Kitchen Heating Up in Recruitment

There was something new about Derwin Kitchen, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound shooting guard from Jacksonville (Fla.) Raines High School, at this year’s Tournament of Champions. His strength as a shooter never wavered. His ability to score on the wing stayed the same. All of those attributes remained. But he also added a great dribble drive, rounding out his overall game.

Kitchen, who is ranked No. 89 by Rivals.com, averaged 20.5 points a game for his Jacksonville Lee Bulls squad that went 3-1 at the event. He was also named to all-tournament team.

“I feel like I took people off of the dribble more at the Bob Gibbons,” Kitchen said. “I wasn’t doing that before and settling for the jumper. Now, that I drive, my game is opened up a whole lot more. I used to just shoot threes but I learned that I can keep the defenses honest with my dribble.”

The rising senior has been the target of a number of southern schools since last year. Wake Forest, Florida, Virginia Tech, Arkansas and Miami (Fla.) have offered a scholarship, he said. Both the Demon Deacons and the home state Gators have the upper hand.

“You could say those two are my top schools,” Kitchen said. “But you know, I’m also keeping my options open, too.”

Kitchen said his AAU coach is talking with Skip Prosser and the rest of the Wake Forest staff about making an unofficial visit to Winston-Salem. The Gators will have the rising senior on their campus this weekend for the school’s individual camp. Kitchen said he has already been to the Gainesville campus a number times.

The month of June is quiet for Kitchen and his Lee Bulls squad but they will hit the road again with trips to Atlanta and Las Vegas. Kitchen said he will play in the NBA Players Association Camp in Richmond, Va., and the Reebok ABCD camp in N.J. After the busy summer months, he said he’d be done with the recruiting process, too.

“I’d like to have a decision by November,” Kitchen said.

Stay tuned to RivalsHoops.com for more updates on Kitchen and the rest of the class of 2005.