Weekend News & Notes

NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com | Friday, January 30th, 2009

•  Rod Odom continues to be a priority recruit for lots of big time colleges.  Xavier became the most recent school to offer him a scholarship a couple of weeks ago joining Boston College, West Virginia, Seton Hall, Rutgers, and Holy Cross.  The coaching staff from BC has been particularly attentive, being present at three different games this month.  Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt and assistant John O’Connell were both at Middlesex’ practice on Tuesday night and Virginia and Villanova were up last week to catch a game.  Harvard, Stanford, Providence, and Memphis were all at the Middlesex/St. Mark’s game 10 days ago. 

•  Jordan Williams had perhaps the most dominant game any New England high school player has had this season when he went for 50 points and 23 rebounds last Friday night against Crosby.  With those 50 points, Williams surpassed his uncle, former UConn forward Murray Williams, to become the all-time leading scorer in Torrington history.  Remarkably, his heroics weren’t enough as Crosby came away with the victory.

•  This is the time of year when we start to see standout players eclipse the 1000 point plateau, but it’s especially noteworthy when it’s a junior.  Scituate’s Rodney Beldo and Sabis’ Andre King are two such players to reach the milestone in just their third years.   

•  We told you last week that Josh Bartelstein’s stock was on the rise.  There was further proof this week as UIC (University of Illinois Chicago), a mid-major school from the Horizon League, became the latest school to offer a scholarship.  Wyoming, Detroit, Hawaii, and Elon are all scheduled to make the trip to New England next week to see the sharp-shooter in action. 

•  The Winchendon men’s basketball team has been on a tear as of late knocking off both the #1 and #3 ranked teams in the country (Patterson & Notre Dame Prep respectively), avenging an early season loss to Lee Academy, and blowing out Edison.  UMass bound wing Sampson Carter has been a consistent scoring threat on the wing while improved production at the point guard position from Akeem Williams and Ozan Dilik has also been crucial to their success.