re: Basketball Recruiting Discussion

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Recruiting

-- South Carolina has extended an offer to 6-foot-6 slashing wing player Shamiek Sheppard (Waynesboro, Va./Fishburne Prep). Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., Sheppard has also started receiving heavy interest from Frank Martin's former school, Kansas State, and is expected to set up visits to both schools in the next few weeks. Those are the two schools showing the most interest at this point and based on what we are told those are the two schools that Sheppard is likely to choose from.

This season at Fishburne, Sheppard is averaging 14 points per game and is described as a scoring slasher with a good mid-range game. Sheppard will need to continue to improve his three point shot but he is very similar to current Kansas State player Shane Southwell from what we are told.

-- One other name to mention from Fishburne Prep is 6-foot-8, 210-pound DeOntaye Curtis who has been described to me as very similar to Gamecocks recruit and Oklahoma signee Dante Buford (Jacksonville, Fla/Arlington Country Day). Curtis took an official visit to Gardner-Webb this past weekend but he still has some work to do regarding academics.

If Curtis can get his academics together late in the year he will likely be a guy that receives several high major offers but it is going to be mid- to late-March before anyone has an idea if he can make it academically.

-- Another post player in the 2014 class the Gamecocks recently checked on is 6-foot-10, 300-pound Adonis Delarosa (Rens, N.Y./Christ the King) but at this point we do not expect the Gamecocks to do very much here. They are likely to go see him play again towards the end of February but the focus is finding another athletic body and while DelaRosa is big, he does not really fit the mold of what the Gamecocks are looking for.

There is still a very strong chance that the Gamecocks will take a post player that has elected to transfer from another school and see if he can get a waiver to become eligible immediately.

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