felix signs with fresno

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Noel Felix Signs With Fresno State;
Loses Leon Smith To NBA--(May 14,1999)

The Fresno Bee is reporting this morning that Fresno State has signed Inglewood High's Noel Felix (6'-9" Sr. PF/C) to a national letter of intent yesterday.

According to the article by Andy Katz of the Bee, Felix turned down a scheduled visit to Tennessee today to sign with the Bulldogs after making an unofficial visit to Fresno State last month. Felix is the third signee this year for Fresno, and they have one more scholarship left to give. The Bulldogs also signed Leon Smith (6'-9" Sr. PF/C) from MLK in Chicago, but he will go to the NBA instead, and they signed Raynell Brewer (6'-11" So. C) out of Mississippi Gulf Coast College, but he's not expected to be eligible until December or more likely the fall of 2000 and can't be on scholarship until he earns his AA degree. Fresno is still looking at Tito Maddox (6'-4" Sr. PG) who will visit Fresno State again today. Tito is still reportedly looking at Fresno, De Paul and possibly prep school or a JC.

According to Katz' article: "Noel wanted to play for a legend Jerry Tarkanian," Inglewood coach Patrick Roy told the Bee. "It just made sense for him to stay close to home and go where he could play right away instead of going far away." According to Katz, "Felix is expected to work in off the bench with Randy Holcomb, spelling starters Melvin Ely and Larry Abney to give Fresno State four true low-post forwards after struggling with three last year."

"We needed some help there, and if we want to press and run, now we've got a shot blocker behind," Tarkanian told the Bee. "He doesn't slow us down, he speeds us up."

But if Fresno is happy about picking up Noel Felix, they are also disappointed about losing Leon Smith to the NBA. Wrote Katz: "Felix's decision comes a day after the Bulldogs finally accepted that Leon Smith will declare for the NBA draft after he had announced his intentions to do so in late April. The 6-10 Chicago King High center signed with the Bulldogs on May 1 in Fresno but never publicly swayed from his original intentions to choose the NBA. Tarkanian had said he was confident Smith would still honor his signature and play next fall in Fresno, even though Smith still had to qualify academically. Assistant Danny Tarkanian went to Chicago twice in the past two weeks to pursue Smith. "It's a big disappointment," Tarkanian said. "I honestly felt we would get him. It's a big blow because Danny worked so hard on him. It doesn't make sense. Every person in Chicago told him he should go to college, but other people were pulling at him. He's not ready for the NBA. He would have given us the big, strong kid we were looking for."

According to the Bee story, "Felix appears to have a better chance at getting eligible. Roy said Felix has a 2.4 to 2.5 grade-point average. Roy said he's expecting to receive Felix's ACT scores back this week. Felix took a precautionary visit to Marshalltown (Iowa) Junior College in case he didn't get eligible." Roy said Felix averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds and 4.5 blocks for Inglewood, which was 30-4 and lost to Dominguez in the semifinals of the state tournament. Roy said Felix has to watch his tendency to dribble too much and must put more muscle on his 220-pound frame.

And Andy Katz also quoted one of our acquaintances in the stands, FOF (Friend of Frank) Joel Francisco, who runs the scouting service called SoCal's Finest: " While Felix doesn't have Smith's strength, he may have more quickness and jumping ability. "He's got a great upside," said Joel Francisco, who runs a scouting service called SoCal's Finest out of Los Angeles. "He's a great leaper, good hands and could possibly play the '3' in the future because he can hit the 15-footers. He's so quick off his feet it's ridiculous."