BY MATT AGNOLI
Lance Goulbourne has been a ball person at the U.S. Open for the last five years. He’s a nationally ranked tennis player, with stops to St. Louis, Florida and the National Tennis Center in Queens. The top singles player at the Hun School, Goulbourne was just 3 years old when he picked up a racket.
Yet his future now lies on the hardwood, not the hard-court.
Goulbourne, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound swingman by way of East Flatbush, has entered the recruiting fore as an enticing prospect in Scarlet Nation. He visited Rutgers in late June, and has expressed interest in the Scarlet Knights, Georgetown and Vanderbilt, whom he visited in May. He also wants to take visits to Northwestern, St. Joseph’s and Marquette some time in August.
So, how was Rutgers?
“It’s pretty nice, I liked it a lot,” said Goulbourne. “The campus is nice, it’s beautiful. I think it’s a good place… it’s also in the Big East.
“Fred Hill is a great coach,” he added. “He wants to build the program into something bigger and better. He’s doing real well with the recruiting. A lot of great players are going there now.”
Goulbourne, the ninth-ranked prospect in New Jersey according to Rivals, suggested he may visit RU again.
“I would like to go back, but I haven’t had a chance to. I can watch some film with Coach Hill…we can go into further detail about it (where I fit in.) The way they play, that’s how I play.”
Education sounds like a top priority for Goulbourne, whose list features highly ranked institutions such as Wake Forest and the aforementioned Georgetown, Northwestern and Vanderbilt.
“Academics are really important to me,” he said. “Basketball is also really important. I want to go to a high level school and be able to play at the same time.
“I learned a lot of things I didn’t know, actually,” Goulbourne said on his RU visit “It’s much better academic school than I thought."
Since Goulbourne attends a small preparatory school with an enrollment close to 485, school size is another determining factor.
“I’ve been in private school since sixth grade, so I don’t want to go from a small school to like a huge school. So I think the size of the school is important to me also.”
Goulbourne has offers from the Big East (Marquette, West Virginia) and the Atlantic 10 (George Washington, LaSalle and St. Joseph’s).
Florida State and Miami have contacted him but “the distance from home is a just a major factor for me”, Goulbourne admits, yet he still has interest in the ACC schools.
“I want my parents to be able see me play,” he added.
Goulbourne, a second team All-Prep selection, averaged a double-double for the Raiders (21-8), which won its first prep state tournament since 1992, defeating St. Benedict’s Prep in the semifinals and Blair Academy in the championship.
“I honestly never thought this would be something I’d be doing,” said Goulbourne. “A couple of years ago I would play basketball just for fun. It (his recruitment) became real serious when I came to Hun.”
Goulbourne transferred his sophomore year from the private Dwight School in downtown Manhattan.
“It’s flattering to know that schools want you to come to their schools to play basketball,” he said. “But it’s a little bit overwhelming because how many schools are coming after me now.
“It’s going well, though. I have a good support system at home… everyone is helping me out with all my coaches and everything.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment