Lee Summit North teammates give commitments

Lee Summit (MO) North High School teammates Adam Leonard and Bristan Kelley are looking forward to playing Division One basketball next year. Leonard has given a commitment to Eastern Kentucky and Kelley has decided to attend Northern Illinois.

Leonard, a 6-foot-0, 175-pound combo guard has given an early verbal to play at Eastern Kentucky according to Lee Summit North head coach Michael Hilbert.

"Adam has given a commitment to Eastern Kentucky," said Hilbert. 'He took an official visit to the school and loved everything about it. Adam was scheduled to visit Tulane, but the visit never took place because of Hurricane Katrina. Adam was also going to visit Utah State, but he decided to cancel the visit. San Diego is another school that was interested in Adam and they were about ready to offer."

According to Coach Hilbert, the decision to attend Eastern Kentucky was based on a variety of reasons. It appears that Leonard will be given the opportunity to step in and play right away during his freshman year.

"Eastern Kentucky will only have two guards in the program when Adam arrives on campus," said Hilbert. "He will have the opportunity to play right away. Another reason Adam decided to attend Eastern Kentucky was because of the young coaching staff, which is exciting to him.

"He just felt good about the coaching staff and feels that he has the ability to have success in the Ohio Valley Conference," he added.

Kelley, the 6-foot-6 235-pound power forward is another player from Lee Summit North High School that recently decided to put an end to his recruitment.

"Bristan has given a commitment to Northern Illinois," said Hilbert. "He was really interested in Leigh, Northern Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Loyola-Chicago and Indiana State. Bristan really narrowed it down to a couple of schools. He really based his decision on both academics and basketball. Leigh and Northern Illinois were the finalists. Bristan plans to major in engineering.

"The coaching staff at NIU did a great job of building a relationship with Bristan," he added. His mother is originally from Chicago, so that might have played a role in his decision as well. Northern Illinois has very nice facilities and Bristan was just impressed with everything about NIU. He just felt that it was a great situation and a very comfortable fit."

It appears that the Northern Illinois coaching staff is getting a player that has the ability to play a number of roles on the court. According to Coach Hilbert, Kelley has what it takes to help his team in a number of ways.

"Bristan is a big, strong kid," he said. "He is the type of player that can bag inside, pass the ball well and can shot from 15-feet and in. He also has the ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket, and is a good defender. I see Bristan being a solid power forward in college."