Among the schools interested in Daryll Hill are St. John’s, Providence, Utah and Northeastern. That’s a pretty impressive list. Now all the senior point guard from Cardozo has to do is qualify to play in the NCAA. There’s just one problem: He hasn’t taken the SAT yet.
“I haven’t felt like I was prepared,” Hill said, explaining why he has avoided the test that he needs to get into college. “It was a mistake.”
Hill has struggled at times in the classroom, so he will need a higher score on the SAT to play next year, but he has only made it harder on himself by putting it off for so long.
“I know I need to do well,” said Hill, the Post’s PSAL Player of the Year. “But if I had started taking it when I was a junior, I’m sure I would have qualified by now. But that’s in the past.”
Unfortunately for Hill, his past is affecting the present. On top of the extra classes he is currently taking to graduate, he has to get ready for the SAT by next month.
“It’s sad,” said Cardozo head coach Ron Naclerio. “He signed up for it in December and never took it. I’ve tried to make him understand. I sat him down at the beginning of the year to help him figure out what he wanted to do, but he really doesn’t know. I think he’s scared of taking it.”
Hill will either wind up in prep school or, more likely, at one of the aforementioned colleges, where he will have to sit out a year.
“I’m ready to do whatever I have to do,” Hill said.
Too bad he didn’t have that attitude a year ago.
*
Omar Cook won’t say if he’s going pro, but at least one person wouldn’t mind seeing him in a Red Storm uniform for another season.
“I would love to play with him,” said Tristan Smith, a guard who starred at Amityville and will play at St. John’s next season. He made his debut at Alumni Hall on Tuesday night. “If he leaves, I’ll probably start, but if he stays, I think we’ll be really good together. I hope he does whatever is best for him.”
Cook was on hand at the Wheelchair Classic on Tuesday, a sight that had to make St. John’s fans optimistic about his returning for his sophomore campaign.
*
You can’t accuse Rashad Bell of making rash decisions. The St. Francis Prep star nearly signed with St. Peter’s during the early signing period, but decided to hold off.
“I wanted to get some more options,” said Bell, who was offered scholarships only by the Peacocks and Stony Brook before the season began. “I was nervous that it wouldn’t work out if I didn’t have a good year, but it has.”