Syracuse willing to wait on Waiters

Ron Bailey, Publisher

July 17, 2007 – Accepting verbal commitments from young high school players has become vogue for major level college basketball programs, with juniors routinely announcing their college plans, and increasingly sophomores following suit. Philadelphia’s Maalik Wayns is a recent example of the latter.

Syracuse University has taken it a step further, recruiting Dion Waiters, and accepting a verbal commitment from the sophomore-to-be last Sunday. On first blush, Waiters’ situation doesn’t necessarily seem unique, outside of his younger than normal age. But when you take into consideration Waiters’ has not played high school ball, Dion’s recruitment indeed becomes special.

Hailing from the South Philly section of that city, Waiters is a 6’3”, 210lb guard attended John Bartam and South Philadelphia High Schools, but due to academic concerns, didn’t play hoops at all last year. Syracuse first became aware of the precocious Waiters at its team camp, two years ago, which Dion attended with Neumann-Goretti.

The connection with that Philadelphia Catholic school is natural, as incoming freshmen Antonio ‘Scoop’ Jardin and Rick Jackson recently graduated from the school, and are close to Waiters. So close, Aaron Abbott, a Neumann-Goretti assistant coach and long time developer of talent in South Philly, labeled Dion “a student of Scoop Jardin”.

Abbott, who Jardin readily identified last summer as the reason he has ascended to great heights on the court, has had an equally important impact on Waiters, as Aaron noted “Dion has been around since he’s been 10 or 11” similar to Jardin and Jackson.

After comparing Waiters to former Cuse great Dwayne ‘Pearl’ Washington, including “body and everything”, Abbott revealed Jardin’s presence at Syracuse was very attractive to the young guy, but wasn’t the only selling point. “Their style suits him” said the Neumann- Goretti (or St. John’s as old school Philadelphians refer to it) graduate and standout at Mansfield St. and New Hampshire College. “Syracuse lets their guards play”.

When asked to compare Waiters and Scoop at similar stages, Abbott noted “They are probably even”, before giving a slight advantage to Jardin. “Scoop has the edge only because he played with older kids” said the man who takes pride in training young kids in hoops and what it takes to excel in the sport. “So Scoop just had to play…older guys covered up his mistakes”.

Waiters, who formerly played travel team ball with the Philadelphia Ball Hawks and currently competes with Team Final, will continue playing on the circuit, in anticipation of attending Neumann-Goretti as a sophomore as a fully eligible student-athlete. Fans can see him develop and perform in the Philly-based Sonny Hill League, in addition to Orlando’s Super Showcase.

And of course, he’ll be putting work in with Abbott, earning his stripes as South Philly’s next great one.