Ervin Likes Starkville
Any time a high school player makes a very early oral commitment, there's bound to be speculation about him reconsidering that hasty trigger finger.
For Brooklyn's Gary Ervin (right), those rumors came almost as swiftly as the news that he had committed to Mississippi State in late July (as reported first here on this site).
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Some had him headed to Arizona. Others weren't sure where he was headed, but expressed shock when they heard it was Mississippi State.
Rivalshoops.com caught up with Ervin, the electric 5-11 guard spending this year at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., and he put any rumors to rest about where he's headed next fall.
"I am still committed there," Ervin said after helping Riverside Church upend the Tim Thomas Playaz on Saturday at the Five-Star Hoop Classic. "There's always going to be rumors wherever you go, but I just know what I am going to do, and I am going to stick with it. I am going to do what's best for me."
Mississippi State has secured commitments from three top players in the Class of 2003 -- Travis Outlaw, Jackie Butler and Ervin.
"I think with us three, that's a real good recruiting class," Ervin explained. "But I don't think that we are done yet -- we have two more surprises for everybody. I think if we get those two, we have a chance to be a Final Four team."
Ervin said that 6-7 Louisiana forward Brandon Bass and 6-5 New York swingman Gary Forbes are the only missing pieces to the Bulldogs' recruiting class. And since he play on the same Riverside Church traveling team as Forbes, he's been working him as hard as the MSU coaching staff.
Ervin enjoyed a terrific high school career at Robeson H.S. in Brooklyn, N.Y., prior to transferring to Notre Dame for a fifth-year of high school this fall.
"I am not worried about the challenges on the basketball court at prep school, I am just talking about the academics," Ervin said. "I am signed up to take the SAT on Oct. 12."
That will be Ervin's first crack at the standardized test, since he never took it as a student at Robeson. Ervin plans on visiting Mississippi State after he takes his the test, possibly sometime in November.
Ervin also considered Arizona, N.C. State and Alabama before committing to Mississippi State.
Rivalshoops.com plans on catching Notre Dame Prep in action several times this winter and we will keep you posted on Ervin's play.