Saaka makes SoCon to Big East switch

South Florida picked up a sleeper signee as the spring signing period came to a close. Georgia guard Amu Saaka inked with the Big East School last week.

The 6-foot-5 senior from Columbia High School in Decatur, Ga., originally signed with Furman but when head coach Larry Davis left to take an assistant coach position at Cincinnati, Saaka asked to be released from his letter of intent with the Southern Conference school.

"I'm going to be playing at a school where I feel comfortable and somewhere that I feel like I can go to and help turn things around," Saaka said. "I have a lot of faith in what we can do there next year.

"About a week after coach Davis left, I began to feel really uncomfortable with going there because he was one of the main reasons why I was going there," Saaka said.

Davis continued to recruit Saaka at Cincinnati but the three-star guard said the Bearcats wanted him to go to a prep school before coming to the Queen City. Saaka said he decided to consider other options.

And the options were certainly there. He said Murray State, Fordham, Jacksonville and South Alabama came calling but USF presented the best opportunity.

"They have two seniors there at my position, one can shoot it and one is really athletic. I feel like I can do both of those really well. So I'm going to go there and tap into their senior experience and use that to my advantage because it is better for the team. Coach just stressed my versatility and wanted to use me as the third guard."

Saaka enjoyed a big senior year, capped off with a state championship. The three-star guard is a tremendous rebounder and has greatly improved his perimeter jump shot.