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Tracking the College Basketball Stars of the Future
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ECU &
C-USA Hoops
Recruiting Report
Sunday, June 27, 2004
By Thad Mumau
Special Correspondent |
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Vetter: ECU, Hammonds right
for each other
�2004 Bonesville.net
Stu Vetter has
coached a lot of great teams and a lot of great players who have gone on to
college basketball and beyond. One of the things he looks for when matching
prospects with schools is whether it is a good fit.
�Tommy
Hammonds and East Carolina are a good fit,� said Vetter, whose Rockville
(MD) Montrose Christian School team finished 19th in the final USA Today
high school poll. He has had a team in that publication�s end-of-season
rankings each year since they began in 1982.
�Some kids are
better off in the South and some are better off in the North. Tommy is from
Florida, so the South is good for him. Also, I think he will have an
opportunity to play real soon.�
Hammonds, who
signed in the spring with ECU, is the son of Tom Hammonds, a two-time
first-team All-ACC forward who spent 12 seasons in the NBA.
�He has good
stock,� Vetter said, �and not just as a basketball player. His dad is a very
high quality guy, and that has carried over to Tommy. They both have great
character.�
The younger
Hammonds, a 6-4, 190-pound wing guard, averaged 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds
and 3.2 assists and was the voted the most outstanding defensive player on a
Montrose Christian team that went 25-4.
�He is
explosive to the basket,� Vetter said, "and a good shooter. He got better
and better as the season went on, particularly with his three-point
shooting. He really improved there.�
Hammonds hit
about 35 percent of his three-point attempts and sank 78 percent of his free
throws. His best all-around game, according to Vetter, came against
nationally ranked Philadelphia Simon Gratz in the Prime Time Shootout as he
scored 18 points and had a fine floor game. He had a season-high 24 points
in a runaway victory over Enterprise Charter of Washington, D.C.
�Tommy has a
good work ethic,� Vetter said, �and he�s solid. He is also very athletic. He
could have scored more for a lot of teams, but (Montrose Christian) had five
players average in double figures.�
Hammonds did
score more as a junior, when he scored 24 points a contest at Crestview (FL)
High School.
�We don�t take
many kids for just one year,� Vetter said, �but Tommy is an exceptional
young man as an athlete and as a person. It really helped him to play with
and against so many good players.�
Hammonds chose
the Pirates over St. John�s and Rhode Island.
�As he got
better,� Vetter said, �a lot of schools started coming after him. St.
John�s, West Virginia and Rhode Island all offered scholarships late in the
year.�
Hammonds
rounds out a 6-man East Carolina 2004 class that also includes Marvin
Kilgore, 6-3 wing guard from Philadelphia (PA) Lutheran Christian Academy;
Charles Bronson, 6-10 center from Philadelphia (PA) Lutheran Christian
Academy; Jonathan Hart, 6-7 small forward from Roselle (NJ) Abraham Clark;
Josh King, 5-11 wing guard from Trinity (NC) High School; Mike Castro, 6-8
power forward from Cumberland (MD) Allegany Community College.
Pitino rakes �em in
Have you
noticed Louisville�s 2005 recruiting haul? It�s a doozie.
Rick Pitino
and the Cardinals have commitments from four of the top 100 rising juniors
as ranked by prepstars.com. The most recent is from 6-5 wing guard Terrence
Williams, who is No. 39, of Seattle (WA) Rainier Beach. He picked Louisville
over Kansas and Indiana.
Other pledges
to the Cards are from No. 9 Andre McGee, a 5-11 point guard from Moreno
Valley (Cal.) Canyon Springs; No. 14 Amir Johnson, a 6-8 power forward from
Los Angeles (Cal.) Westchester; No. 63 Clarence Holloway, a 6-11 center from
Chicago (Ill.) Harlan Community Academy; and unranked Lamar Roberson, a 6-6
small forward who played at Compton (Calif.) Dominguez last year but will be
a fifth-year senior at a prep school in the fall.
Louisville�s
2005 class will also include transfer David Padgett, a 6-11 center who will
sit out this season after leaving Kansas.
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02/23/2007 02:41:53 PM |
