A summary of Coach Don Verlin's signings

Courtesy of now official PTW contributor Gaylen Wood (proprietor of GoVandals.net), here's the latest on the basketball signings up Moscow, Idaho way:

Idaho signed JC transfer Mansa Habeeb
 
Mansa Habeeb of Buffalo NY was a 6-3, 210 point guard for Southeastern Iowa Community College. He averaged 12.8, shot 51.3% and averaged 5.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists amd 1.4 steals. SEICC finished fourth in the NJCAA nationals this year and were in the NJCAA semifinals last year. The Blackhawks were 29-8 this season and 20-4 in 09-10.

Gaylen also sent along the official notice from Idaho athletics (Spencer Farrin)

Vandal men add two more
4/14/2011

The University of Idaho men’s basketball team announced the addition of a pair of guards on Thursday, one a local sharpshooter, and the other a tough, junior-college wing.

Connor Hill of Post Falls, Idaho (Post Falls HS) and Mansa Habeeb of Buffalo, N.Y. (Southeastern Iowa CC) committed to head coach Don Verlin and the Vandal basketball team on Wednesday to complete the team’s 2011 recruiting class.

Hill, a 6-2, 180-pound guard, helped lead Post Falls to a 23-5 record and fourth-place finish at the Idaho 5A State Championships this year as a senior, and was named Idaho 5A Player of the Year after averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.

Hill scored 1,192 career points for the Trojans, the second-most in school history, and set a school record with 69 total victories during his career. In 2010 as a junior, he helped Post Falls end a 46-year championship drought, as the Trojans claimed the Idaho 5A title.

“Connor is a tremendous  young man and a terrific basketball player. This is a win-win in a lot of different ways,” Verlin said. “His ability to score and shoot the three fits perfectly into our system, and his attitude tells me that he will only get better during his Vandal career.”

Habeeb is a 6-3, 210-pound guard who will join Idaho as a junior in the fall. He played for two seasons at Southeastern Iowa Community College, which he helped lead to the NJCAA national semifinals and a fourth-place national finish this season.

Habeeb averaged 12.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting, as well as 5.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals for the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division I champions. He was honored individually as an ICCAC DI First-Team All-Region pick.

“Mansa is a terrific young man who brings the character and toughness we look for in a player,” Verlin said. “He’s a great all-around player who does all the little things to make his team succeed, and he also brings the experience of playing in two national tournaments for one of the top junior colleges in the country.”

The Blackhawks went 29-8 overall in the 2010-11 season and went 20-4 in Habeeb’s first year, 2009-10. As a freshman, Habeeb averaged 6.6 points and 3.1 rebounds on 51.6 percent shooting for SICC.

Hill and Habeeb joined a recruiting class that already includes junior-college signees Wendell Faines  of Saddleback (CA) JC and Anthony Jones of Paris (TX) JC, along with high school signee Xavier Bazile of Tacoma, Wash. (Mt. Tahoma HS).

Faines was named Southern California co-Player of the Year after leading the Gauchos to a 27-7 record and state semifinal appearance. Jones helped lead Paris to a 22-9 overall record and third-place finish in the NJCAA Region XIV North Zone. He was second on the team with an 11.9 scoring average, and led Paris with 2.0 steals per game. Bazile was named second-team All-Area by The News Tribune and first-team all-Narrows League 4A after leading Mount Tahoma to a 14-8 record and third-place league finish.