TENNESSEE AAU PRE-SEASON EVENT

Saturday, April 13th

1 day, $30/game, 2 or 3 games, All aged AAU Boys Teams 

@ Cumberland University, Lebanon,TN
-only charging the cost for officials

"Come and warm up, before you hit the circuit"

Interested?

Call (615) 485.5600

DARIUS THOMPSON - NO LONGER A SECRET

 FROM RIVALS:  BY ERIC BOSSI

After a strong junior season and a big summer before his senior season, Darius Thompson didn't lack for quality offers.

Darius Thompson has seen his recruitment blow up.

The 6-foot-4 point guard from Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Blackman, a standout with Team Nashville, had offers from the likes of Richmond, Murray State, Middle Tennessee State and many others.

But he decided to roll the dice and play out his senior year to see who else might get involved with his recruitment.

It was something he knew would be risky, but it appears to be working out quite well for him as he has led his team to a 16-0 start while attracting plenty of new attention.

"A lot of big-time people in the last month have been looking at me," Thompson told Rivals.com. "Waiting was a real good decision for me.

"It was a tough decision for me. At first I thought that if I do wait that I could lose everybody I have, if I got injured or something like that. The good part of it was new people could see me, and with everybody looking at me like they have, it has worked out."

Since his decision to wait it out, Thompson has received new offers from Auburn, Vanderbilt and Butler while N.C. State and Tennesseeboth dropped in to watch him on Tuesday night and Virginia will be in on Friday.

Wednesday, Thompson stopped by Vandy to see what the school is all about.

"It was a very good visits," he said. "I got to meet with their educational people and sit on a class. It was really an educational visit, not as much basketball. Education is first, basketball comes second."

During the summer, Thompson played off the ball for Team Nashville because he played with three-star point guard and dual sport star Cornelius Elder. Now he's back at his natural position of the point and schools have flocked because of his size and passing.

"I think there's a shortage of point guards this year," said Team Nashville coach Carlton Battle. "I keep track of who is recruiting who and a lot of schools were recruiting the same guys. Once those guys came off the board and the dominoes started to fall I felt like Darius would get some looks.

"It is pretty surprising to me that we won so many tournaments and us being alive so many last days of tournaments that people are just taking notice."

Thompson says he's in no rush to make a decision and he's not likely to set up any visits until after his senior season is over. He and his teammates fell to Memphis East in the class 3A state quarterfinals last year and Thompson wants to get a state title this year.

For now, he's open to anybody who wants to take a look at him and is glad that people are getting to see what he can do.

"They are getting more familiar with me," Thompson said. "They are also seeing my real position as a pass first point guard. In the summer I had a real good point guard with me in Corn Elder so I played the shooting guard. Now they see what I can really do as a point guard."

JRG - SWAG UPDATE

 

JOHN ROSS GLOVER V. KENTUCKY