Ohio University Lands Second Class Of 2009 Commitment From Illinois

October 6, 2008

8:55 P.M. CST

James Kinney, the 6'1 guard from Centennial High School in Champaign, IL, verbally committed tonight to Ohio University.  He announced his decision at a press conference held at his high school.  Kinney chose the Bobcats over Evansville, George Mason and Penn State. 

After taking an official visit to the Athens, OH campus two weekends ago, it was originally believed that Kinney would also take officials to Evansville and George Mason before making his final decision.  However, when sources reported that Kinney was ready to close out his recruitment (prior to the scheduled visit to George Mason) and it was rumored that he cancelled his visit to Evansville this past weekend (even though he did not), we knew that Bobcat head coach John Groce had Kinney in the fold.

While Kinney did not play at a lot of high-profile events this past summer, we were most impressed when we saw him during the spring at both the King James Shooting Stars Classic in Akron, OH and at Flash's Spring Hoops Review in Bloomington, IL. 

Although we consider Kinney to be more of a point guard, he was actually recruited by Ohio U. as a combo guard.  This proved to be most instrumental in Kinney's decision, as Groce was able to sell him on the idea of playing together with the Bobcats' other class of 2009 recruit from Illinois, that being 5'9 point guard D.J. Cooper from Seton Academy in South Holland, IL.

Kinney is a scoring point guard who has great quickness to the basket, superb ball handling skills and is most effective in transition and in the open court.  He also has the ability to knock down shots from 3-point land although he tends to be streaky in that area.  There is no doubt in our minds that Kinney has the playmaking skills necessary to be successful at the next level--he simply needs to develop more of a playmaker's mentality.  With that being said we see him being a good fit at Ohio U. and someone who will complement Cooper quite nicely.

Kinney plays on a high school team at Champaign Centennial that should rank as one of the premier teams in downstate Illinois this upcoming season, as in addition to Kinney they feature another D1 prospect in 6'3 class of 2010 wing Ravonte Rice, who is being recruited by Wagner, Oregon State and Western Michigan among others.

Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to high school basketball and recruiting in Illinois.