Cornell Takes Commitment from Desmond Fleming

Cornell has added a commitment from Desmond "Dez" Fleming (College Park Woodlands HS) Woodlands, TX, 6-0, G.  

Fleming and College Park High School are coached by former University of Houston assistant coach, Clifton McNeely.  Fleming played club basketball during the summer for Gulf Coast Blue Chips AAU under Angelo Randerson.

As a high school senior, Fleming averaged 12 points, 3.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.  He was named to the Texas All-District 14-5A First Team and First Team All Montgomery County

Fleming is an excellent student and reportedly maintains a 4.85 GPA on a 5.0 scale and is ranked academically No. 38 out of 601 in his high school class. On the court, RCS Sports ranks Fleming No. 64 in the Houston area (while ranking fellow Cornell commit, Robert Hatter (Westside HS) Houston, TX, 6-1, G, No. 16). Fleming was also listed by Vype Magazine in the Preseason Top 100 List for the Guy V. Lewis Award, given to the top player in the city.  Flemming also runs track for College Park HS.

The Cornell Basketball Blog spoke with Fleming's AAU coach, Angelo Randerson about Fleming.

"I've known Dez since he was in 6th grade, I've coached him for years, he's like a younger brother to me." When asked to describe Fleming's game, Randerson replied, "He's a hard nose point guard, he just has exceptional speed, he can't be stopped in the open court." He continued, "That's why Cornell recruited him. That is what they told us they wanted. They loved his speed and ability to create his own shot off the dribble and he is a lock down defender." When asked for Fleming's natural position, Randerson replied, "He was originally a 2-guard [earlier in his career], but a lot of college coaches asked him to become a point guard for the next level, so since last summer, we really were working on his point guard play."

Randerson stressed that Fleming must work on his perimeter shooting before college as he we was only a mid .300 three-point shooter at the high school level. "But he has one of the best mid range pull up games in the area." Randerson elaborated, "He's not an above the rim guy, but he is a crafty scorer, has a high nice floater [in the lane], he gets contact [and gets to the free throw line]... He's a mid .700s free throw shooter."

Randerson credited Cornell assistant coaches, Mike Blaine and Marlon Sears as his lead recruiters for Cornell. "Last summer he was offered a scholarship by the University of New Hampshire, but it was not what he was looking for academically." Randerson noted, "Cornell was not one of the first schools to get involved... they kind of came in late in the process, the schools that were on him first were New Hampshire, Columbia, Penn...Southeast Louisiana, Air Force.... and Texas Pan American." He explained that Fleming attended Columbia's Elite Camp last summer but the Lions ultimately never offered and as of February 2013, Fleming was nearly ready to commit to the Division III level at Emory University. But when Cornell offered in March 2013, Fleming immediately committed.

The Woodlands Villager published a story on the commitment.  The Villager writes:

College Park senior Desmond Fleming averaged 12 points on 51.8 percent shooting, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game this season. He will play collegiately for the Cornell Big Red. 

College Park basketball player Desmond Fleming has been a key contributor for the Cavaliers during his high school years, and now he will get the opportunity to continue his career in the Empire State.

The senior point guard verbally committed to Ivy League member Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.), and made his big announcement to the world through Twitter on Monday evening.

“It’s a really great feeling,” Fleming said. “It’s just a big weight off my chest to know I’ll be able to further my education at a top-tier academic school, but also to be able to play the sport that I love. It can’t get any better than that for me.”

College Park coach Clifton McNeely said Fleming has been one of the staples of his program over the past few years, and that it’s very rewarding as a coach to see his player accomplish so much.

“He’s been a tremendous leader and a tremendous competitor for us,” McNeely said. “He has a tremendous work ethic, he’s goal-oriented and he’s always strived for greater things. His ambition and his goal when he first came in was that he wanted to play college basketball. He’s now at that point where he’s going to have the opportunity to see his dream come true.”

Fleming, who averaged 12 points per game this past season and has a 4.9 GPA, said he is excited about the opportunity to play collegiate basketball, even though he’ll be more than 1,600 miles from home.

“I’m looking forward to competing at a high level and competing for a starting spot at point guard as a freshman,” Fleming said. “And also being able to meet a lot of new and different people and a lot of kids that are dedicated to academics as well.”

Below, some highlights of Desmond Fleming...