A Look At Maine Central Institute
As he enters his third season at the helm at Maine Central Institute, Head Coach Karl Henrikson has assembled a fine nucleus of players who should keep the program in the hunt for NEPSAC honors this winter.
The Insiders Report/Rivalshoops.com caught up with Coach Henrikson on Thursday afternoon, and he filled us in on a number of his players whom he expects to sign late.
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Here is the rundown on those players:
*Aaron Nichols, strong 6-4, 195 pound point guard from Glenville, Ohio, has looked good thus far in preseason workouts. Nichols is at MCI working on both his test and core GPA, Henrikson said.
*Kenton Paulino, a lanky 6-2 shooting/combo guard from Fremont H.S. in Los Angeles, Calif., is a slippery player with a knack for putting up big numbers from the perimeter. Paulino (who is pictured right) played with the H-Squad team at the adidas Big Time Tournament in July.
*Martise Coleman, a cerebral 5-10 point guard from Houston, is a full academic qualifier who impressed us quite a bit this past summer playing for the Houston Jr. Hardballers. He is a creative passer who consistently gets the ball into the big men in the low post.
*Chad Kosmo, a 6-11, 245 pound center from Belfast, Me., is a bit of a sleeper. Some college coaches and scouts may have seen him this past summer playing for one of the Branch West Basketball Academy squads out west.
"He's playing really well right now," Henrikson said. "He runs, and he goes after every rebound. He works very hard in the weight room, and can do any exercise, it does not bother his knees."
Maine has expressed early interest in Kosmo, as well as Division II American International. Kosmo is working on his test score this year at MCI in order to qualify under current NCAA standards.
An inside/outside threat who is expected to arrive shortly at MCI is 6-7 jumping jack Rodney Epperson of New York City. Epperson attended LaSalle Academy in New York for four years, and then prepped at Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, N.Y. last year.
Epperson has played with both the Bronx Gauchos and the Student Athlete Broncos in the past few years, and he has impressed the Insiders Report with his athleticism around the basket and ability to step away from the basket.
*Blake Sholberg, a 7-1 center from Vacaville, Calif., is the final MCI player that we will mention in this column.
Sholberg has played with Rock Johnson's I-CAN All-Stars the past few years. A player who is still developing and must continue to get tougher and stronger, Sholberg has already received some Division I interest this fall, Henrikson said.
He and the rest of the players above are expected to sign late.
The only two MCI players who will likely sign early are 6-8 forward Luis Clemente (Texas A&M commitment) and 6-6, 275 big man Jai Lewis. Lewis has already taken one official visit to Robert Morris and will take more trips over the next few weeks. A separate update on Lewis appears elsewhere on this site.
IR will keep you posted on MCI this fall and winter, so stay tuned to this site for more information as the regular season approaches.