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Welcome back to the Trentonian's Full-Court Press blog. Yes, we're still alive, and with the 2015-16 season rapidly approaching, it's time to fire up the old blog for another season. Check back here throughout the year for updates on all things Rider and Princeton, including coverage of both the MAAC and Ivy League. Feel free to drop me a line on twitter @kj_franko (https://twitter.com/kj_franko) or email kfranko@trentonian.com.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Grant Fiorentinos, Marquis Marshall, other Rider musings

A short while ago, I posted the following on Twitter: "Some video and #Rider recruiting updates coming up shortly on the Full-Court Press."

OK, that wasn't exactly 20 minutes ago. It was at 12:51 p.m., meaning almost 13 hours has passed, with my video chat with Anthony Myles serving as the only post.

So apologies for lagging just a bit. It wasn't that the day was completely unproductive. We had competing live football chats at Trentonian.com; my colleague Matthew Osborne and I got the print edition out with minimal assistance past 8 p.m.

The blog, though, went dark in spite of my plans to the contrary.

So here's the deal:

I caught up with the Broncs' three freshman -- Myles, Danny Stewart and Tommy Pereira -- after practice. The Myles video is up now, and I'll add one with Stewart Sunday and one with Pereira on Monday.

Now for recruiting, which always picks up in October, when high school players go on unofficial and official visits, many of them coinciding with Midnight Madness festivities:

As I wrote yesterday, Rider had a handful of recruits on hand for Midnight MAACness, including the brothers of two Broncs: Danny Stewart's brother Derrick and Jeff Jones' brother Deon. The younger Jones, one of Rider's top targets, is a senior. The younger Stewart is only a junior (at Neumann-Gorreti High in Philadelphia) and is only beginning his recruiting process.

The Brocns also hosted 6-10 Hun School center Grant Fiorentinos, who was at Saturday's practice in addition to Friday's festivities.

Fiorentinos, a member of the Engligh 18-U national team, was on an official visit. He said he likes a lot about the Broncs, enough so that Rider is at the top of his list -- for now. He's also considering Robert Morris, Florida Atlantic and San Francisco, and will make one or two more official visits before making a decision.

Rider will lose Mike Ringgold to graduation at the end of the year and, I'm told, wants to use at least one of its three remaining scholarships (but preferably two) on a post player. The Broncs have verbal commitments from guard Eddie Mitchell and forward Mark Medley for the 2011-12 season and guard Shawn Valentine, who reclassified as a junior and is attending the Phelps School in Malvern, Pa., for 2012-13.

Fiorentinos would have the potential to help Rider become a better post defense and rebounding team -- something the Broncs hope Danny Stewart and the maturation of Dera Nd-Ezuma will do this year.

The Broncs are also in the running for 6-9 Blair Academy forward Lionel Gomis, who's narrowed his choices to Siena, Loyola-Chicago and Rider. Gomis, from Senegal, is on an official visit to Loyola-Chicago this weekend and will visit Rider next. He's already visited Siena.

The list of players also includes a player with strong basketball bloodlines: 6-2 Reading Central Catholic junior guard Marquis Marshall.

You may remember his dad, Donyell, who happened to be on the opposing side the last time Rider played in an NCAA tournament game.

The elder Marshall is back in college basketball this fall as an assistant coach under former UConn assistant Karl Hobbs at George Washington.

As for Marquis, he has a guard's skillset and for, now guard's size. But given his genes -- his mother is close to 6-feet, while Donyell is 6-9 -- suggests a growth spurt could be upcoming.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Marko said...

Hey Ben,
Thanks for all the updates. I heard a rumor that someone from the team fractured their ankle. Did not have any other information. Any truth to this?

October 17, 2010 at 8:43 AM 
Blogger Kyle Franko said...

Marko,

If anyone had an injury like that, it's already healed. ... The only player who's dealing with anything right now is Dera Nd-Ezuma, but who will be out for about two weeks because of tendinitis in his knee.

October 17, 2010 at 12:39 PM 

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