Bobby Maze
Junior College recruit Bobby Maze is supposed to be making a visit to the St. John's campus, possibly this weekend. Some notes on Mr. Maze:
- Years ago, Bobby Maze was mentioned in the NY Times expose on prep schools that are basketball fronts/ diploma mills (i.e., no or few classes), saying he went to Lutheran Christian, a high school that didn't require him to attend classes that was also investigated by the Washington Post;
- The he went to the Patterson School in North Carolina, to work on his attitude and get eligible. Though that school has also been suspected of being a diploma mill; though they received their NCAA visit and were cleared;
- Went to Oklahoma but was kicked out:
....Sources close to the program said that Maze's freshman season was marked by immaturity and poor decisions, and that pattern continued into the first weeks of OU's offseason.
As one source put it: "Bobby was given opportunities here, not just an opportunity."
Sources said Maze's problems were never legal and rarely academic. Rather, they reportedly involved practice habits and overall attitude.
- Moved on to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, starred on the community college level, dished out a lot of assists, was named a Junior College All-American and accepted a scholarship to play for Gary Williams at Maryland, but...
- Possibly may not have been able to get into Maryland academically, (or was squeezed out by another JUCO player)* and still has a few more credit hours to finish at the CC in Kansas.
Question: is this guy going to qualify if St. John's basketball staff can land him? If he does, I hope he has his head on straight, that's quite a vagabond's journey. I believe in redemption as much as anyone, but I don't want the Red Storm to bring in another Grady Reynolds.
Update: Maze does not have a visit scheduled to St. John's; he'll be checking out Cincinnati first and then Kentucky.
Jonathan Mitchell
Meanwhile, Florida transfer Jonathan Mitchell won't be coming to St. John's. From Zagsblog:
Herb Mitchell, Jonathan's uncle, left a message Friday morning for St. John's head coach Norm Roberts telling him that Jonathan was no longer considering the Red Storm.
"Jon called me (Thursday) night to talk and he just said, 'I'm not really feeling St. John's,'" Herb said Friday. "There's some things going on with the coaching situation and the uncertainty of whether Coach Roberts is going to be there or not. (Jonathan's) got to get it right, and if he makes that decision to go there and Coach Roberts is not there, he's sitting out a year and then he's back to square one again."
Ouch. Of course the recruits know the program is in flux.
* Tyree Evans, who Bob Huggins turned down for the Cincinnati program; Evans was accused of statutory rape along with some other players, but plead to a lesser charge of assault and battery. Note that apparently, Huggy Bear still wanted to bring Evans to K-State in 2006.