6-10 VanderMeer signs with BG

11/13/2003

BOWLING GREEN - Bowling Green State University s men s basketball team had one scholarship to offer this year, and the Falcons awarded it yesterday to post player Scott VanderMeer.

The left-handed VanderMeer, who this year will play at Lake Central High School in St. John, Ind., spurned offers from Weber State and Illinois-Chicago to sign a national letter of intent to join BG on the first day of the signing period.

“I think coach [Dan] Dakich is the coach who can teach me the most,” VanderMeer said. “When I came back from an AAU tournament in Houston in June he was the first coach to contact me, and he was on me the hardest. Any time he had a chance to watch me, he was there.”

Dakich described the 6-10, 210-pound VanderMeer as a talented offensive player.

“He s exceptionally skilled,” Dakich said. “He fits in perfectly with our motion offense because he can play all over the court despite being 6-10.”

VanderMeer said he has tried to develop of variety of offensive skills.

“I think I m one of the better passers on my team,” he said. “I mostly like to drive, but I can shoot the ball from the outside and I can play on the low block, too. I think I have a good all-around game.”

This year VanderMeer transferred from Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Ill., where as a junior he averaged seven points and seven rebounds per contest in limited playing time. He spent the past summer playing AAU ball for the Illinois Warriors and scored 10 points per contest.

VanderMeer also is talented in the classroom, carrying a 3.94 grade-point average. His sister, Dawn, is a sophomore center on the Valparaiso women s squad.

COLUMBUS - Two Ohio high school stars and a prep school player from Milwaukee signed letters of intent to play basketball at Ohio State.

Jamar Butler, a 6-2 guard from Lima Shawnee and Matt Terwilliger, a 6-9 forward from Troy, committed to the Buckeyes along with 6-7 Jermyl Jackson-Wilson, now playing at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy. All three will be freshmen in 2004-2005.

Butler averaged 30 points and eight assists a game as a junior at Shawnee. Terwilliger, who played alongside Butler on a Cleveland AAU team, averaged 17 points and nine rebounds as a junior.

Jackson-Wilson graduated from Milwaukee s Rufus King High School in the spring of 2003. He averaged 10 points and 12 rebounds a game as a senior. His high school team won the Wisconsin state title with a 26-0 record.

Ohio State coach Jim O Brien said: “All three are good players and great kids who will fit in with us very nicely.”

NEW YORK - The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic is on quite a run. The last two national champions started their seasons in the event, and three of the eight teams last year wound up in the Final Four.

The two-day showcase will start tonight at Madison Square Garden with No. 20 Wake Forest against Memphis and No. 23 Marquette facing St. John s.

Tomorrow night, No. 22 Pittsburgh plays Alabama and No. 10 Gonzaga faces No. 17 Saint Joseph s in the season s first double-ranked game.