Van is one of the nation's premier recruiting experts. E-mail here!
We caught up with BrewsterAcademy coach Jason Smith on Sunday evening and he filled us in on his 6-foot-7 junior wingman Emmanuel Negedu and his commitment earlier in the day to Lute Olson and his Arizona Wildcats.
"I picked up Emmanuel at the airport this morning and he told me he was ready to commit to Arizona," coach Smith told CSTV. "I knew we had to call coaches right away, since three or four were scheduled to visit him, so I had him call Coach Olson and we cancelled the other visits."
"He picked Arizona for a couple of reasons," Smith continued. "First of all they had been recruiting him the longest, basically from the day he arrived in the states from Nigeria.
"Secondly he really enjoys their wide open style of play. Plus after visiting Tucson, meeting the people, and seeing the campus; he was sold on Arizona."
Negedu may have made the decision to join the Wildcats after taking a visit to the Arizona campus the 15th-17th, just before he had a great run in Houston at the Kingwood Classic, leading his team to the crown while being named the MVP.
He made that choice today and will sign with the Cats in November.He brings a lot of things to the table that Arizona fans will warm up to in a hurry once he hits the hardwood at the McKaleCenter.
Negedu is an exceptional leaper, who reportedly can touch his forehead on the rim. He is really improving his jump shot and is more than adequate knocking down 17-19 footer.In many ways he has a game at this stage similar in my opinion to a young Andre Iguodala.Smith concurred and made a similar comparison to a former Brewster great.
"He reminds me of Jeff Adrien (Connecticut), he has a similar skill set at this point," Smith said. "He's a little under-sized four man, but he's so long and explosive that he plays much bigger than his size.
"He has really improved his shot range and handle this year playing against the great talent in our league.He's a leader too! He was our captain as a junior, I only expect him to continue to raise his game and do the same for his teammates next year."
My thoughts are that, just like Iguodala, he will move his game to the three spot at Arizona, and become a perimeter threat before he leaves the Wildcats.But, he has plenty of time to make that move once he gets to Tucson.
He averaged 18 points and pulled down 11 boards for BrewsterAcademy this past winter leading them to a 29-6 overall record.He has started the spring AAU season with an MVP performance in Houston.He is a definite candidate for the McDonald's All-American squad in 2008.
del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Blue Dot
Yahoo!
Google