Seton Hall, Providence Offer Guard

Kenton Paulino, a slippery 6-2, 160 pound shooting/combo guard from Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Me., has set up his first official visit.

According to MCI Head Coach Karl Henrikson, Paulino will visit the University of Texas from Nov. 9-11. Paulino may also visit the University of San Diego in the fall as well, but no official date has been set up.

Paulino has also been offered scholarships by Providence and Seton Hall, while George Mason has also expressed interest.

"San Diego has called me and wants to set up a visit," Henrikson said. "I would say that Texas is the clear front-runner and that everybody else is kind of the same."

Paulino enjoyed a stellar career at Fremont H.S. in Los Angeles, putting up big numbers as a senior in the Southern California prep ranks.

"He can really score," Henrikson said. "He can shoot it, he can get to the basket, and he's got some intangibles. He's very, very competitive. For a kid that is 6-2, 160 pounds, he plays stronger than his size. If he gets 10 shots, he's going to make six of them. He's a scorer that does not need a lot of shots."

In addition to that, Paulino has also shown a desire to have the ball in his hands in late game situations. Even in pickup games at MCI, he has shown a knack for drilling the late game winning basket.

Paulino was one of the bigger sleepers on the West Coast this past summer. Kenton played last year at Fremont H.S. in Los Angeles, Calif.

Paulino, who played with the H-Squad at both the adidas Big Time and Oakland Slam N Jam Elite 8x2 Tournaments, can really stroke the ball from beyond the arc, as evidenced by his 24 points, six rebound, three assists and two steal per game averages last season at Fremont.

If Paulino is to qualify academically, he'll need to boost both his core grades and test score to do so. Paulino told us at the Big Time Tournament that he holds a 2.2 GPA and is about 100 points shy of attaining a qualifying SAT score (based on a 2.5 GPA).