Clyde Wades Recruiting Heats Up
Clyde Wade, a 6-0 point guard from the Winchendon School in Winchendon, Mass., has seen his stock soar in the past few weeks.
Wade played well last week at the National Prep School Invitational in Smithfield, R.I., and followed that up with an unselfish 10 point effort on Saturday night in Winchendon's 88-60 victory over Maine Central Institute at the New Hampton School Invitational final.
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"Clyde Wade is playing out of his mind right now," Byrnes said. "I told Clyde when he came here that if he would learn to play the point, play under control and make good decisions and not turn the basketball over, there would be some mid to high Division I schools that would recruit him."
So far, Byrnes has turned out to be prophetic.
Rhode Island, Texas A&M, New Mexico State and Duquesne are just some of the schools who spoke with Byrnes regarding Wade after his fine play in Rhode Island.
"He is athletic enough to play in any conference in America," Byrnes added. "On top of that, he is qualified academically."
A native of Memphis, Wade arrived at Winchendon as a full academic qualifier. He has used the year at Winchendon to brush up on his game and make the conversion to the point guard slot.
Wade is especially dangerous in transition, as one play in Saturday's win over MCI demonstrated.
Wade blew past several MCI defenders for what looked like a sure lay-in, when all of a sudden he exploded to the tin for a slam dunk that gave the Green Wave a 66-51 lead with 6:21 to play. The basket seemed to deflate MCI and was part of a 17-0 Winchendon blitz that put the contest out of reach.