# Center/forward
Gus Gilchrist of Temple Hills-Progressive Christian Academy, Md., will transfer from Maryland to
South Florida, according to the Tampa Tribune. He also considered Kentucky and West Virginia.
Gilchrist had first signed with Virginia Tech in November 2006, but opted out of his letter citing the 2007 shootings on campus. He enrolled in Maryland, but the ACC ruled Gilchrist would not be eligible until January 2009 and would lose a year of eligibility because he had signed with another conference school. Maryland then gave Gilchrist a requested release. South Florida is expected to appeal to the NCAA for a hardship waiver that would allow Gilchrist to play this season at USF. If the appeal is not successful, he would not be able to play at USF until the 2009-10 season.
# 6-9 forward
Charles Garcia of Los Angeles-Dorsey, Cal/Riverside CC, Cal., has pledged to
Washington. He also considered Southern California, San Diego State, Nebraska and Tennessee.
# Forward
Kellen Thornton of Country Club Hills-Hillcrest, Ill/Brewster Academy, NH., is set for
Illinois State. He also considered Bradley, Evansville, Kent State and Loyola-Maryland.
# Sophomore forward
Gabe Blair of Kings Mountain-Hope Christian Academy, NC., is transfering from
East Carolina to
Wichita State. He started all 29 games for ECU last season.
# Top 100 forward/guard
Brian Oliver of Bear, Del/New Castle-William Penn, Del/Oak Hill Academy, Va., ranked No. 90 in Class 2009 overall, has given a commitment to
Georgia Tech. Among others considered were Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Miami-Florida.
# Guard
Will Scott of New York-Collegiate School, NY/Blair Academy, NJ/Cornell., a walk-on transfer for the past two seasons at
Louisville, has been awarded a 2008-09 scholarship for his senior season. Scott played in 27 games as a junior, started one and averaged two points. He will receive the scholarship vacated by forward Derrick Caracter who was declared academically ineligible.
# Top 100 6-9 forward
Brendan Lane of Rocklin, Cal., ranked No. 77 in Class 2009 overall, has chosen the
UCLA Bruins over California and Stanford. He also considered Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Washington, Washington State and Virginia.
# Well-traveled Top 100 guard/forward
Nate Miles of Toledo-Libbey, Ohio/Oak Hill Academy, Va/Libbey (again)/Toledo-Waite, Ohio/San Antonio-Cornerstone Christian, Tex/Patterson School, NC., ranked No. 60 overall in Class 2008, has been granted eligibility by the NCAA to attend
UConn, The Hartford Courant reports. Miles joins Kemba Walker, Ater Majok, Charles Okwandu and Scottie Haralson as incoming UConn recruits. The school has only four scholarships to offer, but head coach Jim Calhoun has hinted that sophomore forward Stanley Robinson's future with the team is in question.
# Guard
Chris Bass, a Class 2008 prospect from Baton Rouge-Capitol Pre-College Academy for Boys, La/Lee Academy, Maine, is headed to
LSU. Among others were East Carolina, TCU, Arkansas State, UAB and Alabama. He is the younger brother of ex-Capitol and LSU standout Brandon Bass.
# Sophomore forward
Matt LaGrone of San Diego/H-Town Christian Academy, Cal/Reno-McQueen, Nev., is transfering from
Nevada to
Oregon State to play football with his brother. He played in 32 games last season for Nevada and started nine.
# Sophomore 6-5 guard
Doneal Mack of Charlotte-Statesville Christian, NC., who played in 39 games and averaged 6.9 points last season, is leaving
Memphis. Looking for more playing time, Mack started only two games. He originally signed with Florida as a prep, but was not admitted.
6-5 guard
Roburt Sallie, a highly-rated junior college transfer, plans to visit Memphis this weekend.
# Both juniors who played in all 33 games last season, forward
Johnnie Harris of Chicago-Vocational, Ill/Chipola CC, Fla; and center/forward
Monquel Pegues of Wilson-Fike, NC/Cape Fear CC, NC., are reportedly transfering from
New Mexico.
# Guard
Jordan Crawford of Detroit-Communication and Media Arts, Mich/Hargrave MA, Va., has decided to transfer from
Indiana. That leaves only two returning players for the Hoosiers in walk-on Brett Finkelmeier and Kyle Taber. Taber was awarded a scholarship at the start of last season. Crawford played in 30 games, started seven and averaged 9.7 points as a freshman last season.
# Guard
Chris Richard of Portland-Sunset/Portland-Westview, Ore., who redshirted as a freshman last season at
Richmond, will walk-on to
Oregon State, according to OregonPreps.Com.
