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| Scholastic Sports & RecWednesday, March 26, 2008 8:10 PM CDT |
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U High's McCullough spurns other offers to play two sports at IWU
NORMAL -- Counting up his scholarship offers to play Division I or Division II basketball took some doing for University High School’s Eric McCullough on Tuesday. He eventually settled on 14, a list that includes Niagara, Holy Cross, Army, Eastern Illinois, Youngstown State, IUPUI, Tennessee-Martin and North Florida. Still, counting up the benefits of staying close to home coupled with the opportunity to play both basketball and baseball led the 6-foot-9 McCullough to commit to Division III Illinois Wesleyan. “Every school has some great attributes. But Wesleyan fit me the best. I’m really excited about the next four years,” McCullough said. “It’s worth whatever we’re going to pay to play both sports and stay home and share it with my family.” A right-handed pitcher with a mid-80s fastball, McCullough also burst onto the basketball landscape with a breakout senior season. Averaging 13.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 blocks, McCullough earned Pantagraph All-Area and Corn Belt Conference first team honors. “There aren’t many kids at our level in the country who possess his size and athletic ability,” Wesleyan basketball coach Ron Rose said. “Not only is he 6-9, but he’s long and athletic. His great timing really enhances his ability to block shots and rebound. The fact he has shown so much improvement in the last year or two is also an exciting prospect.” The addition of McCullough helps fill a great need for the Titans, whose starting post players were 6-5 and 6-4 this past season. “One of the areas we need to get better at to make the next step to compete for a conference championship is to get bigger, stronger and more physical,” Rose said. “Certainly, Eric possesses those characteristics.” McCullough credited U High coach Bob Fitzgerald for his development on the court. “None of this would be possible without Coach Fitzgerald,” McCullough said. “He never let me slack off in practice. He kept pushing me to make sure I got the most out of every day.” McCullough hopes to assist a Titan team that had five freshmen among its top nine players in a 16-11 season. “I need to improve on my high post game and be a little more versatile,” he said. “Hopefully, I can block some shots, rebound and maybe get lucky on some jump hooks.” As a junior baseball player, McCullough posted a 4-4 record, a 2.73 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings. “He’s been anywhere from 84 to 89 with his velocity, and he’s scratching the potential of what he can be,” Wesleyan baseball coach Dennis Martel said. “He’s a real big recruit for us. I see him filling out as he throws more and matures more. His ceiling is tremendous.” While McCullough has received more notoriety in basketball, he has played baseball since he was 5 years old. “I wasn’t ready to give it up,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty solid fastball, but I need to develop two or three solid offspeed pitches.” E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.
cornbelt fan wrote on Mar 26, 2008 12:07 PM:
grandma999 wrote on Mar 26, 2008 8:03 AM:
Best wishes to all on a fine season, congratulations also to the coaches on recruiting success. "
HSHoops wrote on Mar 25, 2008 11:48 AM:
hshoops1 wrote on Mar 25, 2008 9:49 AM:
dwarf wrote on Mar 25, 2008 9:38 AM:
IWU has a pretty great basketball program, and it'll be great to see how this guy does. "
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