Cleveland High School basketball coach Jason McCowan knew the inquiring calls would come. He has been dealing with rumored player departures since spring.
The gossip had from three to five players leaving the Blue Raiders’ program, including rising senior KK Curry, one of the most talented players in the state.
McCowan said Tuesday night that only Norance Berry has actually left the team.
Berry, who will reclassify as a sophomore, has enrolled at Christ School in Arden, North Carolina, located near Asheville. Berry can play for three years for the Greenies.
Berry played as a sophomore at Cleveland in the 2016-17 season, but his reclassification means he’ll start his career as a sophomore at Christ School. He already has received college interest from Cal, Stanford and Vanderbilt.
“Norance is the only guy that has officially told me he’s leaving,” said McCowan, who spoke with Chattanoogan.com Tuesday night via telephone after finishing a day of youth camps and team games. “It was a tough decision for Norance. He’s a 15-year-old kid that will be able to get into his proper age group (the 2020 graduating class).
“He was a great kid for us on and off the court and I wish him nothing but the best at Christ School. His last words to me were, ‘I love you, coach.’ ”
As of Tuesday, McCowan said rumors swirling about Curry, a versatile 6-foot-5 player with the ability to play anywhere on the floor, was just conjecture.
The team’s leading scorer, Curry has been rumored to be transferring to a school in Florida. If that becomes a reality, it would be a tremendous blow to the Blue Raiders’ hopes of being a serious title contender in the 2017-18 season.
“I don’t know anything official about KK,” said McCowan, the District 5-3A Coach of the Year last season. “That’s all speculation. There are 50 million rumors about our team out there right now. There are some circumstances that I can’t control. We just finished playing and all the guys were out there.”
Curry, widely recognized as the best player at Cleveland since Vincent Yarbrough, will be a senior this coming season. Other seniors are Romeo Wykle, Mullek Bradford, Deontae Davis and Alex Patterson. Dionte Ware is a rising junior and Jacobi Wood a rising sophomore.
Curry was named to the All-District regular season team and earned the Region 3-3A tournament MVP award. The Blue Raiders were upset by rival Walker Valley 58-51 in the region semifinals. They finished with a 25-4 record.
Yarbrough was a TSSAA Mr. Basketball in 1998 and the state’s Gatorade Player of the year that same season and played in the McDonald’s All-America game and the Magic Johnson All-Star game. The 6-7 Yarbrough averaged 24 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and 5.2 blocked shots his senior season.
Yarbrough signed with Tennessee where he was a two-time All-SEC selection and left the Vols with a career record 211 steals and was drafted by the NBA Denver Nuggets. He also played professionally in Belgium, Italy and Germany.
Ware was thought to have been transferring to Knoxville Webb, but that’s not the case.
“That wasn’t true at all,” McCowan said.
Another player was rumored to be headed for Tennessee Christian Preparatory School in Cleveland, but that probably was in reference to a middle school player making that move.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)