weaver to sign with missouri

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Missouri Picks Up Weaver;
More On Bryant--(Nov. 17, 1999)

The Columbia Missiouri Tribune Online is reporting that Omar Weaver (6'-7" Sr. SG/SF) from Compton Centennial will sign a national letter of intent today with the Missouri Tigers, making that two players from SoCal that Quinn Snyder will have snagged during the early signing period. Late last week, Long Beach Poly's Wesley Stokes (5'-11" Sr. PG) signed a letter of intent as well.

According to the story in the Tribune, Missouri will also gain one more possible scholarship offer due to the impending transfer of current Missouri sophomore Matt Rowan. Apparently Rowan has decided to leave the Missouri basketball team at the end of the semester, and will be granted his release.

According to the story in the Missouri paper, the fact that an additional spot has opened up should allow Missouri to continue to recruit Long Beach Jordan's Travon Bryant (6'-8" Sr. PF) through the spring. But according to a report in the Lawrence (Kansas) World Journal by sportswriter Gary Bedore, Bryant told him this past Sunday night that he probably will not sign with any school during the early signing period. but that he had "pretty much" narrowed his choices to Kansas and Cal-Berkeley, thus eliminating Missouri and any thought of playing college ball with Stokes. According to the report in the Lawrence World Journal, Bryant told Bedore that he wants to focus on his high school team and getting eligible by achieving a passing score on the ACT/SAT. But whether other schools will still be considered is something that Travon evidently wouldn't exlcude. "Anything can happen," Bryant told Bedore on Sunday night. "My mother wants me to take my time and make the decision that is right for me."

Weaver's impending signing with Missouri is a huge pickup for the first year coaching staff headed by Snyder. Weaver is a very strong, athletic shooter, one of the top players on this year's summer circuit from SoCal, and he will be a major impact player, possibly on the same order of magnitude that Gilbert Arenas is quickly becoming for the Arizona Wildcats this season. If Snyder is able to pick up Stokes, Weaver and Bryant, in addition to Detroit standouts Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson, this would be potentially one of the best recruiting classes in the nation.

The story in the Columbia Missouri Tribune today also quoted Rod Palmer, Weaver's coach at Compton Centennial as saying that Weaver will be eligible to play this year and that apparently there are no issues any longer remaining with the CIF about his transfer, or the number of years that he's played in high school prior to this year; there had been rumors circulating all summer that Weaver had already exhausted his high school eligibility as a student in Washington D.C. Palmer told the Tribune exactly what he told us when SoCalHoops ran it's preview of Compton Centennial several weeks ago: "He will be able to play," Centennial coach Rod Palmer said. "That hasn’t been a problem since we received his transcripts and we got that midway through last summer."

Weaver apparently made his announcment yesterday that he intended to sign a letter today; November 17 is the last day for signing of National Letters of Intent until the spring signing period in April. The letter merely has to be signed by 11:59 p.m. tonight; it can be transmitted later, and the school has an additional 21 days from the date they receive it to transmit it to the Big 12 Conference.

Apparently Weaver told the Tribune when asked about whether he would sign, "Yes, I want to come to Missouri. My decision is based on the coaches at MU, the program and the school itself." Weaver reportedly chose Missouri over offers from Alabama, Georgetown, Maryland and Miami, Fla.