# Guard/forward
Wendell Wright of Lakewood-Mayfair, Cal., who gained a requested release from his signed letter to Loyola Maryland after the coaching change, has signed with
Portland State.
# Forward
Emmanuel Negedu: Rated No. 31 in Class 2008. Gained release from letter to Arizona following coaching changes. Lists Georgia Tech, Indiana, Memphis, Tennessee.
# Forward
Wesley Johnson: Transfer from Iowa State. Lists Memphis, Georgetown, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, LSU, Louisville, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Connecticut, Marquette, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia.
# Guard
Roburt Sallie: Released from letter to Nebraska due to Big 12 signing rule. Lists Cincinnati, Kentucky, Maryland, Memphis, Oregon State, Marshall.
# Guard
Derrick Jasper: Transfer from Kentucky. Listed UCLA, Arizona, UNLV, SDSU, LB State.
# Forward
Curtis Kelly: Transfer from UConn: Listed UNLV, Kentucky, Kansas State, Xavier.
# Center/forward
Gus Gilchrist: Transfer from Maryland. Lost appeals for length of in-league transfer redshirt time. Was once set for Virginia Tech. Considering South Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia.
# Guard
Tyree Evans: Asked for release from letter to Maryland after media attention to off-court problems. Had yet to be admitted.
# Guard
Malik Story: Rated as Super Prospect. Once set for Southern California. Lists Georgetown, Wake Forest, Marquette, Oregon, Indiana.
# Forward
Leonard Washington: Once set for Southern California. Lists USC, Indiana, Kentucky.
# Well-traveled guard/forward
Nate Minnoy of Chicago-Hales Franciscan, Ill/Purdue/Schoolcraft CC, Mich., has transfered from
Central Michigan to NAIA Lee University (Tenn). He played in 28 games last season, started 10 and averaged 8.8 points.
# Junior center
Mohamed Tangara of Bamako, Mali/Mt. Zion Christian Academy, NC., transfered from
Arizona to D-2 Chaminade (Hawaii).
# Guard
Deontay Twyman of Sandy Spring-Sherwood, Md., has transfered from
Ball State to Polk CC, Fla. He played in 30 games last season as a freshman.
# Former walk-on guards
Branden Conrad of Charlotte-Providence Day School, NC; and
Robert Wilder of Chapin, SC., have earned scholarships at
South Carolina for the 2008-09 school year, first-year head coach Darrin Horn announced. "Both Branden and Robert have been exemplary in everything that we have asked of them since we arrived on campus," said Horn. "Since we have some scholarships available, I felt that we should reward them while we can. They have earned it and they deserve it."
Conrad appeared in 10 games for the Gamecocks during the 2007-08 campaign. He came to Carolina after spending two years at the Naval Academy.
"I am excited about helping lead this team to new heights in my senior season," said Conrad. "To do it as a scholarship player is a goal realized and something I will always be grateful to Coach Horn and his staff for making possible."
Wilder appeared in six games for the Gamecocks in 2007-08. He joined the team last fall after sitting out his freshman year at USC.
"I'm thankful Coach Horn and his staff have helped make a dream come true for me," said Wilder. "I'm excited about the direction our program is headed and want to do whatever I can to help make it successful."
The Gamecocks currently have 11 players on scholarship.
# Sophomore guard
Larry Wright of Saginaw, Mich., has transferred from
St. John's to
Oakland. He played in 29 games, started 10 and averaged 9 points last season.
# High-scoring 6-5 guard
Trenton Marshall of Garyville-East St. John, La/Jones County CC, Miss., has pledged to
Oklahoma State. He averaged 23.9 points last season.
# Top 100 guard
Leslie McDonald of Memphis-Braircrest Christian, Tenn., ranked No. 17 in Class 2009, has given a commitment to
North Carolina over Duke, Georgetown, Memphis, Ohio State and Tennessee, among many others. The Heels now have pledges from five Class 2009 Top 100 prospects.
# Center/forward
Kourtney Roberson of Arcadia, La., has become the third Class 2009 commitment for
Texas A&M. Among others were LSU, Southern California and Louisiana Tech.
# Forward/center
Michael Boswell of Beaverton-Aloha, Ore., will walk-on at
BYU, reports OregonPreps.Com. He held offers from Weber State, Utah State and Toledo.
Bill Hodge
As The Director of Recruiting Coverage for CSTV.com, Hodge specializes in daily football and basketball recruiting roundups including recent signings and school news. Hodge has received awards for newspaper sections/writing, covered a large share of national sports events, worked for professional/university sports information departments, written for 18 sports magazines.
