6-foot-9 210 pound forward Curtis Kelly from Rice HS in New York City has always been about potential. However, this season the long rangy athlete has slowly begun to live up to the early hype and expectations to produce on the court. Schools are taking notice.

Kelly has had some issues over the course of his brief high school career, whether it be in the classroom or on the court. An overinfatuation with playing on the perimeter and carelessness with the ball were two major criticisms coming out of the ABCD Camp this past summer and he had people wondering whether whether he'd ever get serious about the game.

That was then, this is now.

Kelly is taking advantage of his time on the court this season to establish himself as perhaps the best player in the traditionally powerful New York CHSAA. He has found a renewed interest in defense, and is using his quickness and athletic ability, as well as some much needed additional bulk, to his advantage in the paint. Averaging 22 points and 16 rebounds per game, with breakout performances against Mount Vernon (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Bishop Loughlin (26 points), Kelly is hearing from a variety of high majors.

"Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Texas, Syracuse, Connecticut, South Florida, Duke, and Illinois are some of the schools recruiting me," he told us recently. "I'm not sure about scholarship offers, you'd have to ask my coach."

There was some early talk of Kelly jumpring straight to the NBA, but he has edited those comments to reflect the attitude of most big time high school players today saying, "We've talked about it, and if they say I'm a first round pick I would probably go. Right now I'm just focused on going to college. I'll weigh my options when the time comes."

While Kelly has yet to take the SAT, he has a PSAT score that is comfortably above qualifying. He says that he's doing better in school, despite having to miss a game against Xaverian last week for grade issues.

He told us that he would play summer ball with the Gauchos, but he was still unsure about which camp he would attend in July.