Eagle Staff Writer
Naji Hibbert is used to putting a lot of time into his basketball game.
The high school senior-to-be wakes every day at 5 a.m. and commutes 90 minutes by train to DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., where he starred as a junior last season.
Hibbert, Rivals.com's No. 54 recruit for the class of 2009, orally committed to play collegiately for coach Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M on Monday.
Even though he will be far from home, Hibbert said it was an easy choice to make
"Everybody there was like family. I couldn't have gone anywhere else but Texas A&M because they believed in me, they recruited me hard," Hibbert said. "It didn't matter where the school was, I just felt it was the best place for me, that I would get playing time, where I could be successful."
The 6-foot-6, 195-pound Hibbert transferred to DeMatha for his junior season and was all-league and all-metro.
He led DeMatha in scoring with 17 points per game and averaged 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals a game.
"One of his strengths is he's very versatile, can play three positions at the Division I level," said Mike Jones, who has coached at DeMatha, a perennial high-school power, for six years. "He handles the ball, can shoot, can create space to get his jump shot or get to the rim, and is one of our better rebounders, especially on the offensive end. He's got potential to be a great defender because of his length."
Hibbert transferred from St. Francis Academy in Baltimore, and Jones believes after a year in their system he will flourish as a senior.
"He grew by leaps and bounds [last season]," Jones said. "Every coach came in the fall and watched us work out and has since come in the spring, ranting and raving about his development."
Hibbert is ranked 47th by ESPN in the '09 class. He is the third recruit in Rivals.com's Top 75 that has signed with the Aggies or committed to play for Turgeon in just over a year.
David Loubeau, a 6-9 forward, and 6-0 point guard Dashan Harris, both from Florida, were Turgeon's top 2008 signees.
Hibbert's recruiting trip to A&M was on Sept. 15, 2007, when the Aggie football team defeated Louisiana-Monroe. Hibbert said that he didn't know any of the players before that but has since kept in contact regularly with his future teammates.
Jones said Hibbert came to him last week, saying even though he thought he was going to wait until the fall to commit, he felt awkward because he knew where he wanted to play.
"They had so much interest and they believed in me from Day 1, and if I wasn't playing good they still would have wanted me," Hibbert said. "I appreciated them being great people, and I think Coach Turgeon believes in me and that I could be a great player in his system."
Other schools recruiting Hibbert were Marquette, Florida State, Syracuse, Maryland, Clemson, Xavier and Miami.
• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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Posted by: Chris Paine On: 5/6/2008
Comment Title: Aggieville?
There is no such place as "Aggieville in College Station. Perhaps you're thinking of Manhattan, Kansas.
Posted by: Jason Harp On: 5/6/2008
Comment Title: Texas Recruiting
I'm happy that Coach Turgeon has been able to recruit top players from out of state. However, I'm slightly worried that Turgeon's Texas recruiting might suffer. I remember another Aggie basketball coach that couldn't recruit Texas (Melvin Watkins). Nobody wants to go back to those days.