),” Mounties coach Bob Huggins said. “We lost all of our size on the wing and our size is critical to our success. We wanted to add more size to our perimeter.”
Curry is a 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward from Stratford High in Houston. At Stratford, he averaged 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists per game as a senior for coach Mitch Hornsby. He was a McDonald’s All-America finalist and earned first team all-District 18-5A honors for three consecutive years. Curry had 32 points against Hastings High and 30 points against Elsik High this past season.
“West Virginia could not have gotten a better kid in Darrious Curry,” said Hornsby. “He is really athletic and a great leader. Darrious is a quality person on top of being a really good player.”
Curry transferred to Stratford for his senior year after playing the previous three seasons at Elsik High in Houston. He averaged 10 points as a freshman, 20 points as a sophomore and 15 points as a junior. Curry also ran track at Elsik, taking first place in the high jump and triple jump at the district meet.
Curry joins Noah Cottrill (Logan High, Logan, W.Va.) and David Nyarsuk (Mountain State Academy, Beckley, W.Va., native of Juba, Sudan) as signees for the 2010-11 season.
LOUISVILLE, PROVIDENCE ADD BIG MEN
**Louisville added 6-10 Gorgui Dieng, a native of Senegal now at Hungtington (West Va.) Prep. Read Jody Demling’s story here.
“He has a very good face-up game,” Huntington coach Rob Fulford added by phone. “He can step out and knock down jump shots. He can put the ball on the floor. Defense is his strong-suit. He’s a great passer from the post. He can score with his back to the basket, but he’s more comfortable facing up.”
**Providence got a commitment from 6-8 forward Brice Kofane from the Miller School in Charlottesville, Va. NBE has a story here.
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