- SIMBA FRENCH Guardian Sports Reporter simba@nasguard.com
- Jan 12, 2024 Updated 7 hrs ago
- 0
Heavily recruited Bahamian high school basketball sensation Valdez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe recently narrowed his collegiate choices down, from 23 schools to just three.
The 2023 Nassau Guardian Junior Male Athlete of the Year narrowed it down to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I elite basketball programs the Duke University Blue Devils, the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the Baylor University Bears.
The 6’5” Long Island Lutheran High School guard also had the University of Connecticut Huskies, the University of Michigan Wolverines, the University of Florida Gators and the St. John’s University Red Storm on his short list.https://97a20794c9bd6a014b7db2692ac3c308.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
The ESPN number five ranked high school player in the United States of America has the opportunity to pair with the number one high school player in the country, Cooper Flagg, at Duke.
It has been rumored that the Bahamian is leaning towards Duke, but the Wildcats and Bears are also highly regarded by Edgecombe.
The Bimini native and his Long Island Lutheran team are set to be in action at the Spalding Hoophall Classic this weekend. They will play three games with one set for Saturday and two set for Monday January 15.
There is no set date as to when Edgecombe will commit.
Edgecombe, a guard at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, New York, took home the 2022-2023 Player of the Year Award for the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (NIBC). His team finished with a 10-2 win/loss record that year and he led all players in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game. He was third in steals at 2.1 per game. The 18-year-old was also named the Adidas Eurocamp’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) back in June of last year. The camp was held in Treviso, Italy.
Edgecombe played competitively at home in February 2020, taking part in the Hugh Campbell High School Basketball Tournament for Gateway Christian Academy out of Bimini. Earlier last month, he performed at an exceptional level at the 2nd Annual Hoopfest in Paradise at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium. He helped Long Island Lutheran get to a perfect 2-0 record as he dazzled the home crowd with several slam dunks, showed ease in getting to the rim for easy layups and consistently made jump shots.
Edgecombe had his highest-scoring output in the first game of the tournament, dropping in a game-high 30 points and his team was able to cruise to an 81-68 victory over Mater Dei Catholic High School out of Chula Vista, California. The Bimini native put up 25 points in an 83-50 blowout win for Long Island Lutheran over Riviera Preparatory School out of Miami, Florida, in their second game. He averaged 27.5 points per game.
Edgecombe recently signed with LIFT Sports Management that is spearheaded by former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Mike Miller.
