Ryan Kelly (Courtesy: Steven Maikoski, USA Basketball)
Aug 3, 2008
Ryan Kelly, a 6-foot-10 power forward from Ravenscroft, announced to Scout.com Saturday night that he had narrowed his list of schools to six, and that list no longer includes two in-state schools.
According to a report by Scout.com's national recruiting director Dave Telep, Kelly has removed Virginia, Davidson, N.C. State and Stanford from his list of potential colleges.
In a statement released by Ravenscroft, Kelly said, "I am very grateful to all of the schools who have shown an interest in me as a person and as a basketball player... I have met some great guys in this process and it has been very difficult to narrow this list down. I plan on taking some visits, learning more about what each school has to offer academically, and getting a closer look at each team. Again, I want to thank my family, my high school coach, Kevin Billerman, and my friends for their continued support."
The announcement comes as a surprise to some people.
Many expected Kelly would have a high interest in Davidson with his high academic performance and the reputation of the school. Davidson head coach Bob McKillop was also the head coach of the USA U18 National Team.
"It was probably the hardest decision of all them," Telep told WRAL on Sunday morning.
"When you get a chance to play at the highest level - a chance to play for your country, to see what the ACC and Big East look like - when you've got the chance to do that night-in and night-out, it's hard to pass up."
Telep reports that Duke, Georgetown, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest are now on Kelly's short list.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III was an assistant coach on the USA U18 team this summer.
Telep talked about the improvement of Kelly over the last few years. "When he was a sophomore at Ravenscroft he was hoping for a solid mid-major school," Telep said. "He's improved in every area of the game."
"He's so undervalued in town, because its happened so fast," Telep said.
Telep added that Wake County has two players with "definite" basketball careers in the future. Kelly is one of those players, the other is Word of God guard John Wall.
"Wake County probably won't see this much talent again," Telep said. He also listed names of future Division-I players in Wake County; Earnest Ross (Panther Creek), C.J. Leslie (Word of God), Garrius Adams (Middle Creek) and Tom Tankelwicz (Middle Creek).
Kelly has had a very impressive high school career, and he still has one more season left. The junior has 1,102 career points for the Ravens, starting all 87 games of his high school career, according to Telep. With 281 career blocks, Kelly is already Ravenscroft's all-time leader in blocked shots.
The rising senior averaged 23.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots each time out last season.
Scout.com's Dave Telep contributed to this report.
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