One week after announcing he would spend another year at Newark (NJ) NIA Prep, 6-foot-8 forward Jamir Hanner has decommitted from Seton Hall.
“I decommitted because I decided to do an extra year at NIA Prep to focus on my SAT score,” Hanner said by text. “I worked day and night to bring my GPA to 2.5. I would like to become a better student-athlete.”
Hanner also cited the coaching change. He committed to former Pirates coach Bobby Gonzalez in March, but told new coach Kevin Willard during a meeting that he would re-open his recruitment.
“The coaching staff changed,” he said. “I want to work on becoming a stronger athlete and getting a better understanding of my position and the game. Right now my focus is on obtaining my goals.”
Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Rice and Michigan have reached out, while Marshall and Arkansas offered him on the condition he would take a prop year.
Hanner said he didn’t accept those offers because “I don’t want to sit out for a year.”
Seton Hall currently has a three-man signed class of 6-5 Paterson Catholic wing Fuquan Edwin, 6-9 Czech forward Patrik Auda of the Canarias Basketball Academy and 6-8 Anali Okoloji, a Brooklyn native playing at Impact (Fla.) Academy.
The Pirates may look to add another frontcourt player now that Hanner is out of the mix for 2010.
ORTIZ, WADE TRANSFERRING
A couple of New Jersey guards are in the midst of working out their transfers.
Former Houston guard Desmond Wade of Linden will visit Fairfield, La Salle, Wagner, Niagara and Northeastern “over the next two weeks,” according to his father, Jeff Wade.
The 5-8 Wade was a three-time All-State performer at Linden.
Onetime Southern Miss guard Kenneth Ortiz is taking an online class and will then officially transfer from Southern Miss.
Wagner and Temple are in the mix for the 5-11, 180-pound Ortiz, with Wagner the leader at this point.
“He has spoken with the folks at Wagner,” Newark Science coach Milt Gaylord said. “They like the situation at Wagner. Right now Wagner is the leading school. He has not visited Temple, but plans to visit Temple.”
Gaylord said Ortiz never got the playing time he wanted at Southern Miss after they went to a halfcourt offense.
“They wound up playing a halfcourt game,” Gaylord said. “He didn’t get to play a lot. He felt he needed to go somewhere where he could play.’
FREE THROWS
St. John’s made official Tuesday the hiring of former Rice High School coach Moe Hicks as Director of Basketball Operations. SNY.tv reported the news on May 5…St. Patrick’s senior guard Kevin Boyle Jr. will not play hoops in college and will enroll at the New York Film Academy instead, per Alex Kline.
(Photos courtesy NJHoops.com and Houston Athletics)
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