usc signs guard

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

USC Signs Another Guard,
Malachi Thurston--(June 11, 1999)

Well, whoever was posting the messages all over our board for the last few weeks asking us if we knew anything about Malachi Thurston and whether he had signed with USC obviously had a better line to the coach's ears on this one than we did. In fact, not many people had ever heard of Malachi Thurston outside of Connecticut where he attended prep school last year.

But according to a story in today's Daily News by Scott Wolf, a staff sports writer who closely follows the USC men's basketball program, USC has signed Malachi Thurston (6'-4" Sr. SG) from The Hotchkiss School, a prep school in Lakeville, Connecticut. According to the story in the Daily News, Thurston is originally from Oakland, where he attended the Marin Academy.

According to Wolf, "USC has used its final basketball scholarship" in the signing Thurston. He reportedly averaged 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists per game last season at Hotchkiss. Thurston selected USC over Oregon. Because he committed after the signing period for National Letters of Intent, Thurston was unable to sign a letter of intent, and instead signed a "nonbinding scholarship agreement", which means he is not bound to the university. Of course, the University has instead, committed to give him an athletic grant-in-aid for next year.

The signing marks USC's fifth player signed for next year, and the other signees include Luke Minor (7'-3" Sr. C) from Blue Ridge Academy in Virginia, Nate Hair (6'-4" Sr. SG) from Capo Valley High in Mission Viejo, Rashad Jones (6'-2" So. PG) a JC transfer from San Jose who will have two years of elgibility remaining, and Konstantino Charissis, a 6'-11" post player from Greece about whom no one really knows anything.

This one comes as a pretty big surprise, and we'd have to say that even the USC official website people were taken a bit off guard on this one because there's still no official acknowledgement that the Trojans have signed Thurston.