Hoosierhoopsreport reported yesterday that 6'10 center Jeff Robinson from Jack Keefer's Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis was in the process of committing to play for Xavier this upcoming season. http://www.hoosierhoopsreport.com/smf/index.php?topic=1991.0 This could be quite a coup for Xavier. Robinson is an under the radar prospect but you can blame that squarely on his stunningly talented teammates.
Last summer Robinson had a huge performance at the NBA camp and started showing up on top 100 lists and his ability was no secret to the country's most elite talent scouts. Robinson is very athletic and has great reach. He is a productive AAU player but in high school he actually saw his production decrease from his junior to his senior year. He shared the court with fellow senior Stephen Van Treese who is a 6'9 Louisville commit, 6'9 junior Dominique Fergeson who was at the time committed to UK and is now open, 6'11 sophomore Michael Chandler who along with 6'5 sophomore teammate Ryan Taylor had committed to Rick Pitino and his Louisville program. Many current high major big men couldn't crack that lineup so the mulligan goes out to Robinson who projects to be a fine shot blocker. One other source of playing time traffic jams at Lawrence North was the presence of junior 6'7 wing Justin Martin who was committed to Louisville at the time but has since decommitted. Martin has been mentioned with Xavier in the past and has a relationship not only with Xavier's current staff but also with Coach Miller in Arizona and is currently evaluating schools a second time around.
Robinson was originally committed to Matt Painter and Purdue but when he failed to develop in the classroom and on the court as had been anticipated Painter found a rugged 6'10 post prospect in Sandi Marcius from La Lamurie, IN to replace him this spring. Robinson was still on track to qualify and Painter stuck with Robinson into the summer as his admissions were considered at Purdue's admissions office. Robinson has been clear that he was happy with the universally popular Painter's efforts to bring him in and has pointed to his own disappointing effort in the classroom as a senior as the reason Purdue did not accept him this summer.
But Robinson is not a quitter, he kept his nose to the grindstone and completed the summer courses he needed to get eligible and didn't have a problem with his test scores and finds himself going from a program on the rise with an impressive Sweet 16 run in a major conference to an established program accustomed to playing deep into the tournament year in and year out in recent years. Xavier finds a gem who might benefit from a red shirt year if the Musketeer's other bigs stay healthy but will be an excellent prospect down the road. Meanwhile, Xavier finds itself well on way to developing an impressive Indiana recruiting pipeline. Recent commitment Dee Davis from the 2011 class was the MVP of the state championship in Indiana and has been outstanding this spring and is one of the impressed Mongrel's favorite players in the entire class.
The satisfied Mongrel loves a happy ending.
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