Leading off today: Well, the exodus of boys basketball talent from Section 3 is getting a little better. At least now, the Central New York talent is opting to stay in the state.
Syracuse.com reported Thursday that 6-foot-8 New Hartford star Frankie Policelli, who already holds some major-college offers, will transfer to Long Island Lutheran this fall. He averaged 28.1 points a game last season en route to selection to sixth-team all-state in Class A. (Full list here.)
The disclosure comes in the aftermath of four announcements since May of projected top returning players leaving the section -- and the state -- in favor of attending prep schools this fall.
With LuHi playing a decent regional schedule have having what amounts to a bye into the Federation semifinals, attended by many college coaches, Policelli will be in position to be seen by more of the right Division I people for his senior season. As an added benefit, his AAU coach is a LuHi assistant and he'll be practicing on a daily basis alongside multiple D-I prospects including summer-ball teammate Donatas Kupsas (fifth-team all-state in Class AA last season) and Esam Mostafa (10th team).
"I felt like if I stayed in New Hartford, it would have been more like last year," he said. "I would play hard sometimes when I needed to and other times I would do what I want. If I went to a harder school, physically, I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd have to play my hardest every single minute."
Buddy Boeheim (Jamesville-DeWitt, second-team all-state in Class A), Mika Adams-Woods (Bishop Ludden, fourth team, AA), Tyler Bertram (Cooperstown, co-player of the year, C) and Symir Torrence (Syracuse Academy of Science, fourth team, A) have all recently announced their impending departures for prep schools.
"We all talked to each other about it. ... We were all talking that if me or Charles (Pride) stay, we'll have no one to play against," Policelli said. "So it's best that we all leave at the same time. We all talked about it for a long time."
More Sec. 3 fodder, Part 1: CBS college basketball Gary Parrish, who isn't given to exaggeration, watched the Albany City Rocks team win the Nike Peach Jam championship game in triple-overtime over the weekend and came away convinced that Boeheim is a major-college prospect ... and that it's now more plausible than it was three months ago that he will end up playing for his father, Jim, at Syracuse.
Buddy Boeheim was offered by Gonzaga over the weekend, and a handful of other high majors are likely to follow suit just in case the 6-foot-5 guard, who's been burying shot after shot from the perimeter this summer, decides he doesn't want the scorching spotlight that would come with staying in Syracuse with his father.
"Is it even worth recruiting a high-major coach's son when the son appears to be a high-major prospect?" Parrish wrote. "A year ago, I would've said absolutely not. But I just watched North Carolina's Roy Williams successfully recruit Garrison Brooks even though his father, George Brooks, is on the Mississippi State staff. So who knows?
"Either way, my prediction is this: Yes, it'll probably be a waste of time."
More Sec. 3 fodder, Part 2: Meg Hair of Jamesville-DeWitt, the co-player of the year in Class A the past two seasons, announced this week she'll enroll at the University of Pennsylvania in September 2018.
"My number one thing that I was looking for going into this process was how good the school is. After my four years of basketball, I'm falling back on an Ivy League diploma," she wrote on Twitter.
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The four-year varsity player, who averaged 15.2 points as a junior, has made her reputation as a reliable perimeter shooter and a hard-nosed defender.
Former Westhill standout Anna Rose was second-team All-Ivy League as a Penn junior last season.
Coaching changes: Moving quickly to fill the vacancy, new Bishop Timon-St. Jude AD Joe Licata has hired former Section 6 great Jason Rowe, 39, as the boys basketball coach.
He replaces Des Randall, who resigned over the weekend
