Harris spurns Syracuse, signs with Tennessee
NEW YORK – Tobias Harris, the No. 9 overall prospect on Scout.com, officially committed to play basketball at Tennessee Wednesday night. He announced his decision at the ESPN Zone in Times Square Thursday, just minutes before Syracuse tipped off the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer against California.
The decision for Harris comes after a long and arduous recruiting process, which began with 11 teams in contention for the 6-foot-8 versatile forward from Half Hollow Hills (N.Y.) High School. After an initial round of cuts whittled the field down to seven schools – Syracuse, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee and West Virginia – Harris began making a series of official visits, starting with Syracuse on Sept. 26 and ending with Georgia Tech on Monday.
Harris said each of the seven schools were in contention until he made his final decision late Wednesday night.
‘It was just the coaching staff, it’s a family atmosphere down there, that’s the main thing,’ Harris said of Tennessee. ‘I wanted to go somewhere where, if I wasn’t playing basketball at that school, I would still go there. And I thought I would go there.’
Harris made the long-awaited decision in front of a raucous crowd inside the ESPN Zone restaurant, packed with more than two dozen Syracuse fans who sat directly behind Harris as he made his commitment live on ESPNU.
As an ESPN Zone employee brought Harris a cake – shaped like a Tennessee basketball jersey with his name and No. 31 on the back – patrons inside the restaurant rang out in a chorus of boos. Some Syracuse fans flocked outside the restaurant to further taunt Harris after not selecting SU.
‘It’s just going to happen,’ Harris said of the pack of Syracuse fans behind him. ‘Some of the best universities were recruiting me, and to say ‘no,’ it’s hard, but I think this was the best decision for me.’
The Orange received one letter of intent for the 2010 early signing period, shooting guard Dion Waiters. SU is currently awaiting letters from small forward C.J. Fair and centers Fab Melo and Baye Moussa Keita, all who announced verbal commitments prior to the early-signing period.
Johnson shines under bright lights
As the pro-Syracuse crowd started getting rowdy in the second half, Wes Johnson finally started to realize where he was – center stage, main attraction, at Madison Square Garden. After watching his teammates have such success at the venue last year, the junior transfer finally got a piece of the famed arena himself.
‘I think it was everything I thought it would be watching it from the six-overtime game and watching the Big East Tournament,’ Johnson said. ‘Coming out here and seeing it and playing in it finally, it was everything it was hyped up to be.’
Playing at MSG for the first time as a member of the Orange, Johnson dazzled in Syracuse’s 95-73 win over No. 13 California last night. He scored 17 points, had 11 rebounds and six blocks in the win.
Johnson was a factor inside and outside, playing his best game as an Orange yet. He did leave one bucket on the floor, though.
With Syracuse leading 17-9, Johnson streaked toward the basket with only space separating him from a monster dunk. He jumped up for a one-handed slam, but the ball didn’t cooperate, springing off the metal for a missed dunk as the fans all thought of what could have been.
Still, that doesn’t take away from the near triple-double performance
‘I’ve been seeing Wes for a whole year now, so it’s for y’all to see him,’ SU guard Scoop Jardine said. ‘He’s everything and more, he didn’t even get the dunks I think he could get. He missed them, but if they would have went down, y’all would have been out of your seats.’
Mookie scores eight in home game
Mookie Jones played at Madison Square Garden once before, but he said he didn’t get as much time as he would’ve liked. For the Peekskill, N.Y., native, the Garden is as close to home as it gets.
So this time, Jones made sure he didn’t leave anything on the floor. Jones scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting in his homecoming last night at the Garden. Jones hit two 3-point shots in just eight minutes.
‘It felt good because this is the closest I can be home,’ Jones said. ‘I ain’t been home in six months, I’ve been working all summer for this moment so it was just good. It felt like being home. I went out there and I knew I had to do something and I just wasn’t shy and wasn’t at all and I went out there ready.’
Published on November 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm
