Talented center plans GU visit
Hernol Hall, considered to be the best unsigned junior college center in the country, is scheduled to make an official recruiting visit to Gonzaga University this weekend.
Hall, a 6-foot-9, 250-pounder and first-team NJCAA All-American at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, averaged 14.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in leading the Bearcats to a 22-8 record last winter.
He is listed as the fourth-best JC prospect in the country in JucoJunction.com’s Top 65 for 2006.
“He’s extremely athletic for his size,” Lon Morris assistant coach Ricky Dotson said of Hall, a native of Limon, Costa Rica. “He’s got an NBA body on him, he can score with his back to the basket, he can step out and shoot it pretty well and he can put in on the floor and get past guys his size trying to guard him.”
Hall originally signed a letter of intent with Duquesne, but asked for his release when Dukes coach Danny Nee resigned prior to the end of last season when his team finished 3-24 overall and 1-15 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Since obtaining his release from Duquesne, Hall has made official recruiting visits to South Florida and Cincinnati. According to Dotson, he has a trip planned to Oklahoma next weekend.
Dotson said the numbers Hall posted last winter were deceiving.
“He probably could have averaged a lot more points, but he’s not a selfish kid,” he said. “He was, without a doubt, the focal point of what we tried to do offensively, and most of the people we played were intent on keeping him from beating them.
“He drew a lot of double teams, but passed out of them very well and got a lot of other people involved. He had a really good year for us.”
Gonzaga is coming off a 29-4 season that included another trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. But the Bulldogs lost junior Adam Morrison, the nation’s top Division I scorer, to the NBA draft, and last year’s top rebounder and second-leading scorer J.P. Batista to graduation.
Dotson said Hall has expressed a desire to relocate at a Division I school where he feels comfortable and will have a chance to play. With the loss of Batista, a 6-9, 270-pound center, GU has a big hole to fill in the middle.
“Hernol said he wants to go to a place where he can win, too,” Dotson said, “and he’s certainly familiar with what Gonzaga has done in the NCAA tournament in recent years.”
With three players, Abdullahi Kuso, Matt Bouldin and Will Foster, already signed to letters of intent for next year, the Bulldogs are at the NCAA limit of 13 scholarships and would have to dump an existing scholarship to free up a ride for Hall, should he decide to become a Zag.