Tigers Miss; Devin Ebanks Signs LOI with West Virginia

Ebanks Signs LOI
By Bryan Messerly for MSNsportsNET.com
May 18, 2008

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Devin Ebanks, who is ranked as one of the top basketball players in the country by numerous scouting services, has signed a grant-in-aid to attend West Virginia University in 2008-09 and play basketball for the Mountaineers, Coach Bob Huggins announced today.

Ebanks, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward from Long Island City, N.Y., is ranked second among small forwards and 11th overall in the class of 2008, according to Rivals.com. He is ranked fourth among small forwards and 13th overall, according to Scout.com.

Ebanks attended St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Conn., where he averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as a senior for Coach Jere Quinn. One of his best games was an 87-80 victory over South Kent, when he had a career-high 44 points to go with 14 rebounds. As a junior, he averaged 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ebanks scored more than 1,000 points in his two seasons at St. Thomas More and was selected to play in the Jordan Brand Classic all-star game in New York last month.

"Devin gives us a very versatile scorer who can score in multiple ways," says Huggins. "At 6-foot-9, he's an outstanding perimeter shooter with size and mobility."

In the summer of 2007, Ebanks was one of 30 high school players to be invited to the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and averaged 28.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He also shot 60.2 percent from the field and tallied 1.8 steals in 29.8 minutes per game. As a sophomore at Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, he averaged 18 points, nearly six rebounds and 1.3 assists. Ebanks played AAU basketball for Team Takeover and Coach Lawrence McGugins.

"He had a great visit to our campus last month," says Huggins. "One of the many things that pushed us over the top were his visits with our president and athletic director. Devin was impressed to spend a half hour with the president and athletic director, and had the feeling that everyone here is onboard to win a national championship."

Ebanks joins Darryl "Truck" Bryant (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Roscoe Davis (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Kevin Jones (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) as signees for the 2008-09 season.

"On his visit, he fit in terrific with our team," says Huggins. "Our guys like him and look forward to playing with him. I think these four players give us an outstanding recruiting class. We have four guys who will be outstanding BIG EAST players and who will keep us in the national picture."