Extra season on court should benefit Roberts
Former Evans High School big man Jaleel Roberts is playing his final season of high school basketball for Greensboro Day School, in Greensboro, N.C.
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If it seems as if Roberts has been around a long time, well, he has. He initially was in the 2010 graduating class, but by transferring to a prep school, he was granted an extra year to develop.
The prep school process, and its effect on college basketball, has plenty of critics. Many people feel like some prep schools just serve as basketball factories, and do not really serve the original purpose.
Well, if there was ever a poster child for the benefits of a prep school, Roberts is it. Don't get me wrong; I would have loved for him to have stayed at Evans, and he certainly would have received a Division I scholarship had he done so. However, I can also see the good points of making the move for a kid like Roberts.
He didn't start playing organized basketball until he was a sophomore. At the time, he was a 6-foot-8, paper-thin bench-warmer, who occasionally got some mop-up duty for the Knights. Because he was thin and relatively new to the game, Roberts was the type of player that could benefit most from an extra year of growth and maturity.
Roberts now stands 6-10 and weighs 200 pounds. The shot-blocking center already has several scholarship offers and is being recruited by a slew of major programs. Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Marquette and Xavier are among some of the high-profile schools that have expressed interest in Roberts.
Hopefully, he can have a big year in Greensboro and turn that interest into a major Division I scholarship.
Clark playing final season for Citadel
While we are talking about big men from Evans, here is an update on Matt Clark.
Clark averaged 15 points a game for the Knights during his senior season in 2006-07, earning All-County and All-Area honors. The 6-8 Clark is now a senior at The Citadel.
He turned heads as a freshman when he played in all 30 games and started 12 for the Bulldogs. The past two seasons he has been a reserve, but has had a solid career thus far.
The start of the 2010-11 season has been tough for The Citadel. It is 0-3 with losses to Richmond, Charleston Southern and James Madison.
Clark has started two of the three games. In the Bulldogs' 68-61 loss to Charleston Southern, he played 35 minutes and posted seven points and a team-leading six rebounds before fouling out.
The Citadel's closest game to our area is a Feb. 19 matchup against Georgia Southern.