McBee's recruiting takes turn
Grainger guard has new suitors
The recruitment of Grainger High School guard Skylar McBee has taken an unexpected turn that could land the sharpshooter in Huntington, W.Va., or as far away as California's Silicon Valley.
The 6-foot-2 McBee was being seriously courted by Wake Forest and Virginia just weeks ago. But the Demon Deacons recently received a commitment from 6-6 guard Togrim Sommerfeldt of Norway. McBee and a player from New York were candidates for that one spot.
Then on Monday, Virginia coach Dave Leitao resigned after a 10-18 record, the program's worst since the late 1960s.
A member of Santa Clara's coaching staff, however, was at Grainger to watch McBee work out a day later and to make a home visit. Santa Clara, the alma mater of Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, is coached by Kerry Keating, a former assistant at Tennessee (2001-03) and UCLA (2004-2007).
"Right now, Santa Clara has made a home visit and they've offered. Marshall has made a home visit, and they've offered," said Doug McBee, Skylar's father. "Charleston is coming in next week. Winthrop is coming in next week.
"And East Carolina wanted a tape of him."
Marshall is coached by Donnie Jones who was an assistant for Florida coach Billy Donovan for 11 seasons and helped the Gators to two national championships (2006, 2007).
"Both of those schools (Santa Clara and Marshall) want him to come on an official visit," said Doug McBee. "We haven't done any official visits, even back early on when he was offered scholarships by several mid-major schools.
"We just decided we were going to wait on visits until this period of time so he could have it fresh on his mind."
McBee said his son walking on at Tennessee is still an option, but hadn't heard anything on that front lately.
Skylar McBee averaged 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.6 steals this past season. He shot 39.5 percent from the 3-point line, 82.5 percent at the foul line and finished his career with 2,362 career points.
From The Knoxville News Sentinel:
Skylar McBee Update (March 30)
The recruitment of Grainger senior combo guard Skylar McBee is getting kind of fun to cover - lots of big-name schools and twists and turns. We don't get this much in East Tennessee. In Memphis, it's old hat.
Here's the latest ...
Grainger coach Derrick Combs said Monday that Pac-10 school Washington State is expected to visit McBee on Tuesday. Wake Forest, which likely was once McBee's top choice, is now back in the game and might come in Tuesday as well.
Wake backed out once it got a commitment from an overseas player about two weeks ago, roughly.
Therefore, McBee's scheduled visits to Marshall and Santa Clara have been postponed to next week. No word on Florida or South Carolina, which called for tape on McBee last week.
McBee averaged 24 points, 8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He hit 39 percent of his 3s.
BTW, Tennessee is still out of the mix and not going to offer ... for those of you hoping the "hometown boy" stays, well, home.
[Note, the timing of the WSU visit was before Bennett's move to Hooville, so I expect they are out of the equation, although Bennett may recruit him to
Charlottesville as well.]
