by Alex Schwartz

I received a text today from Akeem Richmond '09 of Southern Lee (NC), one of the top uncommitted guards in America. The Tar Heel State guard, who has had many changes to his school list over the past few months, said, "I just got back from an official [visit] up at Rhode Island and I set up another trip to South Florida on March 27th-29th. I'll make my decision around April 5th." Richmond's final four schools are Rhode Island, South Florida, East Carolina, and Charlotte. When I asked Akeem who his favorite was he responded, "It's a toss-up. I have to see South Florida first." A glaring omission from Richmond's list is Western Kentucky, which he has included for quite some time. What happened? "WKU still calls sometimes, but I'm not interested anymore. They [had previously] all of a sudden stopped calling. [I had] went through a stretch where I didn't talk to them for like two months." The only school Richmond has visited officially of the four is URI, though he is working on "Charlotte and ECU [and] has been to Charlotte over three times to watch games and stuff like that." I'll keep you informed on the recruitment of Akeem Richmond, and for more school list info, see the article I just posted.

Yesterday I caught up with Michael Snaer '09 of Rancho Verde (CA), a Florida State-bound shooting guard. "Well the coaches and players were really my deciding factor. They showed me exactly what they expected of me, and most importantly, how they were going to develop me. Plus, the players I am going to be playing with are all together a great group of guys with a lot of talent. I also built a strong relationship with the coaches," said Snaer on why he picked the Seminoles, adding, "Those are just a few of the many reasons." What other schools did Snaer consider? "Besides Florida State it was Marquette, Missouri, UCLA, and Kansas." Where would he have gone if he hadn't picked FSU? "That's a really hard question since I never thought of it that much, [but] maybe Marquette." Since FSU was the school furthest from his home in the Golden State, I asked Michael if the distance was a plus or if location wasn't that important: "Location really didn't matter. I just cared about the school and my career . . . basketball-wise." Snaer told me something quite interesting when I asked him who he would compare his game to: "Everybody I [have] ever watched that had something I good about their game that I could use." What did it mean to Snaer to be selected to the McDonald's All-American Game? "It was a huge honor for me. It's something that is still hard to believe ever happened. I just want to go down there and have as much fun as possible." Michael's stock went way up during the course of the summer, and I asked him what went into that, to which he responded, "Everything I had." I knew what I had to do and how to do it, but the only thing to do it was just to make it happen. My goal was to just become the most complete player I can be and earn a spot high in the rankings." So is the future Seminole satisfied? "Not yet, not until I'm in that green room [on NBA Draft night] and into that League." Just as Terrance Shannon recently told me, Michael Snaer has the opportunity to be a "major factor" for Leonard Hamilton and Co., so the ACC had better take notice.

Note- photo is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/