Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Update on . . . Tony Bergeron, Tyreke Evans, & Lamont Jones

Tony Bergeron, the head coach of American Christian Academy (PA) has had his name tossed around regarding a job at Seton Hall, by media outlets including Hoop Scoop. Bergeron, who I spoke with earlier today, says that there is "no truth to any of that," adding that "there's not even an open job at Seton Hall." Even if an offer does come around to head to SHU, Bergeron's history says he may turn it down, as he told me "I had a chance to go [to the college level] three times already, and haven't yet." The coach's reasoning: "Each year I have a new kid that I [don't want to leave]." Coach Bergeron said that it would need to be an "unbelievable situation for [him] to leave," even mentioning that he hasn't "updated [his] resume in eight years," pointing to the fact that he has no plans of leaving ACA. "Any time there is an opening with Bobby Gonzalez, my name is going to come up because of my relationship with him," said Bergeron. This led me to asking whether it was this relationship that got The Hall involved with ACA superstar senior Tyreke Evans: "He got involved with Tyreke because of my relationship with him, but they have done a good job recruting [Evans]." The coach told me that Evans will "announce [his decision] April 16th on ESPN." According to Bergeron, Evans is considering heading to either Memphis, Seton Hall, Texas, Villanova, or UConn. The Huskies may be a longshot though, as I have heard from sources that UConn is Evans' last option. The only school that stands out as missing from Tyreke's list is Louisville, a school that he had previously been seriously considering. "He's not going there," said Bergeron of Louisville, adding that "they have backed off," and "Louisville is officially off by both sides," meaning that the two sides have agreed to no longer stayed involved with each other in the recruiting process. So, Tyreke Evans will NOT be a Louisville Tiger. Meanwhile, Bergeron informed me that Lamont "MoMo" Jones is "wide open," and that the two "won't make a list [of schools] . . . until September." It appears we will have to wait a while to see where the former Louisville-commit will be headed.
"I had a great group of kids. . . . I loved my team. . . . You never had to motivated them. . . . The national title [was the] . . . only part that was missing [from the team's season]," said Bergeron of his squad this year. The coach told me that the school's recent change to being a prep school had "nothing to do with athletics, " and that now the school's official name is "American Christian Academy and Prep School, . . . ACAPS." Coach Bergeron informed me that his team will "be like St. Benedict's," in the fact that the team will be playing high schools but can also "play prep schools," adding that he "won't be recruiting fifth year players for [the] team," yet these kids can still go to ACAPS. I asked Coach Bergeron how not having many young players on this year's team will affect the squad for next year, to which he said" "We had . . . a small amount of underclassmen [this season]," adding "Lamont Jones and Ashraf Yacoubou." Bergeron raved about Yacoubou, saying that "the only thing that held him back [this season] was that Tyreke Evans played the same position." By the way, that is the correctly spelling of his name, as this is how Bergeron told me it's spelled: Ashcraf Yacoubou.
People, just eight days until we find out where Tyreke Evans will take his game for college, and assuming my sources are right, it will not be Connecticut. Do not expect to see Tony Bergeron anywhere other than American Christian next year. He and his team will continue to compete at a high level. I'll try to keep you posted on news involving Evans, Bergeron, or Jones.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tyreke Evans will head to Memphis. And if CDR stays for his senior year, Memphis will be in the NC race again next year.

North Star Basketball said...

I definitely can see Evans putting on a Tigers uniform. As well, I agree that if CDR and/or Rose return the team will compete for the title. Getting Ebanks would be huge, and Witherspoon would be nice also. The Memphis are for real, and they are here to stay.