Hillsborough: News and notes

By Keith Niebuhr and Joe Smith, Times Staff Writer
Published February 14, 2008

Sollazzo on USF radar

Armwood senior point guard Adam Sollazzo's season may be over, but his recruiting season has just begun. And it's heating up.

Sollazzo said he will visit East Tennessee State this weekend. Other schools, like Austin Peay have shown interest, but the biggest name may be the closest.

Sollazzo said talks with USF coaches are "getting more serious by the day." The 6-foot-5, 185-pound guard, one of the county's top scorers at 22 ppg, said Bulls coach Stan Heath saw him play at the district tournament.

"They really need a point guard," Sollazzo said. "And I feel I can come in and play that position."

Waller narrows choices to two

Tampa Prep senior forward David Waller, one of Hillsborough County's top players, has received interest from a lot of college programs.

But he has narrowed his choices to two, Princeton and Amherst College.

Waller said Princeton coaches have "come in late" and watched him play in the last few weeks. But the 6-foot-6 senior loves Amherst's balance, its focus on academics and how the Division III program in Massachusetts continually competes at the national level. But he has already got his mind on life after basketball. Waller said he has worked with his parents' real estate company. He has made it personal, designing his own room.

Raiders coach adds foreign flavor

Wardell Chambers came to Plant City by chance; the Maryland native was in town to catch last year's ACC tournament and noticed an opening on the Raiders staff. "So I went for it," he said. The Raiders are glad he did, as Chambers has led them to tonight's 6A region quarterfinal against Sickles. Chambers said the players bought in right away to his team-building exercises. Then there's his playing experience; Chambers spent a few years playing for the international all-stars against the Harlem Globetrotters. He traveled to eight countries. Said Chambers: "I never thought I'd experience that."

Check it out

Catch 47 will air the Land O'Lakes at Brandon boys basketball region quarterfinal live at 7 tonight.

Hawks DL almost Air Force-bound

So how tough was the decision for Armwood's Josh Alston to turn down a scholarship to Air Force to focus only on academics at South Florida? "For a half hour on Saturday, I was going to Air Force," Alston said. "It was a tough decision."

Alston, a big part of arguably the bay area's top defensive front, said it came down to him wanting to stay closer to home and his family. Alston said with Bright Futures and other scholarships, he'll nearly get a full ride.

Contact us

Joe Smith can be reached at joesmith@sptimes.com or (813) 310-9024. Keith Niebuhr can be reached at kniebuhr@sptimes.com or at (813) 226-3458.

[Last modified February 13, 2008, 18:30:33]