Ebanks Considering RU

Last Friday night I drove up to the St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Ct., for a feature on West MIlford's Justin Sofman that will be out in Saturday's editions. Sofman, by the way, had 6 3-pointers and 22 points last night in STM's game, the same night that RU went 1-for-17 from 3-land. In the process I got to see Devin Ebanks for the first time and here's what I learned.

Ebanks is a 6-8, 205-pound junior forward from Long Island City, N.Y., playing for the prep team at St. Thomas More. Ranked No. 14 in the Class of 2008 by Scout, he's tremendously athletic, runs the floor exceptionally well and can shoot it from about 15 feet out. In the game I watched he had an alley-oop dunk that drew oohs from the crowd, made a nice short floater in the lane and also hit a 15-footer on a swish. He's leading the team at 18 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 1.3 apg. He seemed like a very nice kid in the short time we chatted, although there appear to be questions about his work ethic. Ebanks did not make the trip to New York recently when STM competed in the Big Apple Basketball Invitational; a source cited academic issues, although he returned to the team last week.

Recruiting expert Tom Konchalski was at the game at STM and here's what he says about Ebanks: "He's a terrific athlete who has unlimited potential. He's very skilled. He can shoot the ball. He's athletic and runs extremely well. He really changes ends of the floor. He's got to get stronger. He got to learn not to take off plays. Every second he's on the court, he's got to play hard on both sides of the ball, which he doesn't right now."

St. Thomas More coach Jere Quinn essentially concurred with Konchalski's analysis: "Devin Ebanks has a chance to be a pretty special player and if he possessed the same work ethic Justin had, he'd be a marvelous player. But he is younger. Devin just turned 17, and there's always a difference between a junior and a postgraduate (like Sofman)."

For his part, Sofman said of his teammate: "Devin Ebanks is the best play I've played with or against. He's 6-9 with handle and a jump shot. I play him in practice and I feel like I'm guarding a 6-foot guard."

Rutgers coach Fred Hill and assistant coach Craig Carter watched the game when I was up there and are clearly interested in Ebanks.

"I've always been an advocate of hard work and to this day, no one has outworked Rutgers in the recruitment of Devin Ebanks," Quinn said.

For his part, Ebanks said, "Rutgers is definitely on my list. They regard me very highly."

He said Miami, New Mexico, Georgetown, St. John's and other schools were also recruiting him and that he planned to announced during the "mid-summer."

Make sure to check out ZAGSBLOG and northjersey.com on Saturday for an in-depth story on how Sofman is progressing, along with a voiceover and picture show with some great shots by photographer Amy Newman of the Herald News.

(Photo courtesy scout)