McKnight Heads to Iowa State
Ron Bailey, Publisher
Eric McKnight will play in the Big 12.
April 26, 2010 - The Big 12 has claimed another Princeton Day Academy (MD) standout, as 6'9", 210 pound, Class of 2010 forward Eric McKnight has signed a letter of intent to attend Iowa State. The North Carolina native joins Princeton Day alum John Underwood, who is a freshman at Missouri.
"He signed on Saturday" said PDA's head coach Vann Whitfield. "It happened at 4:45 pm". McKnight visited Iowa State last weekend.
McKnight averaged 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks per contest for the Storm, and according to Whitfield rose to the occasion."His best games were against the highest level competition" shard the coach, who noted Eric "had an outstanding game against Mountain State (WV) and Charlotte Christian (NC), helping PDA best both by 19 and over 20 points, respectively.
Eric McKnight goes up and gets one during WISE 8 play.
Interestingly enough, both of those schools boasted long, solid big men headed to Division I schools (for more on some of these players, see i95Ballerz.com's coverage of the National High School Invitational). Being a long, athletic run and jump guy that also possesses a solid back to the basket game going to his off-side (left), McKnight proved a motivated, tough cover when going against these players. He also did well scrimmaging against American University.
The fact Greg McDermott recently decided to leave his position as head Iowa State Cyclone for a similar job at Creighton has not deterred McKnight; Whitfield said of his charge's mindset "He's committed to Iowa State. He liked the head coach, but really liked the university".
Indiana, Missouri, Wyoming, Ole Miss, VCU and Wake Forest (the former Demon Deacon staff) all offered scholarships to McKnight. Others schools like Memphis and Georgetown showed varying levels of interest over the past season.
Good luck to Eric McKnight, whose best ball is ahead of him. The Raleigh, North Carolina native has been claimed by the DMV (Washington, DC area).