Nelson is out to prove himself
Darius Nelson is out to prove himself this summer and even though he has tons of offers the Sacramento (Calif.) Sheldon small forward wants to move up the rankings and get the recognition he believes he deserves.
"It's very important," Nelson said. "I didn't plan to play in any camps this summer. A lot of writers and college coaches don't know who I am because I was off the summer circuit and now I'm back on it.
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"This summer is real huge. I have to prove I can play to a lot of people. I have a lot of guys that are ranked above me that aren't better than me so I'm after guys right now. All of this is motivation."
Nelson, a 6-foot-5 small forward who can hit the three-point shot or take it to the basket, has been good at multiple tournaments this spring and summer but he wants to get better - and dominate even more.
Rivals.com rates him as a three-star recruit and Nelson said recently that he wants to prove he's better than people think. His recruitment has not taken a serious hit but for Nelson it's more about pride at this point.
"Mainly I have just about everybody recruiting me," Nelson said. "I have UTEP, Oregon, Oklahoma, Colorado, UNLV and many other schools. Right now I'm just hungry so I'm just trying to get it done with Team Odom."
A decision probably won't come soon but Nelson, whose brother Demarcus played at Duke, said in the past that UTEP will definitely make the cut when he trims his list by the end of summer because of new coach Tim Floyd.
He still considers himself "wide open" though because Nelson plans to have a lot more options after proving himself during the crucial July evaluation period.
"I'm wide open right now," Nelson said. "I'm just trying to let the ball do all the talking. A lot of writers ranked a lot of people 1, 2 and 3. I'm just a ball player. I'm going to come out and get it done."