Wingett could be right fit for final Memphis basketball roster spot
If David Wingett ultimately fills the final scholarship available on next season’s Memphis men’s basketball roster, the story of how it happened will begin at Friday Night Lights, the Tigers’ spring football game.
Bull City Prep coach Daryl Harris was there at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on April 13, behind the east end zone on an official visit with former player Isaiah Maurice. The 6-foot-10 forward had toured campus and eventually committed and signed with Memphis before leaving town the next day.
But as the Tigers’ new coaching staff wooed Maurice, their other recruiting needs came up in conversation. Assistant coach Mike Miller told Harris that Memphis wanted another player to stretch the floor from 3-point range next season, and so Harris pulled out his cell phone.
“Hold up. You got to see David Wingett,” he said. “I showed him the film then and he said, ‘You need to send that to [Hardaway].’ ”
Why Memphis likes Wingett
A little more than two weeks later, Memphis officially offered Wingett (pronounced Win-jit) a scholarship on Sunday.
Harris said Hardaway watched
Wingett play three games this past weekend with Team Loaded (NC) at an Adidas Gauntlet event in the Atlanta area as part of college basketball’s final spring evaluation period. Memphis has one scholarship remaining for next season after losing three players to transfer following former coach Tubby Smith’s firing and adding five players in Hardaway’s first recruiting class.
Hardaway said last month that he would like to bring in another shooter to fill the last open scholarship on the roster. But the Tigers aren’t the only ones interested in adding a player of Wingett’s caliber late in the recruiting process. Auburn, Missouri and Wichita State all recently joined more than 20 midmajor schools that have offered Wingett.
The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 14.8 points and 7.2 rebounds and had two double-doubles over five games this past weekend. He also shot 61.5 percent from the field and hit 8 of his 15 3-pointers.
Harris said Wingett is expected to make a college decision soon and Memphis will be one of the favorites to land him.
“He plays the game the right way,” Harris added. “Obviously he can shoot, but he’s efficient. He doesn’t have to get up a ton of shots. He plays with that passion and that’s what Penny was telling him in their conversation. ‘You play with passion and I just love the way you play so hard.’ That’s what he liked about him.”
Wingett’s Native American background would make him a unique addition at Memphis. He’s from Winnebago, Neb., and a member of the Winnebago Tribe.
Wingett became a local sensation while starring at Winnebago High School, finishing as the second-leading scorer in Nebraska high school history after registering more than 2,200 career points. But exposure to college coaches proved more difficult, even when Wingett played for Chauncey Billups’ grassroots basketball team last year.
For recruiting purposes, Wingett elected to reclassify to 2018 after his senior season at Winnebago and played at Bull City Prep in Durham, N.C. this past school year. The lefty went on to average 24.5 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game while shooting 47 percent from beyond the arc, according to Harris.
Harris noted that Wingett is more athletic than he appears at first glance, with the ability to run the floor, finish at the rim and score off the catch-andshoot. He’s also developed a Dirk Nowitzki-like stepback jumper in recent years.
“He’s a matchup nightmare,” Harris said. “He’s tough enough to guard someone in the post up to a four, but a four can not guard him, most threes can not guard him and he’s too tall for a two.”
Harris said Wingett plans to narrow down his list of schools in the next few days.
There’s close to 30 scholarship offers to sift through all of a sudden. A lot changed in just a couple weeks.
“Memphis is obviously one of the schools that’s at the top of the list for him,” Harris said. “It’s a great chance that he’ll be visiting soon.
Dandridge committing soon
Memphis is hoping to bring in a starstudded 2019 recruiting class, and its first recruit could be a Memphis native.
East’s Malcolm Dandridge announced on social media Tuesday morning that he is planning to commit soon. The Tigers are considered the heavy favorite to land the 6-foot-9 forward since Hardaway coached him at East and he also played for Team Penny.
Dandridge had his first in-home visit with a college coach when Hardaway visited last month before the evaluation period began. He officially received a scholarship offer from the new Memphis staff at the meeting.
Alabama, Ole Miss and Arkansas are also involved in his recruitment. Dandridge is averaging 8.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game with the Bluff City Legends playing on Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League the past two weekends.
“I always liked Memphis, so with Penny being the coach, he’s basically been coaching me everything I know, so it’s just a fun experience,” Dandridge said after an EYBL event in the Dallas area last week. “He knows the game. He played at all levels of the game at the highest level. Now that he’s coaching college, he can teach me some of the ways.”
Dandridge is considered a four-star recruit by both 247 Sports and ESPN. Memphis currently has six scholarships available to use for the 2019 class.