Dudley's Graves Commits Early

Early call: Dudley junior Graves picks the Tar Heels
By Jeff Carlton, Staff Writer, Greensboro News & Record
1/18/05

GREENSBORO -- William Graves IV made a decision Monday morning that would have made the late William Graves II a very happy grandfather.

The Dudley junior verbally committed to play basketball at North Carolina, becoming the first Tar Heels recruit in the high school class of 2006.

"My grandfather was a Carolina fan all his life," Graves said. "I wanted to keep the tradition alive."

Graves, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound guard/forward, drove to Chapel Hill early Monday with his parents to make his verbal commitment to Tar Heels coach Roy Williams in person.

Then, with North Carolina assistant coach Steve Robinson looking on, Graves closed out the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by scoring 29 points in Dudley's 91-82 overtime loss to Reynolds in the North Carolina Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic.

Graves, whose commitment to North Carolina cannot become binding until November, would become the third Dudley player in 10 years to wear a Tar Heels uniform. He follows center Brendan Haywood, who now plays for the NBA's Washington Wizards, and guard Damien Price, a walk-on who graduated last year.

Graves, ranked 97th in the class of '06 by Rivals.com, said becoming academically qualified should not be an issue given his 3.1 grade-point average in core-curriculum classes and his 910 score when he took the SAT as a freshman. He'll be shooting for a 1200 next time.

His court awareness, unselfishness and knowledge of the game make Graves an appealing prospect to college recruiters.

It's Williams' style and personality that appealed to Graves.

"He's very up front," Graves said. "He tells you when you do wrong, and he tells you when you do good. My father's the same way. And I see a lot of my father in him. So it's close to home, and it's kind of like being home."

Said Graves' father of the UNC head coach: "He has a lot of character and a lot of moral values. And that's important. Basketball, if you don't learn to be a contributing member of society, it doesn't do you any good."

 

He needs to lose some weight. He's got potential to be a hell of a scorer, but he needs to get in better shape.

 

Why don't they let him go ahead and committ, you know kind of the NBA hardship thing and let him go ahead and "attend" I mean shoot in a few years they will be coming out of jr.high committing to schools or even better skipping high school all together and going straight in anyway. Who needs an edumakashun any way?







(btw, I am joking, so lighten up, which goes for some of the prep people too!)

 

Jason Jordan teased Niner fans just enough that I was starting think we might have a shot at this guy. Nice get for the Holes.

In the meantime, watch his ranking. He's only #97 on Rivals right now, as Jason pointed out. Now that's committed to a big name school, suddenly his ranking will soar, for no good reason. I always find that ridiculous. He's still the same player.

 

Ok a 3.1 gpg and 910 SAT score don't qualify him already? That's crazy.