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BY DAVID ROBB
david.robb@nwitimes.com
219.548.4362 | Saturday, May 17, 2008 | (No comments posted.)
He hasn't given Valparaiso University basketball coach Homer Drew his word. He hasn't faxed any papers (Those formalities, he says, will come next week).
But as far as De'Andre Haskins is concerned, he is headed to VU next season.
"My thoughts are pretty much I am going to Valparaiso University," Haskins said Friday.
The Crusaders coaching staff tracked Haskins throughout his senior season -- LaLumiere coach Delray Brooks said VU associate head coach Bryce Drew was at three or four games -- and also liked what they saw of him at an AAU camp this spring.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior guard from LaLumiere, a boarding school in LaPorte County, hasn't taken an official visit to VU. Attending an open gym with some current Crusader players last month, though, was enough to convince Haskins that VU was a good fit.
"The coaching staff is great and I liked some of the players," said Haskins, who averaged more than 27 points per game for LaLumiere as a senior and 31 points as a junior.
"They said it's a nice school with a great atmosphere and stuff like that."
Haskins might best be compared to VU sophomore Mike Rogers: athletic, but raw. The Long Beach, Calif., native grew up playing football. But when his older brother introduced him to basketball as a sophomore, he found his true calling.
"He can score, defend, jump out of the gym -- all those things," Brooks said.
Haskins, who played every position but center in high school, said he would play mostly shooting guard at VU.
"If I'm open, I'm going to shoot the 3," said Haskins, who also has offers from Marist, James Madison and UC Riverside. "But if I'm not I'll take you off the dribble or create my shot."
Haskins' commitment would give the Crusaders two remaining scholarships for next season. He would also bolster a backcourt that already has plenty of depth.
Guards Erik Buggs and Logan Jones will be freshmen next season, and guards Tommy Kurth and Matt Kenney have verbally committed to join VU in 2009.
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