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Top-100 recruit likes Flyers

Shooting guard is rated 71st nationally by Rivals.com.

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By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 1:00 AM Thursday, June 25, 2009

With one top-100 basketball recruit already in the fold, the University of Dayton may be close to getting a commitment from another prospect who has managed to crack that exclusive list.

Senior-to-be Brandon Spearman of Chicago Simeon High School — who is ranked by Rivals.com as the 71st-best player nationally in the 2010 class — visited Marquette this week and has offers from DePaul, Bradley, Baylor and Iowa State. But the 6-foot-3, 185-pound shooting guard said he favors Dayton and plans to make his college choice at the end of the AAU season in July.

Spearman visited UD earlier this month and was impressed.

“Man, wow, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I love it down there — everything from the campus to the people to the city. I just love it.”

Spearman is described by Rivals as “a physical guard who can dominate defensively.” And he could give UD its second four-star recruit (out of five) in the 2010 class.

Dayton native Juwan Staten, a point guard ranked 59th overall by Rivals, committed to the Flyers last year.

A late bloomer who’s just now attracting the attention of the top schools from BCS conferences, Spearman played pick-up games with the Flyers during his visit and came away impressed.

“They were real good,” he said. “C.J. (Chris Johnson), Marcus (Johnson), everybody was good. They’re fun to play with, real fun to play with.”

UD will have five scholarships to give after this season and has committed two of them to Staten, who will spend his senior year at Oak Hill Academy, and small forward Ralph Hill of Westerville, Ohio. Although they’ll be losing four guards, the Flyers are planning to bring in just two other backcourt players with Staten.

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Chris Wright would be a "high profile player" if he were at OSU or any other big time program. He chose Dayton because they are a good team plus he's a hometown guy. He's a leader and he does the things off the court as well as on. We can thank Chris for Juwan Staten coming to UD next yr as well. I hope all of the talent in this area will to UD to continue their playing career. I don't know about you but for me it is awesome seeing someone from around here competing against the nations best!

Always watching
12:42 AM, 7/4/2009

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Stock watch for 2009-10 draft crop...by Andy Katz

• Chris Wright, Dayton: Wright has a chance to be a player of the year candidate for the A-10 favorites. How well he leads the Flyers should determine how he is viewed on draft boards. It's on Wright to lead Brian Gregory's crew. The departures at Xavier have opened up a world of opportunity for this program and its best player.

Just for you wanna be experts

Mongoose
2:25 PM, 6/27/2009

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I tend to agree with you Gary. Playing at a BCS school automatically gets you noticed. Look at Chris Wright... He was a virtual unknown b/c he played at Dayton. If Chris Wright had played at OSU, he'd be ready for the NBA right now. Hopefully playing for the Flyers does not hurt his chances too much at making the NBA.

marcus
12:48 PM, 6/27/2009

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Right, Gary...Like Northwestern and Rutgers? There are a lot of "mid-level" schools that are more attractive than BCS schools. With UD's success over the recent years against some high-profile BCS schools (UL x 2, Pitt, Marq, and WVU), UD is becoming one of the more attractive "mid-levels". Huh, it almost looks like they would compete pretty well in the Big East, doesn't it? With that success, a dynamic coach, and the amount of quality talent in the local area, I'd say UD will be just fine.

Chris Mack
10:23 AM, 6/27/2009

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UD plays in a mid-level league. If players are any good, they will play at a BCS school.

Gary
9:36 PM, 6/26/2009

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