Fill-In Fridays: Hairston Will Play this Season
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
While the biggest news of the week was Kendrick Lamar taking on the entire rap game by himself and launching the biggest slam at NY city since the days of Tupac, some interesting things happened in college basketball too.
The Florida Gators have offered a walk on position to Zach Hodskins. What makes this news worthy is that Hodskins was born missing the bottom half of his left arm. Playing with only one, he has had a fantastic high school career, displaying amazing shooting and passing skills. There has been no reply from Hodskins yet because there are still chances he could be offered a scholarship from another school.
According to ESPN, UNC’s Athletic Director, Bubba Cunningham, told UNC professors on a school retreat that PJ Hairston would play in Tar Heels games next season, just not all of them. Following a tumultuous off season that saw Hairston get in a few tough spots with the law, he was suspended indefinitely by his team. Hairston is currently still suspended and no official word has been given by the Tar Heels.
Through his twitter account, Tyus Jones has released what dates he will visit which schools. While he will visit Baylor, Kansas and Duke with his friend and possible teammate Jahlil Okafor, they will both go to Kentucky campus on separare visits. Okafor, the top ranked recruit in the class of 2014 and Jones have been heavily rumored to be going to the same school in 2015.
Marcus Smart and rookie phenom Julius Randle took some time to have some fun this week and competed in a dunk competition. Smart showed some tremendous athleticism and Randle displayed to everybody why scouts are excited for his NCAA arrival. He is built like a brick house and has amazing hops, making him the possible leader for what will be an absolutely loaded Kentucky squad.
Stephen Zimmerman, the number one ranked recruit in 2015, talked with Zags Blog about his potential landing spots. The 7″1 center has had a great summer at basketball camps and has fortified his spot as the nation’s best junior center. Sporting offers from most of the major schools, Zimmerman believes he should be able to add both UNC and Duke to that list by the end of his junior year.
CJ Fair, a senior for the Syracuse Orange this season, has been one of the popular picks for the ACC player of the year this season. Having led the team in both scoring and rebounding last season, the forward believes he could win the award provided his team wins their games. With the Orange moving to a stronger conference this season, the competition will be tougher for Syracuse and Fair will be expected to shoulder the load this season.
After re-opening his commitment and leaving Louisville, Quentin Snider plans on making an unofficial visit to the Memphis campus. After receiving 13 scholarships in the span of a few days once he announced his decision to become recruitable again, Snider will be forced into making a tough decision eventually.
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have added a commitment from 2014 point guard Tadric Jackson. Ranked 77th amoung players in his class, Jackson gives Georgia Tech a much needed first recruit for the 2014-15 season and shows to be a very promising prospect.
That’s all for this week, with only 41 days to go before the start of the season, the August drought looks almost over.
Have a great weekend folks!