Douglas-Roberts is off the Board

An in-home visit was all he needed as Chris Douglas-Roberts has made a verbal commitment without taking any official visits. The 6-foot-5, 182-pound combo forward from Northwestern High School in Detroit, Mich., just recently trimmed his list to three schools, but now there is only one.

“I called Coach Cal yesterday and told him I’ll be playing for Memphis,” said Douglas-Roberts, the No. 51 ranked player in the Rivals150. “To be honest with you, I fell in love with Coach Cal during my in-home visit. I’ll be visiting Memphis this weekend. I don’t know much about the school, so I’m excited to see where I’ll be spending my next four years."

As a versatile combo guard, Memphis plans to use Douglas-Roberts at both guard positions depending on personel.

"They will be using me on the wing as long as Darius Washington is there,” said Douglas-Roberts about his potential teammate if he does not turn pro. “If not, I’ll play the point.”

A wiry combo guard, Douglas-Roberts is a limited athlete with his lack of strength, but he compensates for it with great body control and a very good feel for the game. A mediocre outside shooter with a release from the left side of his body, he prefers to slash to the basket and is very good at finishing. While he can play point on offense, he struggles guarding penetrators on the perimeter. Right now Douglas-Roberts is focused on improving the weaker areas of his game.

"I’m lifting hard,” he said. “I’ve already put on five pounds and am going to get stronger and faster. I’ve been shooting a ton of jumpers everyday. I know I need to continue to improve my perimeter game."

Douglas-Roberts, who averaged 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists per game last season, joins shooting guard Antonio Anderson and combo forward Ricky Sanchez as 2005 commitments to Memphis. Fifth year players Shawne Williams and Robert Dozier are also Memphis commitments.

Memphis is also working hard to land combo forward Shawn Taggart. Whether Memphis will continue to pursue perimeter recruits J.P. Prince and Jamont Gordon remains to be seen. Prince’s game as a combo forward with limited shooting ability is probably too similar to Douglas-Roberts’ game for Memphis to take both. Gordon, on the other hand, has a very different style game with his NBA caliber athleticism, strength, and shooting range.