Iona’s and Fordham’s rosters are largely built on local talent, players who made their mark in New York City and New Jersey at the high school level, and for these programs, those players remain vital.
But the two local schools also have looked this spring to supplement that talent by bringing in overseas prospects.
While Fordham signed Australian forward Dekeba Battee-Aston and German point guard Zaire Thompson, Iona received a verbal commitment from Greek wing Vangelis Bebis.
Battee-Aston and Thompson join a colorful roster at Fordham, which includes Brooklyn star Jon Severe, incoming Dobbs Ferry wing Eric Paschall, German forward Christian Sengfelder and Serbian point guard Nemanja Zarkovic.
The 6-foot-9 Battee-Aston, an athletic big man who spent a post-graduate year at powerhouse Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, Mass., will be in the mix in the paint, joining forwards Ryan Canty, Ryan Rhoomes and Manny Suarez, while Thompson will battle redshirt freshman Antwoine Anderson and Narkovic for minutes at the point.
“For size, you have to go anywhere in the world,” Fordham coach Tom Pecora said. “They were the best available players. With Christian and Battee-Aston, there were no bigs in the area who were what we were looking for. Same thing with the point guard position. We didn’t feel there was anyone as good as Nemanja.”
Bebis, a multi-talented 6-foot-6 wing, was also being recruited by Penn State, LSU and Davidson. A coach familiar with the slick shooter said he is a pure scorer and will fit in nicely in Iona’s up-tempo attack alongside guards A.J. English, Kelvin Amayo and Isaiah Williams.
Queens guard Dupree McBrayer, who will attend prep school next year at an undecided location, took an unofficial visit to Seton Hall on Friday after visiting Providence the previous weekend. He will see Drexel June 18 and Minnesota June 23… Shooting guard Donovan Mitchell of Brewster Academy will visit Georgia Tech and Florida State this weekend… The rising senior, from Elmsford, N.Y., is being pursued by a host of high-level programs, such as Florida, Providence, UConn and St. John’s.New Heights and Xaverian junior forwards Sayon Charles and Najee Larcher took unofficial visits to Wagner on Thursday… Niagara transfer Antoine Mason, the son of former Knicks forward Anthony Mason, picked Auburn over Providence and Boston College… Harlem point guard Kareem Canty, previously of Marshall, switched his decision to transfer to South Florida and will instead attend Auburn and play for Bruce Pearl.
Brooklyn forward Kamari Murphy, a former Lincoln High School star and Oklahoma State transfer, committed to Miami over South Florida this week.
Football
Rutgers landed a commitment from LSU transfer Hayden Rettig, a former U.S. Army All-American quarterback from Los Angeles.