Verdejo Scheduling Visits

When Temple commitment Jesus Verdejo failed to qualify last year, he enrolled at The Winchendon School, where he had a tremendous year. The 6-foot-4,190-pound shooting guard from Puerto Rico is now in the later stages of choosing a college.

"We are in the process of deciding where Jesus will take his five visits,” said Coach Art Alverez of the Miami Tropics AAU Club. “I have the Baylor assistant coach here as we speak, and the head coach on the phone. We have decided to visit Baylor April 9th and 10th. Kansas Sate. has been by my house the last couple of days and extended Jesus a visit and scholarship offer. He will visit them as well as the Florida Gators for sure, but we haven't set a date. Other teams involved in his recruitment are Memphis, Temple and Arizona. He committed to Temple last year but didn't qualify. He has already visited the Owls [last year] and will not do so this year. We are going to leave a couple visits open and wait and see what happens."

Coach Alvarez had this description of Verdejo, who averaged 22 points this year.

"Jesus is a terrific player,” he said. “He can shoot the deep jumper or take his man with the dribble. He has a great body and can really jump. Jesus has a great terrific mid-range game. He plays like Ray Allen. He is the best two guard available. Jesus outplayed Dorrell Wright in both head to head match-ups, outscoring him 32 to 8 and 35 to 18. Before going to Winchendon Prep he was the all time leading scorer at Miami Christian."

Verdejo had this breakdown of his strengths and weaknesses when he spoke with RivalsHoops.com.

"My greatest strength is getting out on the fast break and finishing strong,” Verdejo said. “I'm a prolific scorer. I can come off screens or take my man one on one."

"The biggest thing I need to work on before I go to college is my ball handling."

With his decision rapidly approaching, Verdejo is most concerned with picking a program with an up tempo style of play.

"The main thing I'm going to look for when I choose a college is to see if they play the same type of game that I do. I want play up tempo and run up and down the court."