Things Shaking Up Around The A-10 Update
Update: April 30, 2004
In previous stories, we reported on players whose signing of a National Letter of Intent in the Spring period (which ends May 19th) had been announced by La Salle (3) and Temple (2). (see links below) There is one more signing on the way, though it hasn't been announced by St. Bonaventure yet.
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Willie Morse, who previously committed to Penn State but reversed his decision after this past year's coaching change, was headed to the Bonnies but as a walk-on. Because of other things happening in Olean, N.Y., he will be on scholarship next season. This was reported by the Olean Times-Herald but there's been no announced out of SBU yet.
One of the Bonnies' two fall signees has reportedly been released from his NLI. Charles Burch, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward from Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass. is now looking elsewhere according to Jeff Goodman of TheInsidersHoops.com. Six-foot point guard Isaiah Carson from Springfield, Ohio is still in the fold.
Earlier, St. Bonaventure announced that three current players, two juniors and one freshman , were leaving the program.
Andu Smith, a 6-foot-6 freshman small forward from England and two high schools in North Carolina, will be transferring. He averaged 2.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 20 games this season.
Maurice Young, a 6-foot-5 junior swingman from the Washington, D.C. area, who had transferred from Virginia during his sophomore season, was the Bonnies' starting small forward and third-leading scorer at 11.7 points per game. He also averaged 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Young earned Academic All-Conference honors from the Atlantic 10 each of the past two seasons and is graduating next month.
Cortez Sutton, a 6-foot-7 forward also from the D.C. area, joined SBU in 2002-03 from Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. Sutton was hampered by a foot bruise this past season. The chronic nature of the injury is expected to prevent him from playing next season, but he will remain a student at St. Bonaventure. In 13 games this past season, Sutton averaged 3.7 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.Coach Anthony Solomon had scored a recruiting coup earlier this year when Florida's Mario Boggan transferred to the A-10 school at mid-semester. But last week the previously mentioned Times-Herald article reported that Boggan, "... was dismissed from the program last month before playing a game." Boggan was a top-100 prospect from Hargrave Military and Oak Hill Academies who played in 16 games as a freshman. His best stat: he shot 52.0 percent from the field.
And there's other tough news about a former Bonnies' coach. Today's Buffalo News reports that Kort Wickenheiser, the son of deposed St. Bonaventure President Robert Wickenheiser, "... has been reprimanded and placed on one-year probation by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association after committing violations as the head coach of Holy Cross Academy in New Orleans." One has to wonder if this was because Kort was a new high school coach who wasn't familiar with the rules or just didn't pay attention.
We can hope the Bonnies will be able to get things moving once the NCAA kills the "5/8 rule" as expected in tomorrow's Board of Directors meeting.
At Xavier, top recruit Churchill Odia-Ehis had verbally committed to the Musketeers but didn't sign in the fall. He's reopened his options; Louisville and Oregon State are now recruiting the Nigerian native whose visa problems prevented him from playing during his senior season at Montrose Christian, also in the D.C. area. Pittsburgh area folks had an opportunity to see Odia-Elis play in this month's Pittsburgh Hoops World Classic where he scored 17 points and distributed five assists.
And DeForrest Riley-Smith, who transferred from Penn State to Xavier between semesters is now at Southern University. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported he wanted to be closer to his mother who lives in New Orleans. Riley-Smith attended high schoon in Cincinnati
Our final note in this story is Rhode Island's announcement that junior Dustin Hellenga was dismissed from the team for lack of academic responsibility. Hellenga was a three-year starter for the Rams, who was third on the team in scoring in 2003-04 at 11.2 points per game. He averaged 13.0 points per game as a sophomore and 9.1 points per game in his freshman year.
Update: (April 30, 2004)
The Bergen Record reported on April 27th that Fordham's John Blackgrove has transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson.
And Massachusetts announced April 29th that junior center Gabe Lee, who missed the second half of the past season because of an injury has withdrawn from school due to personal reasons.
Prior OTB.com Stories
Other Reports
Bonnies Signee Released from Letter (TIH.com) (subscription)
Odia & Morse news (CE)
FDU adds Blackgrove (BR)