Commitment Catch-Up

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018

As winter turns to spring we've started to see more and more seniors and post-graduates finalize their college plans. Here's a rundown of some of the commitments from recent weeks:

• The Bradford Christian duo of Abdul Ajia and Isaiah Holmes both committed to Post University last month, giving BCA three scholarship pledges in their 2018 class. Ajia is a Rhode Island Elite product who picked up a division I offer earlier this winter from Coppin State and has great potential still to realize with his combination of physical tools and budding skill. Holmes is a skilled sub-six-footer and the latest scholarship player to come out of the D.C. Blue Devils program as he went from a virtual unknown to now a D2 player in the last year.
• Gedi Juozapaitis, a 6-foot-4 wing who starred for the Woodstock Academy Blue team this year, committed to Flagler University on Monday. Flagler is an NCAA division II school in Florida who just might have found themselves a steal. Juozapaitis won MVP honors in the Power 5 Conference tournament to help lead his team to a championship. He was also named to the Power 5 AA All-Conference team. A Lithuanian native who most recently lived in England, Juozapaitis combines skill and athleticism with a physical profile that includes solid size and length on the wing. He is the 8th member of Woodstock Academy's 2018 class to accept a full athletic scholarship so far.
• Wilbraham & Monson Academy announced on Wednesday that senior guard Devonn Allen was headed to Amherst College. One of the top rated liberal arts colleges in the country year-in and year-out, Amherst also has a rich basketball tradition as one of the most storied programs in the NESCAC. Allen, who is a product of the Boston Warriors AAU program, is a physical lead guard and high level defender who has vastly improved both his jump shot and overall offense within the cousre of the last two years.
• Babson College got their latest scholarship caliber talent when they received a commitment from Central Catholic High School forward and Mass Rivals alum Colin Bradanese. The 6-foot-5 forward had a decorated high school career and was again named All-Conference in the Merrimack Valley this year as a senior. He was also an all-conference selection as a junior, as well as a Boston Globe All-Scholastic, after leading Central Catholic to the D1 North final and the MVC championship. Bradanese is a skilled and versatile inside-out forward who should be able to make immediate contributions for a Babson program that won the 2017 NCAA division III national championship.
• Portland High School senior and Blue Wave Basketball alum Griffin Foley is staying close to home to continue his basketball career at Saint Joseph's College of Maine. Foley is a two-sport athlete who has helped Portland win consecutive state championships on the hardwood during his junior and senior seasons and was also one of six players to be named First-Team All-Class AA North in the MPA. The commitment is an important one for Saint Joseph's as they retain one of the state's best and also land a point guard and three-point shooter capable of helping from day one.
• St. Andrew's post-graduate forward Dillon Grant is headed to Assumption College in the Northeast 10 Conference next year. Grant was a virtual unknown at this time last year playing in Cape Cod but he announced his arrival on the recruiting scene at last June's Elite 75 College Showcase and continued to intrigue scholarship level coaches through the summer and fall months with his combination of size and talent. With still less than one full year of quality competition now under his belt, Grant's best days are clearly ahead of him as there simply aren't many 6-foot-9 big men who can match his soft touch or potential to stretch the floor. The fact that he's left-handed is just an added bonus.
• Algonquin High School and Mass Select senior guard Kyle Henderson committed to Endicott College shortly after the end of his high school season. A third team all-state selection in the MIAA according to SuiteSports, Henderson averaged nearly 22 points per game to lead Algonquin to a D1 sectional final in Central Massachusetts. A hard-nosed competitor who brings definite toughness with him to the hardwood, Henderson combines those intangibles with a knockdown shooting stroke from the outside and should a young core at Endicott that won 19 games in the CCC this season.
• Gould Academy guard Zack Mittelstadt is heading to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Mittelstadt has spent the last two years in the prep ranks and served as one of the returning veterans on this year's team that qualified for the NEPSAC AA tournament in just the program's second season. Prior to that he put up big numbers at Mt. Blue High School in Maine and starred for Next Level Athletics on the grassroots circuit. Mittelstadt is a smart player with a very steady floor game who makes open shots and knows how to play in offensive structure.