BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: SOUTH FLORIDA

March 3, 2009


Verbal Commitment Alert: Mike Burwell, 6'6 SG at South Kent (CT) Prep, originally from East Brunswick (NJ)


Projected 2009-2010 Roster:


Seniors: Chris Howard (PG), Alejando Rivas-Sanchez (C)

Juniors: Dominique Jones (SG)

Sophomores: Eladio Espinosa (F), Juston Leemow (G), Augustus Gilchrist (C), Gaby Belardo (G), *Anthony Crater (PG)

Freshmen: Shaun Noriega (G), Jordan Dumars (F), Mike Burwell (SG)

* Anthony Crater is a mid-year transfer and will be eligible in December of 2009.

One of the key areas in major need of improvement for South Florida is their outside shooting ability. Stan Heath and staff made finding a shooter with range a priority for the spring signing period and they look to have found their man in Mike Burwell, a shooting guard playing this season at South Kent Prep. Burwell Decided to Take Game to South Florida (mycentraljersey.com) after spending time on the USF campus while on an official visit last weekend.

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Mike Burwell came to South Kent Prep in hopes of increasing his recruiting profile. The year of prep school certainly helped the East Brunswick (NJ) native, who won player of the year honors as a high school senior in 2007-2008 while leading Cardinal McCarrick to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Championship, reach his goal of being a high major conference recruit. Burwell completed the process by giving a verbal commitment to Stan Heath and his South Florida program while on an official visit there this weekend where he saw everything he needed to see.

Burwell has the reputation of a shooter and has followed up his 27-point per game average of a year ago with a team-leading 19 points a game for the highly regarded South Kent Prep program. He had narrowed his college choices to South Florida, Evansville, Fordham, TCU and Central Florida, but the trip to USF won him over.

In the early signing period, the Bulls inked 6'6, 230 lb forward Jordan Dumars, again using coach Heath's Michigan ties. Dumars is the son of former NBA star and current Piston executive Joe Dumars. Jordan Dumars attends Detroit Country Day School and had formed a close relationship with Stan Heath that began with the relationship between Heath and his father.

On paper, Dumars fills a position of need on the USF roster (small forward) and leaves Stan Heath and staff with two scholarships remaining for the class of 2009 as the Bulls have even scored for the class of 2009 earlier with North Port shooting guard Shaun Noriega. Of course, with how busy it has been with players coming and going from their program, that could very well change.


The Bulls were needing immediate help in the class of 2008 with transfers of five players since the 2007-2008 season began. Guards Dante Curry, Aaron Holmes and Solomon Bozeman, along with forwards Ade Saaka and Orane Chin have all left the Bulls program to look for opportunities elsewhere. Also, recruits Teeng Akol, Dwan McMillan and Eugene Teague were not admitted to school because of academic difficulties, leaving the Bulls scrambling for the 2008-2009 season.


Stan Heath reached back to his Michigan roots once again and added Ohio State transfer Anthony Crater to the Bulls roster earlier this season. Crater lasted only a few months with the Buckeyes, playing in 10 games in his first semester as a freshman. In 13 minutes of action a game, Crater averaged 1.3 points a game and was unhappy with his playing time, so he has moved on.

After a weekend visit to South Florida, where he saw the Bulls take on Syracuse, Crater felt USF offered the best situation for his future. As a highly rated recruit out of Flint (MI), Crater was a highly targeted recruit by many top programs before he settled on OSU. The addition of JUCO guard Jeremie Simmons did not sit well with the Crater camp and as Simmons got more and more time early on, Crater took a look at his options and will join the USF program, following in the footsteps of other recent mid-year transfers such as Jesus Verdejo, Kentrell Gransberry, Augustus Gilchrist and Mike Mercer (since dismissed from the program) that have joined the Bulls in recent seasons.

USF now has two scholarships left open, on paper, and they very well could be targeting frontcourt players for the spring signing period. Florida JUCO players such as Quincy Hankins (Polk Community College) and Gary Flowers (Chipola), as well as 6-foot-9 San Jacinto College power forward Maurice McNeil, have long been linked to USF recruiting efforts. Princeton Country Day big man Wavery Austin told the NBE Basketball Report that USF has been one of the schools showing interest in him as a spring prospect in the high school class of 2009.

One of the better uncomitted forwards in the class of 2009, Glenn Bryant of Oak Hill Academy, is also seriously considering USF. Bryant indicated to NBE at the 2009 Primetime Shootout that the Bulls, Marquette and Alabama were the three offers he was looking the closest at currently.

One of the best uncomitted point guards in the nation, Eric Bledsoe, is also considering the Bulls. USF is Still in the Hunt for Bledsoe (St. Pete Times), along with UAB (his hometown school), Florida, Tennessee and Cincinnati.


USF is still struggling in attracting top high school talent and academic difficulties with recruits seem to have the roster in constant flux. The transfer route is tricky, but relying on it so much rarely works, and to this point, it has not helped the college basketball odds for the Bulls in the Big East.