wilkes announces

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Ikene Ebekwe To Announce Decision Today:
Maryland Or USC--(Oct. 14, 2002)

We got an e-mail over the weekend from Jeff Davis letting us know that Carson's Ikene Ebekwe, will be announcing his decision today. We won't be able to make this press conference, and after Omar Wilkes' last week, we'll probably never attend another high school press conference again (dang, should have listened to Eric Sondheimer and avoided it like the plague....you know the reverse mojo effect...). Anyway, remember we predicted that Ebekwe would pick USC, but then predicted it wouldn't happen, which means that he's probably a lock for Maryland....Here's the press release which Davis sent out over the weekend. Someone please let us all know who he picks:

CARSON (CA) HIGH SCHOOL All-America basketball player Ekene Ibekwe will announce his college choice this coming Monday, October 14, 2002 at a press conference to be held in the Carson High School gymnasium at 12:15 p.m. Pacific time. The 6'9 215 power forward, a two-time All-Los Angeles City selection, and regarded as one of the top five players in California and the nation (Top 40) in the Class of 2003, will announce his decision from amongst two universities: USC (University of Southern California) from the PAC-10 and the defending NCAA men's basketball champions, the University of Maryland from the ACC. All members of the media (print and TV) are invited to attend. For additional information please contact Carson High School boy's basketball coach
Richard Masson at (310) 835-0181 x.273 (W) or 310-831-3954 (H). Carson High is located at 22328 South Main St, in the City of Carson (90745). The school is acccessible by two freeways: the 405 (San Diego) freeway and the 110 (Harbor). The exit from the 405 is Avalon Blvd; the exit from the 110 is 223rd St or Carson St. The school is located at the corner of 223rd and Main St. The gymnasium is located on the east side of the school, on Dolores St.

Addendum:

Since posting the above earlier this morning, we had a chance to visit with Clark Francis of The HoopScoop and he writes that Ikene has already picked Maryland and it's a done deal. How does Clark know for sure? Well, he says that Ekene actually made the decision on Thursday or Friday and that one way to tell for sure that it's Maryland is that

"....6'8 Terrance Roberts from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ was scheduled to visit Maryland over the weekend and, if he'd committed to the Terrapins on the visit, Ibekwe would have been out of luck....Well, apparently Ibekwe did want to go to Maryland and, like they say, the rest is history. Ibekwe, who is ranked #37 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is one of our favorite players. Not only is he a big time athlete with long arms and incredible wing span, but he has the versatility to play both inside and outside, excellent skills, and a tremendous upside. This moves Maryland's recruiting class up to #2 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and that comes right on the heels of last year's class, which was ranked #6 nationally and included 6'4 Chris McCray from Capital Heights (Fairmont Heights) MD, 6'8 Travis Garrison from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'9 Jamar Smith from Allegany (JC) MD, 6'2 Johnny Gilchrist from Virginia Beach (Salem) VA, and 6'7 Nik Caner-Medley from Portland (Deering) ME. Defending NCAA Champions, great coach in Gary Williams, and back-to-back great recruiting classes doesn't make it too hard to figure out that this will be one of the teams to beat in college basketball for a number of years."