Post by elp525 on May 8, 2011 8:53:31 GMT -5
May 7, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - On Saturday, West Virginia put in place the final piece to its 2011 basketball recruiting class with a big man who won't be able to help the team until the 2012-13 season.
What remains in limbo, though, is the status of the one player who will certainly make the biggest impact next season.
Yes, Aaric Murray finally announced his decision to transfer from WVU from La Salle and made it official by signing an NCAA letter of intent to do so on Saturday. (See story, Page 1D.)
But it is Kevin Jones' status that is most significant to the Mountaineers right now. He will participate in a workout in front of 27 NBA teams today in New Jersey and then will have only a matter of hours to decide if he will stay in the draft or return to West Virginia for his senior season.
"I'm just hoping to get as much feedback as I can about basically how general managers and scouts are critiquing my game,'' Jones told West Virginia Illustrated this weekend. "That's all you can ask for right now, then me, my brother and my family will talk about it and I'll make the best decision possible.''
That decision will have to be made in a hurry.
Jones entered his name into the NBA's list of draft-eligible players late last month and has the option to withdraw and retain his college eligibility. But the NCAA's deadline to do so is midnight tonight.
Saturday and today at the New Jersey Nets' practice facility, 44 players in situations similar to Jones are working out by invitation only in what amounts to the only such event available to underclassmen prior to the NCAA's deadline for withdrawing. Most of the NBA teams will be represented at the workout, which will include individual work as well as five-on-five competition.
Half of the players selected to participate did so Saturday. Jones, who received his invitation only late last week, is in the half that works out today.
This is not, however, a star-studded group. The roster generally includes players who are considered second-round draft material, if they will be drafted at all.
For instance, according to a mock draft by NBAdraft.net, the highest-rated prospect among the 44 at this weekend's camp is Greg Smith of Fresno State, predicted to go with the 13th pick in the second round. Only five of the players predicted by that website to be among the 60 drafted in June are among the 44 working out.
If Jones, a 6-foot-8 forward with one year of eligibility remaining, does decide to return to school it would be a big boost to a team that already has lost five seniors to graduation. He and point guard Truck Bryant would be the only seniors on a team that next season will also have just two scholarship juniors (Deniz Kilicli and Dalton Pepper) and freshman center Kevin Noreen, who is expected to receive a medical redshirt. The rest of the roster will be made up of six incoming freshmen and a junior college transfer.
That 2011-12 team will also include Murray, but only for practice purposes. The 6-foot-10 center must sit out next season as a transfer and then will have two years of eligibility remaining.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - On Saturday, West Virginia put in place the final piece to its 2011 basketball recruiting class with a big man who won't be able to help the team until the 2012-13 season.
What remains in limbo, though, is the status of the one player who will certainly make the biggest impact next season.
Yes, Aaric Murray finally announced his decision to transfer from WVU from La Salle and made it official by signing an NCAA letter of intent to do so on Saturday. (See story, Page 1D.)
But it is Kevin Jones' status that is most significant to the Mountaineers right now. He will participate in a workout in front of 27 NBA teams today in New Jersey and then will have only a matter of hours to decide if he will stay in the draft or return to West Virginia for his senior season.
"I'm just hoping to get as much feedback as I can about basically how general managers and scouts are critiquing my game,'' Jones told West Virginia Illustrated this weekend. "That's all you can ask for right now, then me, my brother and my family will talk about it and I'll make the best decision possible.''
That decision will have to be made in a hurry.
Jones entered his name into the NBA's list of draft-eligible players late last month and has the option to withdraw and retain his college eligibility. But the NCAA's deadline to do so is midnight tonight.
Saturday and today at the New Jersey Nets' practice facility, 44 players in situations similar to Jones are working out by invitation only in what amounts to the only such event available to underclassmen prior to the NCAA's deadline for withdrawing. Most of the NBA teams will be represented at the workout, which will include individual work as well as five-on-five competition.
Half of the players selected to participate did so Saturday. Jones, who received his invitation only late last week, is in the half that works out today.
This is not, however, a star-studded group. The roster generally includes players who are considered second-round draft material, if they will be drafted at all.
For instance, according to a mock draft by NBAdraft.net, the highest-rated prospect among the 44 at this weekend's camp is Greg Smith of Fresno State, predicted to go with the 13th pick in the second round. Only five of the players predicted by that website to be among the 60 drafted in June are among the 44 working out.
If Jones, a 6-foot-8 forward with one year of eligibility remaining, does decide to return to school it would be a big boost to a team that already has lost five seniors to graduation. He and point guard Truck Bryant would be the only seniors on a team that next season will also have just two scholarship juniors (Deniz Kilicli and Dalton Pepper) and freshman center Kevin Noreen, who is expected to receive a medical redshirt. The rest of the roster will be made up of six incoming freshmen and a junior college transfer.
That 2011-12 team will also include Murray, but only for practice purposes. The 6-foot-10 center must sit out next season as a transfer and then will have two years of eligibility remaining.
