I Bleed Blue and White

Today was the first official day that Class of 2010 players could sign their National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at a particular school. The early signing period lasts for one week and will end on November 18th.

Both 2010 Villanova verbal commitments have announced that they will be signing their letters of intent to play for Villanova tonight!

When that happens, both James Bell and Markus Kennedy will be officially part of the Villanova family! Welcome to the fold guys!

Markus Kennedy

James Bell

Kennedy is a 6′9″ power forward who has been described as a skilled passer out of the post with a great scoring touch. Bell, a 6′5″ wing ranked 76th nationally by Rivals, is a rangy athlete that can take it to the hoop as well as knock it down from outside. He’s also a great defender, which is something that Jay Wright requires of all his players.

This is a great follow-up to 2009’s heralded quartet. James Bell looks to step into Reggie Redding’s spot on the roster while Kennedy will provide quality depth in the seemingly-always-think ‘Nova frontcourt. Hopefully both come in next year ready to play and keep Villanova at the forefront of the college basketball scene. It seems that we may have finally gotten to the point where we are reloading, not rebuilding.

From here, it appears that it may be Cory Joseph and/or JayVaughn Pinkston or bust for 2010 recruiting. Both Joseph and Pinkston look to be signing in the spring.

I was just reading NBE’s latest Big East Recruiting Notebook and there was some curious news about 2010 commit Markus Kennedy nestled in there. According to NBE, Kennedy is expected to come back from injury and get back to playing hoops soon.

“Winchendon’s Markus Kennedy (6-9 C/Yeadon, Pa.) is supposed to come off crutches today and hopes to be back on the floor shortly. Staff from Villanova are expected in to visit him again this week.”

I had no idea he was hurt, much less on crutches. That’s a little concerning, although it may have just been an oversight on my part. But in either case, it sounds like he is nearly healthy again and should get back on the court in short order.

…If you read NBE’s report start-to-finish you’ll also notice they mention that ‘Nova has had some contact with 2011 SF Angel Nunez from The Bronx…probably a backup plan to Mike Gilchrist for now, but it’s good to see the staff continue to be thorough in recruiting…

The guys over at VUHoops relay a story from Dick ‘Hoops’ Weiss of the NY Daily News on Class of 2010 prospect Jayvaughn Pinkston. According to Weiss, Pinkston unofficially visited Villanova last Thursday. Pinkston, who plays for Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, says that the visit went well. He also visited Tennessee last week, and is being recruited by several other Big East schools.

Here’s ESPN’s evaluation of Pinkston courtesy of VUHoops.

“Pinkston is an absolute horse inside the paint. He’s incredibly strong with a tremendous work-ethic, and unmatched toughness and aggressiveness. He’s a very high volume rebounder, who is equally effective in traffic or out of his area. The vast majority of his point production comes by the rim albeit in a number of different ways:  He runs diligently in transition; knows how to seal and score on the block; goes by or overpowers defenders on his way to the bucket; and finishes everything through contact. He’s worked very hard to develop his perimeter skills and while his shooting range now extends to about 18 feet and his handle is solid, pulling him away from the basket takes away from what he does best. Despite being somewhat undersized, he’ll have no problems playing the 4 at the next level thanks to his length, athleticism, and physical prowess. Defensively, he’s a good on-the-ball post defender thanks to his low center of gravity and also effective from the weak-side because he’s so active and quick to rotate.”

…Unless he grows, Pinkston will continue to be undersized at power forward, especially in the rugged Big East if he ends up there…I almost disagree with ESPN on the evaluation though, it seems like Pinkston could really reach his ceiling if he developed into a combo-forward a la Sam Young i.e. someone who can stroke it from outside but is equally deadly in the paint and driving to the hoop…

…Anyways, we’ve got Markus Kennedy already in 2010, and many consider us done for this cycle unless Kennedy or James Bell decided to switch…it never hurts to keep as many doors open as possible though, and it speaks volumes about the work that our staff does…

Villanova recruit Markus Kennedy will be switching to Winchendon Prep in Massachusetts, after Living Faith Christian will not be re-opening this year. Kennedy also thought about attending Penn Wood, but Winchendon offers stronger academics and a more national schedule, which is something that Kennedy feels will help him prepare for life at Villanova.

It is fair to point out that this will be Kennedy’s 4th high school in 4 years, something that may raise some eyebrows, but as Kennedy says, there is no reason for concern.

“I think what’s important is that people know the truth,” Markus said. “They see four schools in 4 years and think something is up. But I know coach Wright only accepts character players and I would have been back at Living Faith if the school was still open.”

Kennedy averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds for Living Faith last season.

It’s now after the scheduled 1:30 announcement, and since it was reported here last night, as well as here, we are going to go ahead and talk about it ourselves.

Markus Kennedy, a 6′9 250-pound forward has committed to Villanova. He joins SG James Bell in Villanova’s Class of 2010. Kennedy originally started out at St. Patrick’s in New Jersey before transferring to Living Faith Christian Academy, but you could say that the St. Pat’s pipeline remains open for the time being.

Interestingly enough, this may very well close out Villanova’s recruiting efforts for 2010. From all accounts the staff had targeted at least one guard and a forward for this class, and they seemingly have gotten their man at both positions.

It’s a long way until these guys sign the dotted line, so nothing is completely official yet. I’m sure Villanova will keep tabs on players like Justin Jackson in case anything changes, but you have to be excited about landing Kennedy.

He’s not the consensus All-American talent that Mouphtaou Yarou is, but landing a kid that is on the rise like Kennedy just a year after landing Yarou is a credit to Jay Wright and his staff.

Welcome to the family Markus! And if you want to get to know him a little bit better, check out this amazing article on his relationship to his mother growing up.

2010 forward Markus Kennedy is going to announce his college choice this Wednesday according to ZagsBlog. Kennedy has narrowed it down to West Virginia, Temple and Villanova. He was in Morgantown last weekend for a visit, and visited both Temple and Villanova at the end of this week.

The press conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Living Faith Christian Academy.

…I definitely think we’re in the driver’s seat for this one…should we land him Kennedy should be a nice option for us down low in the coming years…he’s a pretty skillful big man…

Markus Kennedy, a 6′9″ 245 pound power forward from Philadelphia, may be making his college choice soon, according to Jerry Meyer of Rivals. Kennedy is believed to be favoring both Villanova and West Virginia above everybody else. Kennedy will make a visit to Penn State before making his final decision however, and they remain a darkhorse in the race for his signature.

Credit: North Star Basketball Blog

Villanova currently has 1 commitment in the Class of 2010 — SG James Bell of Orlando, FL.

…If you are into the recruiting scene this can be a very fun time of year…if you have a subscription to Rivals this news actually came out a few days ago…so I’ve been trying to temper my excitement while I waited for the story to become public…

…Kennedy would be a solid pickup…reading around the various scouting reports, it sounds as if he has a good feel for the post, but isn’t the most athletic big man…”poor man’s DeJuan Blair” was thrown out there by ESPN…he started out his career at St. Patrick’s in New Jersey before transferring to APEX Academy…he’s been coming on strong as his work ethic continues to improve…

…Right now I feel good about Villanova’s chances…you have to love what the Final Four run can do for your program off the court…