Cheek Down to Two; Hurley on Taylor, Rosario; Drummond Gets Releases

**[Read the Rivals story I wrote on Cheek here].

Dominic Cheek will choose between Kansas and Villanova and will announce his decision Friday at a 6 o’clock press conference at the Golden Door Charter School in Jersey City, according to a report in the Jersey Journal.

“For six months I thought it was going to be Villanova or Kansas and I don’t think anything has changed,” St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said Wednesday by phone. “The decision is being made by this kid.”

The 6-foot-5 Cheek, the No. 6 shooting guard in the Class of 2009, had initially included Memphis, Pittsburgh and Rutgers on his list but has apparently cut them.

Hurley said he plans to run a two-hour practice beginning at 3:30 on Friday and no announcement will be made until it’s over, probably around 6.

“I’m trying to take this basketball team and make sense out of it,” Hurley said. “We’re in season, we’re fighting for our lives.”

Cheek is suffering from tendonitis and is not currently practicing with the team.

Cheek has visited the Villanova campus on several occasions and is close friends with incoming freshman Maalik Wayns, who teamed with Cheek on the USA U-18 National Team that traveled last summer to Argentina.

“I’m just trying to get him to come, telling him how he’ll fit in and trying to convince him every day to come over with me,” Wayns said recently. “We talk every day, and most of the time it’s not even about ‘Nova because we’re close friends. If he decides to come, that would be a great thing.”

As for Kansas, the Jayhawks are the defending national champs and desperately need a wing player now that Xavier Henry of Oklahoma Putnam City has chosen Memphis over Kansas.

Cheek visited Kansas for “Late Night in the Phog,” when the team raised its national championship banner.

“Oh, Kansas that was a great experience,” Cheek said. “The place was sold out. Defending national champions. They put the banner up. It was crazy out there.”

HURLEY ON TAYLOR AND ROSARIO

Coach Hurley also commented on former players Tyshawn Taylor of Kansas and Mike Rosario of Rutgers.

On Taylor, the Big 12 Rookie of the Week: “I’ve seen every game because of the TV package. I talked to him on the phone the other night. He’s happy, he’s getting a chance to play. Coach [Bill] Self is kicking his behind and pushing him and he’s enjoying every minute of it.”

On Rosario, who said he was frustrated with his teammates after Sunday’s loss at home to Binghamton: “I spoke to him the other night after they lost and he’s lost more games already this year (three) than he’s lost in his last two years of high school (one) and he’ll lose more games by early January than he lost his whole high school varsity career (four), so it’s something you gotta deal with it.

“Everybody there, including him, they all have to work to get better. Everybody’s got to get better. The coaches got to get better, the players got to get better, they’ve got to get more players. They’ve got do do a million things that the teams that aren’t winning have to do.

“To watch them, they look like they’re playing hard but they’re just not there. They just need more players.”

DRUMMOND GETS RELEASES

Villanova has granted releases to Siena, Marist and Boston University to allow them to speak with Casiem Drummond about transferring. The 6-foot-10 Drummond announced his intentions to leave Villanova and will have one and a half years of eligibility remaining. He visited Marist this past weekend.