Official Signings

 

Milwaukee - The Marquette University men's basketball program has signed African standout Youssoupha Mbao (You-sof-ah M-bow) to a National Letter of Intent, head coach Buzz Williams announced Monday morning.

Mbao, a 7-2, 215-pounder, will arrive on campus this summer and have four years of eligibility with MU.

 

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The University of Kentucky men's basketball program has signed Miami-Dade Community College standout Darnell Dodson, Coach John Calipari announced on Friday.

Dodson, originally from Greenbelt, Md., attended Miami-Dade Community College last season where he helped guide the Sharks to a Southern Conference Championship and a 26-2 regular season record. The 6-7 small forward averaged 15.7 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 76.7 percent from free throw line en route to First Team All-Southern Conference honors.

WACO, Texas - Nolan Dennis, a 6-5 shooting guard from Richland High School in North Richland Hills, Texas, signed to play basketball with the Baylor Bears men's basketball program Thursday.

Rated as high as No. 44 in the nation currently in the ESPNU 100, the 185-pound guard was rated No. 15 at his position nationally by Rivals.com in the fall and No. 58 overall in the Class of 2009. Dennis originally signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Memphis but was granted his full release earlier this month.

 

After a day of delay, Washington was able to announce its commitments for the 2009 men's basketball season.

The four players who signed national letters of intent, Abdul Gaddy, Charles Garcia, Clarence Trent, and C.J. Wilcox, are a second consecutive recruiting coup for coach Lorenzo Romar and his staff. The three initial recruits, Garcia, Trent and Wilcox, were rated the 17th best group in the country by Rivals.com. The addition of Gaddy, after he twice decommitted from Arizona, moved the class into the top 10 rankings of many recruiting services.

Los Angeles, CA ?- High school standouts Given Kalipinde (Episcopal High School ? Alexandria, Virg.) and Edgar Garibay (Compton High School ? Compton, Calif.) have signed National Letters of Intent to attend and play collegiate basketball for Loyola Marymount, Head Coach Bill Bayno announced on Friday. The pair completes the Lions commitments during the early signing period, joining Terrell Vinson (St. Frances Academy ? Baltimore, Mary.)  who signed on Wednesday.

ATLANTA - Glen Rice, Jr., son of former Michigan and NBA star Glen Rice, has signed a latter-of-intent to enroll at Georgia Tech and play basketball, head coach Paul Hewitt announced Thursday.

 

Rice, a 6-4 guard from Walton High School in Marietta, Ga., is ranked No. 48 in the nation among 2009 high school seniors according to Rivalshoops.com, and No. 10 among shooting guards.

 

OXFORD, Ohio- Miami University's men's basketball team received five national letters-of-intent during the November signing period, head coach Charlie Coles announced Thursday.

MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State men's basketball head coach Billy Taylor announced the signings of Huzie Hambrite (Indianapolis, Ind./Lake Land College/Northwest) and Jauwan Scaife (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) to national letters of intent Friday during the early signing period. Hambrite and Scaife will begin their Ball State careers during the 2009-10 season.

"We are very excited to get Huzie and Jauwan into our Ball State basketball program as they address some needs in our program," Taylor said.

Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie on the official signing of Jon Hood, Daniel Orton and GJ Vilarino:

"I'm really excited about all three of the players that we signed today.  They will all be terrific players for us and we are very fortunate to have them.  Our roster will get better with these three signees.  All three of them are great human beings.  They are all excited and all three of them love Kentucky."

 

On GJ Vilarino...