Thursday, June 15, 2006

Preps, preps and more preps

Everywhere you turns these days, it seems more and more high school athletes are choosing the prep school route. That extra year at school helps kids prepare academically, athletically, physically and emotionally for college.

Just recently Kennedy forward Rashad Bishop, the 2006 Herald News Player of the Year and a second-team Associated Press All-State selection, committed to St. Benedict's in Newark. Bishop lit up St. Benedict's for 34 points in a loss at the Tip-Off Classic at Seton Hall last December, and you can bet Bees coach Danny Hurley remembered that. Hurley's plan for next season is to have two teams, a prep team comprised of fifth-year players, and a regular high school team of four-year players. Both would play elite competition from around the nation. The high school team would not compete in the NJSIAA state tournament this season, Hurley said.

Bishop joins fellow Passaic standouts Justin Sofman and Jerrell and Terrell Williams in the prep ranks. Sofman will spend next year at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, while the Williams' twins are entering their second year at Northfield Mount Hermon. Former Passaic Tech standout Hashim "Big City" Bailey also prepped last year at The Patterson School in North Carolina before heading off to play for Memphis coach John Calipari.

Bishop, Sofman and the Williams twins could cross pathes this year at the National Prep Tip-Off Classic in Rhode Island in November.

No comments: