Photo by Tom Hagerty, Polk State College
Cal Basketball: JC Point Guard Says Bears Are Among His Final 3 - Will Announce on April 15
Junior college point guard Malik Zachery said Sunday he has trimmed his list of schools to Cal, Ole Miss and Buffalo, and will make a commitment on April 15.
Zachery also previously was considering Fresno State and Southern Illinois. He made a campus visit to Fresno in December, but has not had the chance to make any other recruiting trips due to NCAA limitations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He will apparently make a decision without stepping foot on the campus of any of his three finalists.
Cal is hoping to add Zachery to a roster with only one other point guard, freshman Joel Brown.
Zachery missed most of the 2019-20 campaign at Chipola (Fla.) College due to knee and finger injuries but says he is fully healthy. He had a strong freshman season, averaging 8.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists with a 2.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio for a 27-5 team in 2018-19.
Chipola coach Brendan Foley said the 6-foot-2, 175-pounder — who will arrive at his next school with three years’ eligibility — is a pass-first floor leader.
“He’s a true point guard, a natural leader,” Foley said. “He’s almost like one of those throw-back vintage point guards. He can score when he needs to, but he has the ability to make everybody around him better.”
Cal improved from 8-23 in 2018-19 to 14-18 this season in coach Mark Fox’s debut season. The team returns all but two scholarship players.
*** One of Bears' two departing seniors is point guard Austin Paris. Here is what Fox had to say late this season about Paris, who started 18 games and averaged 9.4 points:
Ole Miss was 15-17 overall and 12th in the 14-team Southeastern Conference this year under second-year coach Kermit Washington. The Rebels got a commitment Sunday from graduate transfer Dimencio Vaughn, a 6-5 shooting guard who averaged14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds last season at Rider.
Buffalo was 20-12 on first-year coach Jim Whitesell’s debut. The Bulls were third in the Mid-American Conference East Division with an 11-7 mark, but lost their opening game in the MAC tournament.
Buffalo, which had played in the NCAA tournament four of the previous five seasons, is losing senior point guard Davonta Jordan, who averaged 11.5 points and 5.3 assists this season.
