Cliff Dixon has de-committed from Seton Hall but says he’s still considering the Pirates among several other schools.
“Me committing to Seton Hall was like a panic decision, like no other schools were considering me because I was suspended,” Dixon, a 6-foot-10, 210-pound forward at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, said Tuesday in a phone interview.
The story was first reported by Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com.
“It’s a good school,” Dixon added of Seton Hall in the phone interview. “I’m not saying I’m not going to go there. I’m saying my options are open.
“I’m looking at Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Missouri, Miami, the list just goes on. I got offers from every school.”
Dixon said he planned to take several official visits in the spring.
“I will make my decision at the end of the season when I’ll be able to take my visits,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll take all five visits. I’ll take three visits and make my decision based on those three schools.”
Dixon, who is NBA star Kevin Durant’s half-brother, verbally committed to Bobby Gonzalez and his staff shortly after being suspended by Hutchinson coach Ryan Swanson back in mid-November. He did not sign a National Letter of Intent.
Dixon was averaging 15.9 points and 7.1 rebounds before the suspension.
“I yelled out a cuss word and I got suspended for it,” Dixon said. “I was thinking my coach wanted to tell no one what had happened. It seemed like the situation was a lot worse than it really was, like I was a bad player or uncoachable. No coaches had called me after I was suspended.
“But once they found out I said a cuss word, they said everybody cusses when they’re on court. ‘It ain’t like you were a bad player, you just slipped up and said a cuss word.'”
Dixon was reinstated and his first game back will be on Dec. 31.
“I haven’t talked to Cliff at all,” Swanson said by phone. “That would be news to me [about the decommitment]. He was just recently reinstated to the team and Dec. 31 will be his first game back.”
Seton Hall has no commits for the Class of 2009, but remains involved with Wake Forest transfer Jamie Skeen and Patterson (N.C.) School wing DeAndre Kane, who visits this weekend. Skeen is down to Seton Hall, South Florida and VCU, while Kane is considering Pitt, Marquette and Seton Hall.
The Pirates hope to get word this week on Missouri transfer Keon Lawrence.
