Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 7:33 am  |  32 responses

Lance Stephenson Makes College Decision

Lance Stephenson has picked thelance-stephenson college he would like to attend next season, but the rest of the world will have to wait until April 1st at the McDonald’s All American game to find out where he has chosen to suit up for in the fall. The 6-5 shooting guard said in a press conference at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, in anticipation to Saturday’s PSAL Championship at the World’s Most Famous Arena, that he already has made up his mind as to what school he wants to attend but said he won’t announce it until he gets to Miami for the McDonald’s All American game. The Brooklyn native is down to his final three, St. John’s, Kansas, and Maryland, with the Terrapins being sort of a long shot.

Stephenson is considered a top three player nationwide for the 2009 class, and along with John Wall, is one of two blue-chip players who have yet to commit. He doesn’t want his decision to be leaked and therefore not even his own high school coach knows where he is headed to. His Lincoln team will be taking on JFK from the Bronx on Saturday afternoon at The Garden for the PSAL city title. It was first believed that Stephenson would make his college announce after the game on Saturday at MSG but he said that he would probably be too emotional to even speak about college at the time. You may be asking yourself why too emotional. Well, if Stephenson and the Lincoln Railsplitters win the City Championship on Saturday then he will rewrite the history books by becoming the first player in NYC history to win a city title in all of his four years in high school. He would pass another Lincoln alumnus, Sebastian Telfair (Minnesota Timberwolves), won three city titles with the Railsplitters during his high school days. Stephenson already passed Telfair’s New York State scoring record earlier this year to become the state’s new all-time scoring leader. Telfair’s cousin, Stephon Marbury (Boston Celtics), also attended Lincoln. Stephenson, Telfair, and Marbury are all from the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, NY, where talented guards seem hard not to find.

Tomorrow will be Lincoln’s eight straight year playing at the Garden for the PSAL title, having won six of the last seven. That one loss came in to 2005 to no one other than JFK.

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  • http://www,fanu.com CityVol

    Kansas

  • jer boi

    damn got me excitefd for a sec

  • http://nbacheapseats.blogspot.com Chendaddy

    kansas. just a guess.

    though he’d have much more spotlight at maryland or might relish the challenge of re-invigorating the program at st. john’s.

    by the way, memphis next year is looking more and more like the nba 2010 all-rookie team with xavier henry, demarcus cousins, and maybe john wall joining. damn the inexperience, this is an automatic final four contender.

  • mike

    maryland – under armour

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    Good tease Franklyn…I’ll be at McDonald’s and I’ll get it up asap.

  • http://double-technical.blogspot.com Zee!

    Rock chalk….

  • Andrew

    He has to go to Kansas. Maryland is a long shot, and St. Johns, while emotionally may be nice, is not up to carrying Lance Stephenson’s celebrity. What I do wonder a little is why he isn’t considering Syracuse.

  • Hussman25

    He’s stayin home! GO St. John’s… Him and Anthony Mason Jr next year would be a nice combo…

  • Adam Zagoria

    What is your source for these Lance Stephenson comments at the press conference? Were you there or where did you read these comments? How do you know the Terrapins are a “long shot”?
    Please attribute your sources for this information.

  • Anthony

    Yo Lance, you gotta come to the ‘Cuse boy. If you wanna stay in NY and play for a good team, ain’t no doubt about it baby

  • http://slamonline.com Jedi Knight

    Staying home and attending ST Johns would be great for his family, kansas already has a good program but if he wants to make a name for himself Maryland would be his best choice

  • bankspbs9

    I would say it’s St. Johns.

  • bankspbs9

    I say St. Johns because he can start at the two right out the gate. At Maryland he would probably be at the three with Vasquez and Hayes established at the one and two, although the three position would not be bad, his pro position will be 2 guard. Kansas has alot of 2′s and 3′s there already also, although he is better than all of them.

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    SLAM/Slamonline have been in even more touch with Lance and his family than usual, for reasons you all will learn soon…

  • JkiDz

    Vasquez says he will declare for draft Hayes no longer starts for MaryLand the best fit would be Md. Better spotlight espically since they play Unc and duke on a regular basis

  • aznflip1357

    maryland..supposedly going to get a big deal w/ under armour

  • MdMan

    Terps announcer Johnny Holliday said that Lance’s mom wants him to go to UMD. That, plus Padgett’s persuasion, and how many NBA players from UMD there are, is why Lance will go to UMD.

