Though current Ivy basketball players are looking to the upcoming season, college hopefuls are beginning to put their futures in order. And while it is still early in the year, one standout high-school player has already made up his mind.
Kenyatta Smith, a 6-foot-7 post player from Brea, Calif., verbally committed to coach Tommy Amaker of Harvard during a visit this weekend.
Smith is rated 89 out of 100 by ESPN, a high pull for an Ivy League team. He’s also one of the top-ranked players at center in the nation.
Interested in medical school, Smith had narrowed his choices to Vanderbilt, Penn and Harvard but was ultimately swayed to Boston because of his visit.
“I love the campus, I love the people, everything—just beautiful,” he told The Harvard Crimson Saturday at the Harvard football game. He added that he “just didn’t feel the connection” to Philadelphia or Penn.
Smith would have been a strong addition to a Penn roster that will lose a number of post players after graduation, including Jack Eggleston, Dan Monckton, Andreas Schreiber and Conor Turley.
Bears get Gored. Brown secured a verbal commitment on Tuesday from El Paso, Texas native Christian Gore. The six-foot-two shooting guard accepted the Bears offer without visiting, according to Scouts.com.
Rated an 85 by ESPN, Gore is a “knock down jump shooter,” according to the network, who has a quick draw on the shot.
Though ESPN’s valuation says Gore needs improvement on defense, his ability to get open looks could earn him playing time in 2011.
It’s Miller time for Big Red. Cleveland native Shonn Miller — a product of Lebron James’s summer league basketball team King James Shooting Stars — verbally committed to reigning Ivy champion Cornell after visiting last weekend.
According to the St. Ignatius High School website, Miller said that Cornell “just felt right.”
St. Ignatius is rated by U.S. News & World Report as a bronze-level high school, and Miller was searching for a college with similar academic standards.
Miller is ranked by ESPN as the 111th-best small forward in the country. While he plays inside for his school team “out of necessity,” he performs better on the perimeter.
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