- As mentioned earlier today, Donte Smith from Mt. San Antonio College will petition to the NCAA to join the SC basketball team this Fall. The story behind Donte is he failed to qualify coming out of high school by .002 points due to his mother being sick his senior year. OU was heavily recruiting Donte, but after this weekend's USC Elite Camp, he decided to commit shortly after being offered by Coach Floyd and staff.
If Donte qualifies, he'll battle it out with Angelo (if he also qualifies) for playing time and add necessary depth at the PG position. Having played one season at Mt. SAC, he'll have 3 years of eligibility at SC.
- The 2nd commit of the day for the basketball team came from 8th-grader, Ryan Boatwright from Aurora, Illinois. Here's a few comments about Ryan's decision from his father:
"They were the first one to show interest in Ryan," said Boatwright's father, Mike. "A lot of people have said Ryan isn't that good, but he went to USC's camp and played well."
Boatwright played well enough that Floyd put forth a scholarship offer on the final day of camp. DePaul, Indiana and a few smaller schools had expressed interest, but USC was the first to step up with an offer.
"It shocked me," Mike Boatwright said of the offer. "But Ryan loved it there and he decided on his own."
"The campus is gorgeous," he added. "It's a private school and both myself and his mom were impressed with the academic standards at USC. That's really what got us."
Personally, I don't take much stock into this commitment. With Dwayne Polee Jr. - the other 8th grader to commit last year - I can see the possibility of him wearing a SC uniform because of his ties and location relative to the program, but in this case we have an 8th grader making a tremendously important decision coming off the high of playing well at a college camp. When you add distance as a factor and the local schools whispering in his ear, the chances that this commitment sticks doesn't look too good. At this point it's completely worthless to speculate, so I'll put this on the back burner for a WHILE...
- Congrats to Hershel Dennis for receiving a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA. As I mentioned before, Hershel was one of the more impressive players I saw during Spring practice and at the Huddle. Let's hope he sees the field and makes good of this opportunity.