  • http://slamonline.com Mdterps21

    Maryland is a good fit. He will get all the attention and if he wants to make a name thats were he needs to go. And Vasquez isn’t going anywhere but take out Adrien Bowie or leave Hayes as a 6th man and with an inside presents maryland would be a top 25 team

  • http://slamonline.com/ Franklyn Calle

    Adam, what comments are you referring to? There aren’t any comments from Lance in this article. Maryland being a long shot is nothing new, it’s quite obvious. I think we all know they have the slimiest chance of landing Lance, but I am not saying that it isn’t possible. As to my sources, I don’t need to reveal them if they don’t want to be revealed. I have been covering NYC basketball for the last couple of years and even though I wasn’t personally at the press conference, I was told about what took place through close friends who cover the nyc prep scene. If information was taken from another article or media source then I would have given that source credit like i have done in many of my previous posts. I want to thank you for reading the updates and for the comment. Thanks, hope you continue to follow the recruiting updates.

  • Andrew

    He’ll go to Kansas. He was supposed to announce at MSG last weekend but decided to wait till the all-american game. Maybe cause he didnt want to disapoint the NY faithful in their house. Zagsblog.com has been on his recruitment for a long time and they say all signs point to kansas.

    ballin see you on campus next year lance

  • http://slam topcity

    he will be good at u kown were next year

  • fred

    if i was a betting man (and i am), i’d like to see the vegas odds on the terps and then put some coin down on that “longshot”!

    st.john’s doesn’t have the pomies to get lance the national exposure. kansas has too many ponies to feature him. md is just right, in a media hub and in the most over-hyped, over-covered conference in the country.

    lance gets to get some nice exposure in maui and the acc/big ten no challenge prior to playing the unc’s and duke’s in nationally televised, week-long hyped espn spotlight games in primetime.

    if lance has shown one thing, he likes the spotlight and the spotlight is brightest in terptown

    signed
    “in the know”

  • Mark

    Kansas is the logical choice….national spot light year after year…developes nba players every year…great conference as well. Kanas doesn’t have to many ponies as mentioned above especially since Lance is a stallion it wouldn’t matter.

  • Roger Watkins

    “I want to win a championship” = KU. How many “Big Mondays” did KU play in last year. I live on the east coast and saw them more than Maryland. They are media darlings and had 5 NBA players drafted last year. Plus, from what I watched they need a wing and Lance would start day one anyway. Why wouldn’t you want to play for one of the powerhouses instead of play against them?

  • AK

    “aznflip1357 Posted: Mar.22 at 12:12 am
    maryland..supposedly going to get a big deal w/ under armour”

    lol. Adidas (Lance’s AAU team sponsor) was there long before UA. Kansas is an Adidas school.

  • Tom

    What college team has THREE starters in the NBA from their last draft, AND still made the big dance this year – UCLA BABY!!! Get to practice with all those guys in the Pros who play pick-up on their campus. Lance, don’t be a fool – go west young man!

  • Joe

    At his year-end press conference, Bill Self admitted he needs another scorer. Lance is the perfict fit at Kansas. Yes, the Jayhawks have a lot of “ponies” already, but wouldn’t it be better for Lance to showcase his talent on a national title contender like Kansas, than to pick MD or SJU and play with a team of average players. At Kansas Lance gets all three of his goals fulfilled; he will play for a national title, Bill Self will push him to improve his skills, and he will be showcased to NBA scouts every week. He just can’t get that at the other schools.

  • WALLplusSTEVENSON

    alright, i see all these comments about him getting spotlight, where his mom wants him to go. but lets be honest here, if he wants to develope into one of the greats. he has to go to the jayhawks. Bill Self sent 4 to the NBA last year, Kaun could have gone but he decided to play in Russia (his hometown) and robinson is going to the NBA next year after having a great season in the ABA. all im sayin is bill self develops good players into great players. and thats why i see stevenson. goin to lawrence next year

  • Jaybezel

    Lance will start anywhere he goes but would prove his true skills and shame all the hater s who talk so much about his flaws if he goes to maryland where he would play for the best coach out of the three choices gary makes players out of nobodies so just think of what he can do with lance, Big jordan and Big james MD. National championship!!!!!!!!!!!

  • M

    Self actually sent 5 to the NBA last year:
    Darnell Jackson was playing w/ LeBron and got hurt.
    Chalmers w/ the heat.
    Aruther w/ the Grizz.
    Rush w/ the Pacers.
    Kaun was drafted by the Celtics and decided to play in Russia.

    Self has a hot hand for NBA talent right now and Lance fits into the program perfectly.

  • reality

    he will be playing for the department of corrections team. football to, but not as tightend if you know what i mean.

  • yao ching

    his top now maryland or saint johns probally gonna go maryland

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