Joe Posey had been through all the

recruiting. He’d heard all the sales pitches, seen all the campuses.

In the end, he didn’t want to

re-do all that work.

"I wasn’t really trying to

go back down that road," Posey said.

On Monday, Posey met again with

new James Madison basketball coach Dean Keener and reaffirmed his commitment to

play for the Dukes next season.

"All is well," Keener

said after returning to Harrisonburg on Monday night. "We had a really nice

visit. He’s a wonderful kid and he’s going to be a great student-athlete for

James Madison."

Posey, a senior at Notre Dame

Academy in Middleburg who was recruited by former Madison coach Sherman Dillard,

said he initially told Keener he would honor his commitment when the two met

last Thursday, then reaffirmed that decision Monday.

"He’s a new coach with a

lot of energy," Posey said. "He wants to do some new things. Everybody

so far feels positive about him and so do I."

Posey was the most highly touted

of three high school seniors to sign letters of intent with Madison before

Dillard was forced to resign on March 7.

Since then, bigger schools have

come calling – notifying Posey’s high school coach that they would be

interested in the 6-foot-5, 188-pound shooting guard if he asked JMU to release

him from his commitment.

Posey said the only one he

considered seriously was Penn State, which would have given him a chance to play

in an elite league.

"At first, it seemed like

there was going to be a better opportunity, a chance to play in the Big

Ten," said Posey, who attended basketball camps at James Madison as a

youth. "But once you think about it, I didn’t know the coaches or the

campus. There was just more pros at JMU."

Posey said he was uncertain

whether Penn State would have offered him a scholarship if he had been released

from his commitment. Schools are forbidden by NCAA rules from offering

scholarships to athletes who have already signed letters of intent.

Dillard was one of the biggest

reasons Posey chose Madison in the first place. The 19-year-old had been a

frequent attendee of Dillard’s camps and forged a strong relationship with the

coach.

Posey said he spoke to Dillard by

phone during the Final Four.

"He was just talking to me

and he said he was sorry that things went the way they went," Posey said.

Posey said Dillard, JMU’s second

all-time leading scorer, didn’t try to persuade him one way or another about

his choice.

"He didn’t really say

whether I should or I shouldn’t [go to JMU]," Posey said. "He just

said that he supported any decision that I made. And if I decided not to, he’d

support my decision in that."

Before sitting down for dinner at

the Outback Steakhouse in Harrisonburg, Keener also said he was continuing to

talk with Pennsauken (N.J.) High School point guard Al Fisher, another of the

trio of Dillard recruits.

"I talked to him

tonight," Keener said. "We’re still in discussion. We’re still

trying to build relationships."

Fisher did not return phone calls

to his New Jersey home Monday.

His coach, Tim Dunne, said only

Sienna and LaSalle had expressed interest in the 6-foot, 177-pounder if he

reneged on his commitment to JMU.

Dillard’s third signee, shooting

guard Chris Matthews of National Christian Academy of Fort Washington, Md., has

already said he is honoring his commitment to Madison.

Keener still has one scholarship

available – the one that belonged to redshirt sophomore Todd Moret, who

couldn’t come back from surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee. Moret

played eight games his freshman year but sat out the last two seasons after the

surgery.

Last week, Keener indicated he

would look for a Division I transfer as he attempts to turn around a program

that has had four straight losing seasons, including a 7-21 record this past

winter.

(reprinted with permission)

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