Bulls in hunt for D.C. center Ben-Eze

Another day, another promising new name in Stan Heath's pursuit of a top-flight center for his incoming recruiting class: The Bulls are in the final five schools for Frank Ben-Eze, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center from Arlington, Va., who had committed to Harvard but has recently re-opened his recruitment.

"USF is in (his) final 5 teams," writes Rob Jackson, founder of the AAU D.C. Blue Devils, in an e-mail to the Times on Tuesday morning. "He will be scheduling home visits with schools, and then making a decision after those visits are complete."

Ben-Eze, a native of Nigeria whose last name is pronounced "ben AY-zay," is the No. 3 unsigned center in the country, according to ESPN.com, which has him as the nation's No. 25 center overall. He backed out of a commitment to Harvard shortly after a New York Times story on March 2 detailed questionable recruiting practices and the potential of lower admission standards at the Ivy League school.

Finding a center is the top remaining priority for Heath, who loses senior Kentrell Gransberry to graduation and needs to bolster his frontcourt for his second season. Who else is competing for Ben-Eze? He previously had been linked to a slew of ACC and Big East schools, but Jackson said the other four finalists are Stanford, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and UCLA -- top-tier national programs to be sure.

Ben-Eze played at Bishop O'Connell in Arlington, where he was coached by Joe Wootten, son of legendary Virginia prep coach Morgan Wootten. He missed the end of his senior season with a knee injury, the severity of which remains unknown. He's the second African-born center USF is pursuing this season, along with Teeng Akol, a 6-foot-11 center from Sudan who is playing at IMG Academy in Bradenton.

-- We've told you that Jeremie Simmons, the coveted two-guard who just won a Division II junior college national title at Mott Community College in Flint, Mich., is due in for an official visit to USF this weekend. The Flint Journal reports that he's likely to visit Butler next, with Alabama the latest suitor to offer him a scholarship. Again, USF's commitment from Dwan McMillan won't hurt its status with Simmons, who is more of a shooter/scorer type and would play alongside McMillan in what would be a deep, deep Bulls backcourt.

-- An update on Juan Pattillo, the 6-7 forward from College of Southern Idaho: CSI coach Barret Peery said Pattillo will visit Oklahoma State this weekend, then Oklahoma the weekend of April 12. He said Pattillo intends on making a visit to USF, but Peery hadn't talked to USF in a week or so, so wasn't sure what the status of that visit was. With one forward signed in Eladio Espinosa and another committed in Gene Teague, it could be USF is focusing on centers (and Simmons) for the time being.

-- It's not USF, but worth mentioning that it looks like Florida Atlantic coach Rex Walters will soon be named as the new coach at Mercer, according to the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. ... This is just two years after FAU lost Matt Doherty to SMU ...

Comments

[Herman Momart]

How do you go from Harvard...to being recruited by UCLA, UCONN, Pitt, Stanford and USF? Harvard doesnt even offer scholarships for athletes if im not mistaken. I guess he would go there for the "lower admission standards" and education. but I say come on down to the Harvard of Hillsborough Country, USF.

Top 25 center overall and top 3 of whats left, i would say is a good pick up.

[AGW]

A great pickup you mean Herman. I have seen Eze play on the AAU circuit and he would be an EXCELLENT addition to USF. He is def. an upgrade over a player like Goins. I hope we can get him down to Tampa for an official visit. Stan Heath keep up the good work. I hope 3 out of the 4 scholarships will go to bigs.

[AGW]

G.A.- Workouts started this week, so whats the word on Chin and Williams? Please tell me one of them his leaving or something to that effect. Also, great job reporting on all of the recruiting trails lately. Keep up the job work.

[The Champ]

G.A. are Stan and staff still going after Flowers? If they are that could explain some fall off with Pattillo.

G.A. who will be the players asigned to showing Simmons around campus on his visit? People sometimes don't know how important that is with these visits.

If and that is a big if, Ben-Eze does visit USF it would be great to have Teeng Akol in too.Boy it just seems like that will be a tall order for USF going against those schools after Ben-Eze.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Tommy Amacker is the coach at Harvard and just because they don't offer you a scholarship doesnt mean you aren't getting a "grant" or financial aid.

Bishop O'Connel is an expensive private school in Northern Va. With the eventual loss of Hibert, I am a bit surprised that Georgetown wouldn't try to sign this guy.

I guess we will see.

[reality]

Shamaker is a cheat just like Quinn Snyder. Don't trust the Dukies!

Ari is on the money, you get grants, it doesnt cost anything....

Georgetown has Greg Monroe coming in, so Beneze is not a need. He is pretty good, and would be a great get for USF. I would think even if his grades are not harvard level, stanford would gladly take him.

[AGW]

The Champ is right about pairing up certain prospects with others when scheduling visits. USF should try to pair up Akol and Ben-Eze. Then, pair up Sutton with Flowers and even Patillo. Simmons is coming by himself. This makes the prospect feel more comfortable and allows them to see the idea of playing at USF together.

[Ken]

If Ben-Eze can qualify academically at Harvard, and he's good enough to play at a D-1 school, then he's going to Standard without a doubt, unless they don't need him. It is a fabulous school, and plays first-rate basketball. If they don't want him, then who knows. We definitely, definitely need a couple of centers. I gather that he'd be a freshman.

[G.A.]

Yes, he'd be a freshman. Stanford has a pretty good pair right now, so not sure how much playing time they can promise.

[AGW]

Hey where is everyone? This is great news that GA is reporting and no one has been commenting on the Ben-Eze or Sutton news.

[Terry Lucas]

Nice little info on Ben-Eze... My older brother has been coaching soccer and teaching history classes at Bishop O'Connell for quite sometime now (might be seven or eight years). I'm curious to get hold of him to see his take on Ben-Eze. It can't hurt that my brother understands the love his little bro has for USF. Curious now to see where he says Ben-Eze is leaning to... Might need to send my brother some more USF gear so he can wear it at school more.

Cristi Ecks grew up 30 minutes from O'Connell high school... being the caliber of athlete she is, if Ben-Eze does come to visit (not sure if he already did), I would talk to Coach E and see if she would be willing to branch out and tell him about the transition from the DC area to Tampa (it never hurts if its been a favorable transition - and from the outsiders perspective, Ecks will leave a long legacy at USF when it is all said and done). Just my perspective on things.

[Dave W]

AGW- I've been in Miami interviewing for an Americorps position. I can't speak for the others. Tommy Amaker might be recruiting them and telling them to stay quiet about it.

Anyways, this guy would be a great get. A real, live center! He's the only guy that we could expect to do half of the things the KG did right away. The only reasons he would be considering us would be climate and playing time, both of which are great selling points. UCLA may have a huge hole at C if Love leaves (he looked great over the weekend), Stanford if the better Lopez leaves, and UCONN if Thabeet leaves (I don't think Blair is leaving Pitt). My point is that playing time and climate are wiped out by UCLA, but UCLA probably has another good big lined up to replace Love already. If academic prestige is a concern, obviously Stanford wins, and we're last (not that far behind UCONN though!), and if actually winning games is a concern, we're screwed.

I would like to get him, though.

[Hoop Fan]

Ben-Eze did take an unofficial visit to Delaware a little while ago with his high school assistant coach Mike Pegues..who happens the be the all-time leading scorer at Delaware.

Time will tell.