They have been USF commitments since April and June, respectively, but Wednesday was the day they made it official: Guards Jordan Dumars of Detroit and Shaun Noriega of North Port signed national letters of intent to play basketball for Stan Heath and the Bulls.
"Three-point shooting is something I want my team to get better at, and both Jordan and Shaun will help us with that," said Heath, who has three scholarships still available for this class.
Dumars, 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, had a signing day ceremony at Detroit Country Day School. The son of Pistons great Joe Dumars will play small forward this season but should be a shooting guard with the Bulls.
"He's a very skilled player with his ability to shoot the 3, and he has a good feel for the court," Heath said.
Noriega, 6-4 and 195 pounds, averaged 24.1 points as a junior and is the career scoring leader at North Port, which is located about 90 miles south of Tampa, near Port Charlotte.
"I'm really excited," Noriega said Wednesday. "To make this official, now I can focus on my senior season and making myself a better player. I've definitely been working on my defense, footspeed, my lateral quickness, just becoming a better athlete, knowing the kind of players I'll face in the Big East."
Heath said of Noriega: "As good as he is as a 3-point shooter, he's a very good athlete who runs the floor very well."
USF is still hoping to hear good news from 6-foot-8 power forward Keith Clanton of Orlando, who will choose between the Bulls and UCF. Heath said his priority for the rest of the class is getting size: "An inside player is very important to us. We need help on the front line." He also could add a point guard as well.
(Noriega photo, shown with his mother, Holly Wynne, is courtesy of North Port High School.)
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
Greg,
Nice job with the photo! You are the man!
Best player in North Port history is coming to USF!!! I will cheer for him until he ends up transferring out like Belardo!
Posted by: Reality | November 13, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Yay more guards...
Posted by: Paul Wall | November 13, 2008 at 09:08 AM
Welcome to the program. We haven't made the NCAA tourny in four presidents and the last time we were ranked in the Top 25 the internet wasn't available in the USF Library.
I wish both of you the best. Lord knows we are going to need it.
Posted by: Ari Hinkelberger | November 12, 2008 at 09:14 PM
Dumars. The name alone is a recruiting coup.
If he plays like Stan says he can, this could be the biggest step yet.
He and Jones in the back court... nice.
Depth at guard, now for depth up front.
Posted by: NickLurby | November 12, 2008 at 05:23 PM
women had 6 sign. anyone know who number 6 is
Posted by: | November 12, 2008 at 05:16 PM
I welcome both Noriega and Dumars to USF. Glad that you both made it official to be Bulls!!! Stan Heath is building this program up, and I am glad that you will be part of it at USF.
Posted by: Bull Daly | November 12, 2008 at 04:47 PM