Scott declares; hoops recruiting heats up
As the Notre Dame basketball team put a cap on its season with an awards banquet the offseason got thrown into a bit of flux.
Forward Carleton Scott confirmed following the ceremony Wednesday that he has declared for the NBA draft but will not hire an agent in an attempt to gauge his stock at the professional level before what would be his final collegiate season.
Advertisement
“I declared last week but I’m not gonna sign an agent,” Scott said. “Like I said, we’ll just see how the process works out and then go from there.”
By not signing with an agent Scott preserves his amateur status and remaining eligibility. The 6-foot-8 forward has until May 8 to remove himself from the draft pool and return to Notre Dame.
Over the next few weeks Scott can assess his standing with professional scouts via workouts.
“I think it’s an official way to get feedback on status,” head coach Mike Brey said. “And it opens up the channels to officially be able to get the feedback instead of trying to do it, if he doesn’t put his name out there, through an agent and through a third party. We’ve been very good at circumventing that.”
Scott’s path until the deadline to remove his name from the draft will be similar to what former All-American forward Luke Harangody went through following his junior season.
Eventually Harangody returned for his senior campaign and became a second round pick of the Boston Celtics. Midway through this season Boston traded Harangody to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Soon Scott would like to talk with Harangody to get a feel for what he can expect.
“I called him,” Scott said. “I haven’t talked to him. I’ve tried to talk to him just to pick his brain and see how he went through the whole process. I talked to coach and got his blessing on it. He thought it was a pretty good idea just seeing how that option goes.”
Scott averaged 11.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season.
Knight has ankle surgery
Tom Knight was a notable absence during the banquet.
During a recent pickup game, Knight came down on another player’s foot and twisted his ankle. The injury didn’t heal properly with rest and treatment - at one point it required the insertion of a wire to get things back on track - so surgery became the next step.
The sophomore forward underwent a procedure Wednesday afternoon.
“That’s a setback for him because this was big summer for him,” Brey said. “He’s not gonna be doing anything until Aug. 1.”
Knight took a redshirt during his freshman season and played sparingly as a sophomore, appearing in just 14 games. But with the graduation of Ty Nash it meant that Knight and Mike Broghammer were expected to vie for minutes behind sophomore Jack Cooley.
Hansbrough plans for pro career
Ben Hansbrough has started formalizing a plan as he moves toward a career in professional basketball.
First off, Jeff Schwartz will serve as Hansbrough’s agent. Schwartz represents Hansbrough’s older brother, Tyler, and also serves as the primary representative for Jason Kidd, Kevin Love, Jerry Stackhouse, Paul Pierce, Michael Beasley and Lamar Odom, among others, according to draftexpress.com.
After declining an invitation to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, Hansbrough is now focused on preparing himself for what he hopes is an audition at the Chicago Pre-Draft camp and in individual workouts.
“I’ll work on my body and my explosiveness,” Hansbrough said. “I’ll work on my jump shot, some ball handling. A lot of footwork, speed drills. Try to take my athleticism to another level, my quickness, my first step, and probably my strength up a little bit too.”
Hansbrough was named Big East Player of the Year after averaging 18.4 points and 4.3 assists per game during his senior season.
Recruiting weekend shapes up
The basketball program will take advantage of the festivities around the Blue-Gold Game to host a couple prospects.
Senior power forward Eric Katenda (Sunrise Christian Academy/Wichita, Kan.) will make his first trip to South Bend after the Irish were the first major program to offer him a scholarship at the beginning of his junior year.
In recent weeks Katenda has taken visits to Wake Forest and Iowa.
The 6-foot-8 prospect has tabbed Wake Forest as his leader heading into the trip to Notre Dame, which should be his last before making a verbal commitment.
Also expected on campus is center Garrick Sherman, who recently decided to transfer from Michigan State. The former-four star prospect from Kenton, Ohio, spent two seasons at with the Spartans.
As a sophomore last season, Sherman made appeared in 34 games, including 17 starts. He averaged 12.1 minutes, 3.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game while shooting 69.6 percent from the field.
Coming out of high school Rivals.com ranked the 6-foot-10 prospect the No. 75 player in the country. Notre Dame was in Sherman’s final three before he chose Michigan State.