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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
New UD recruit becoming complete player
Jesse Berry, who committed to Dayton on Tuesday, was the second-leading high school scorer in Indiana as a junior last season, trailing only Ohio State recruit DeShaun Thomas, but the 6-foot-1 guard is more than just a point machine.
“He can really score,” said his coach, Lafayette Jefferson’s Scot Bunnell, “but the thing I was most pleased with was, after Christmas, we won like nine out of 10, and he really became a better all-around player. He still scored points, but his all-around game really improved.
“He got better defensively. He got better rebounding the ball. He started making guys around him better.”
Berry, who joined Oak Hill Academy point guard Juwan Staten and Westerville North forward Ralph Hill in the Flyers’ 2010 recruiting class, averaged 27.3 points and set a school record with a 55-point outing.
But he’s been consciously shining up other aspects of his game.
“I want to be a complete player all around, not just be known as a scorer,” said Berry, who shot 44.3 percent from the field and 36.4 from 3-point territory. “I want to be known as, ‘He can lock you down. He can defend.’ That’s what I’ve been working on.”
Berry had scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Butler and Ball State and was drawing interest from top schools from the six power conferences, including Arizona and Kentucky. He also said Xavier was seriously pursuing him.
“He’s a really good shooter,” said Van Coleman, a recruiting analyst for Hoopmasters.com. “He’s really improved his ball handling and ability to score off the dribble. He’s one of those guys who’s really balanced his game up.
“That’s been the big difference for him this spring. He’s really brought the whole game together. That’s why (the Flyers) are getting a kid who probably would have gotten some very strong looks from some very large schools this summer.”
The Flyers have landed in several early preseason national polls and return 10 of their top 11 scorers from a team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.
To Berry, UD is a program on the rise.
“Marcus Johnson and Paul (Williams) and London (Warren), they’re really good guys, and they’ll be set to do the same thing again (advance to the NCAA tourney),” Berry said. “I think they’ll be really good this year and next year, too.”
Bunnell believes Berry and the Flyers are a perfect match.
“He realizes the way they play, their style of play, really fits his game,” Bunnell said. “He’s a dribble-pass-and-shoot kid, a kid who can make plays if you give him space. He feels like with their style of play, he’s going to be allowed to do that.”
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Berry gives Flyers verbal commitment
Jesse Berry, a high-scoring guard from Lafayette, Ind., committed to the University of Dayton, becoming the program’s third recruit in the 2010 class.
The 6-foot-1 senior-to-be averaged 27.5 points as a junior last season — second in Indiana high school ranks only to Ohio State recruit DeShaun Thomas (30.1) — and set a Lafayette Jefferson school record with a 55-point explosion.
He joins Oak Hill Academy point guard Juwan Staten and Westerville forward Ralph Hill in the 2010 class.
