Mitchell to Announce Monday; Ebanks Down to 2 Schools

Jonathan Mitchell will announce his college choice on Monday, according to his uncle, Herb Mitchell.

He was initially supposed to announce today whether he had chosen Rutgers, Seton Hall or Marshall, but is now giving himself an additional couple of days.

Meantime, Devin Ebanks (above left) will attend his graduation at St. Thomas More (Conn.) on Saturday and then come back to New York, where he is expected to make his college announcement Sunday at the IS8 championship in Queens.

According to Keith Easterwood, a longtime AAU coach and radio personality in Memphis who correctly called Tyreke Evans to Memphis, Ebanks will choose between Memphis and West Virginia.

"Sources at Memphis told me they think it's them and West Virginia for Ebanks," Easterwood said Friday by phone. "Obviously, (West Virginia coach Bob) Huggins has done a good job recruiting as well."

If the Tigers don't get Ebanks, Easterwood said they would stand pat with their scholarship.

"I think either way they're done," he said. "Rumor had some mess about DeMar Derozan getting out of his USC Letter of Intent but his mother is sick. I don't think he's going to leave the West Coast either way."

The spring signing period ends May 21.

Easterwood also says Pitt assistant Orlando Antigua remains the favorite for the Memphis assistant position vacated by Chuckie Martin. Georgetown assistant David Cox was on campus yesterday to interview for it as well. Tigers head coach John Calipari needs one more person to fill out his new-look staff that includes John Robic and former Arizona assistant Josh Pastner.

If no decision on that comes before Sunday, Ebanks' decision will obviously be independent of the Memphis coaching situation.

Memphis AD RC Johnson also denied rumors that the school had been in discussions about joining the Big East. The falsity of these rumors was first reported here at ZAGSBLOG on Thursday.

Comments

[RuRealist]

OK. As an RU fan Im trying to stay balanced here AZ and nam not expecting a DE committment.

But really how much credibility does this guy Eastwood have? He "correctcly called TE to Memphis." Duh! A monkey could have made that call. And sources within the Memphis program? Again are those credible? (or are they the same sources that dais Memphis is joining the BE?) Is there any word from DE's AAU coach or Jere Quinn that RU has been eliminated?

If not, this post (and the headline) is misleading isnt it? Certainly where there is smoke there is fire, but this statement from a clearly pro-Memphis source needs some caveating doesn't it?

[RUrising]

Adam, is this Memphis source the same guy that started the rivals.com rumors last week?

[Adam Zagoria]

A couple things...Herb Mitchell is on record saying what Ebanks does has NO impact on what Jonathan Mitchell does, so Mitchell says he's not waiting on what Ebanks does. That was my mistake for putting that up there earlier.

Second, Keith Easterwood is pretty close to the Memphis coaching staff and he's saying they feel it's down to West Virginia and Memphis. Take that for what it's worth, but the man was right on about Tyreke Evans.

[RuRealist]

I dont want to belabor the point here Adam but there are few notes that bear mentioning.

1- Eastwood's crebility - is there anyone that follows hoops recruiting who didnt have Evans to Memphis?

2- Eastwood is close to the Memphis staff? What staff? Calipari? Paster who just unpacked his suitcase from Tuscon? Antigua who still gets paid by Jamie Dixon?

3- Is there any word from ebanks circle confirmning or denying (or even a no comment)?

Bottom line is I think your initial post was misleading. Not even a question mark in the headline about DE?

it may be true but isnt it accurate to say this is a 3rd hand rumor by a pro-memphis source.

Maybe that way there are a few less window jumpers in Piscataway tonite?

[Adam Zagoria]

Realist,
If you'd like to set up your own blog with information reported by you, go for it. Otherwise, this is what I'm reporting and you can wait until Sunday to hear Ebanks.

Easterwood is not necessarily a pro-Memphis source but a radio host and AAU coach tied in to Calipari and his staff. They feel it's down to Memphis and West Virginia, which has been reported elsewhere this week. Easterwood is known to be very knowledgable and tied in.

Ebanks' circle is mum on the topic until an announcement is made.

[1oldshu]

Memphis had a Mr. William Wesley in their court for Evans and that is all Easterwood would need to know to make his Nostradamus-like prophesy about 'Reke's recruitment. Is Mr. Worldwide close to the Ebanks deal too?

[RUrising]

You need to get over 'Reke Evans oldshu. He was probably L'ville bound had WWW not steered him to Memphis. You don't want these one-and-done guys anyway. If RU doesn't get Ebanks, we'll be right there for the next Ebanks in '09, '10, '11, etc. thanks to Fred Hill. RU and SHU need to build with players that will stay around for at least a few years. If an NBA one-year prep guy comes in to the program on occasion that's fine, a nice shot-in-the arm now and then would be fun. But don't worry about too many of these Top 20 recruits, they have no plans on staying any longer than they need to.

[tigerbh82]

Try to think of the most trusted and well informed Rutgers source that's out there (not inside the program)...double that credibility and you have Keith Easterwood. He is a high school/AAU/recruiting god in Memphis. If he says it, it's true. Evans is no where close to the first player that Easterwood has nailed as a Memphis lock. Heck, he's even called players to UCLA, Duke, Kentucky, Ole Miss, UNC and North Carolina. He is VERY well connected and is not going to 'spin' something just to piss off a bunch of Rutgers fans.

The main Memphis board is free. Come visit us. If you want to actually call out Easterwood, he's on there. He will respond. Register and come on by the "Idaho-Tiger Recruiting Forum" for some friendly hoops/Ebanks discussion.

www.memphistigers.org

[tigerbh82]

Whoops, that mean to say "...UNC and Tennessee."

[Blue&Grey]

Rurealist or Rufloggingadeadhorse?