By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer
Having recruited a strong incoming class for 2007, South Carolina State men's basketball coach Tim Carter and his staff are wasting little time targeting freshmen for next season.
With national signing day three months away, the Bulldogs have gone out west to secure a verbal commitment from point guard Darian Norris, this according to his father Walter "Kurt" Norris on Tuesday.
Described by fullctpress.net as a "very solid point" who "knows how to direct traffic and get into the gaps of the defense," the 6-foot, 180-pound rising senior out of Mojave High School in Las Vegas has averaged 19 points and eight assists per game the last two seasons.
Norris led his high school to the Class 4-A state championship game and has spent the summer playing for the AAU Team, Las Vegas Dogcatchers Elite. On Tuesday, Norris scored 37 points in a semifinals' loss in the 17-and-Under Platinum Division of the National Youth Basketball Championships' Las Vegas Summer Classic.
As a youngster, he was part of a 12-and-Under National AAU championship team, and worked with SCSU assistant coach Jermone Riley when he was the basketball director and head coach of the Agassi Stars AAU basketball program in Las Vegas. It was that past interaction with Riley, along with attending a university with a small class atmosphere, which Norris' father said convinced his son to select SCSU over Top 25 programs like Gonzaga, hometown school UNLV, PAC-10 schools like Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State, as well as Utah, Long Beach State and Pepperdine.
Ironically, UNLV is playing host to a tournament Nov. 23-24 which will include SCSU. When Norris arrives for the 2008-09 season, he's expected to either back up or compete with newcomer Jesse Burton for the starting point guard duties.
Burton is one of four new Bulldogs signed for this season along with National Junior College Division III Player of the Year forward Jason Johnson, S.C. High School League Class 3-A Player of the Year guard Carrio Bennett, shooting guard Wesley Telfare and forward Everett Spencer. The Bulldogs open the regular season Nov. 9 at the University of South Carolina.
T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories online at TheT&D.com.
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