BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: WEST VIRGINIA

October 23, 2007


Commitment Alert: Kevin Jones, 6'7 (F) from Mount Vernon (NY)


Projected 2008-2009 Roster


Seniors: Joe Alexander (SF), Alex Ruoff (WF)
Juniors: Joe Mazzula (PG), Wellington Smith (F), Desean Butler (WF)
Sophomores: John Flowers (F), Will Thomas (G), Cam Thoroughman (F), Jacob Green (BF), Jonnie West (G)
Freshmen: Darryl Bryant (PG), Roscoe Davis (BF), Kevin Jones (F)

Bob Huggins wins his first significant recruiting battle since returning to his alma mater with the news of Kevin Jones to West Virginia (zagsblog). Jones joins Darryl Bryant and Roscoe Davis as other members of WVU's 2008 class expected to sign letters of intent today.

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The long awaited decision from Kevin Jones was made official today and the West Virginia Mountaineers hung on the longest and landed the versatile Mount Vernon star. Citing the opportunity to develop as a small forward at WVU, Jones chose the Mountaineers over Pittsburgh and Indiania as well as local schools such as Rutgers, Seton Hall and St. John's. Jones averaged 22 points and 11.4 rebounds last season for the powerful Mount Vernon program where he was a teammate of Rutgers freshman Mike Coburn. Jones also had a highly accomplished career on the AAU circuit where he played with the Westchester Hawks and Mookie Jones of Peekskill (Syracuse commit) and Tyshawn Taylor of St. Anthony's (Marquette commit).

Previously this fall, Huggins used the DC-area connections of assistant coach Billy Hahn and his own national reputation to get the job done and landed an impressive verbal commitment from 6'10 forward Roscoe Davis. Davis is a high-upside player that can get up and down the floor as well as any player his size in the class. He also brings a strong inside/out combo of skills that makes him an ideal fit in the system you have come to expect from Bob Huggins' teams. He is still quite thin, maybe around 200 lbs, so he will have to add some muscle to his frame to bang inside and rebound consistently in the Big East, but his ability to shoot and handle the ball for a player his size will always cause match-up problems.

There has been a bit of uncertainty as to which class Davis would end up in, 2008 or 2009. His move to Hargrave Academy was an aggressive step in the direction to qualifying this spring to be part of 2008. The confusion of his class status had several schools taking a wait and see approach, but everyone had raved about his play this fall in Hargrave workouts and the Mountaineers made an aggressive move to land the commitment, rather than have him wait until the spring which could have relaly blown up his recruitment.

Davis and Jones join St. Raymond's guard Darryl (Truck) Bryant, the 6'1, 180-pound guard, as commitments for the 2008 WVU class. Bryant averaged 15 points per game for St. Raymond's last season and chose West Virginia over St. John's, Illinois, South Carolina, South Florida, Memphis and Rhode Island. With Joe Mazzulla the only true point guard listed on the WVU roster for 2008-2009, the addition of Bryant fills a need for the Mountaineers. Bryant has the NYC toughness that a Bob Huggins-coached team will put to good use. Bryant thrives on overpowering opponents in getting to the basket or the free throw line. He will need to fine-tune his shooting and the intricate skills of a point guard, but he has a high basketball IQ and has played for two top-notch programs at St. Raymond's High School and the NY Gaucho AAU program, so he will be ready for Big East basketball.

The three commitments fill up the projected roster for the Mountineers for the 2008-2009 season with 13 players. Not too get too far ahead of ourselves, but recruiting happens at an earlier and earlier stage each year, but the 2009 class already has several West Virginia targets surfacing loud and clear. Highly-rated Lance Stephenson has WVU in his sights. The NYC (Lincoln) prodigy has been called the 'Next One' for a few years now. Also, Delaware native Brian Oliver has emerged as a prime Big East target and the Mountaineers have been on him from the get-to, including hosting hom last weekend as well. Loveland (Ohio) High School sophomore, Bobby Capobianco, 6'8 and 225 lbs, also was on campus last weekend and liked what he saw. Marquette is also strongly in the mix for the 2009 talent. The Mountaineers seem pretty loaded at the wing and combo forward positions, so finding a dynamic scorer at the 2-guard and a big man inside for the blocks is probably their main priority for 2009.

The early recruiting is also evident in the fact that 6'1 Sophomore Noah Cottrell from Poca High School (WV) has made an early pledge to WVU. Cottrell is one of the top rated prospects in the class of 2010.

we will continue to pay close attention to the West Virginia recruiting prospects as Bob Huggins looks to make his stamp on his alma mater.

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