Dominic Cheek, one of the top players in the Class of 2009, has an eventful summer ahead.
The 6-foot-5 Cheek and his St. Anthony teammates will attend the Rutgers Team Camp this weekend; the NBA Top 100 Camp at the University of Virginia June 16-21; and the tryouts for the FIBA Americas U18 Championship team that will go to Argentina July 14-18. Cheek will also be invited to the Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia July 6-10, but if he makes the U18 team he would miss that event.
“I’m hoping he makes the team,” St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said. “We’re going to attempt to have him as prepared as possible. He’s meeting our strength guy every day, five days a week to try to accelerate his conditioning. He wants to be in the best shape possible to make that team.”
Among other area standouts trying out for the U18 team are Brooklyn Lincoln star Lance Stephenson; St. Patrick of Elizabeth guard Dexter Strickland, who has committed to North Carolina; and Virginia-bound shooting guard Sylven Landesberg of Queens Holy Cross.
Tryouts take place at Georgetown July 1-4, with the training camp set to run July 4-10. About a dozen players will make the final roster.
Cheek, the No. 4-ranked shooting guard and No. 11 player in the Class of 2009, has a slew of schools interested in him: Villanova, Wake Forest, Kansas, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Florida, UConn, Texas and Maryland.
“Things are definitely going good with my recruitment,” Cheek told Shay Wildeboor of Jayhawkslant.com. “The only new school involved is Virginia. Nobody else new has started recruiting me yet. One school I really like right now is Kansas. They’ve done a great job recruiting me and I really like them.
“I also like Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, Wake Forest, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Seton Hall,” he added. “There are a lot of schools recruiting me right now. I can’t remember all of them, but these are just some of the schools that I really like right now.”
It appears that Kansas has peaked Cheek’s interest with the recent commitment of St. Anthony guard Tyshawn Taylor to the 2008 NCAA champs.
Two other St. Anthony players, sophomores Devon Collier and Ashton Pankey, are also drawing interest, Hurley said.
“I think they’re recruiting seems to be building,” he said. “Collier had a good month playing with New Heights. He and Pankey have both been lifting (weights) for a couple weeks.
“I would say St. John’s, Seton Hall and Rutgers will be interested in both kids and probably all the A-10s. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of July.”
As for St. Anthony’s schedule in 2008-09, Hurley said the defending national champion Friars will hit a Christmas tournament in San Diego and also play independent games against Colonia, Rumson, Carteret, Plainfield and Passaic Tech. St. Anthony will also compete in the Brian Doherty Classic at the Prudential Center on Jan. 24.
