ASU awaiting decision from Duke big man

Posted at 10:07 AM, April 25, 2006

Arizona State officials were awaiting word Monday on whether a big man from Duke  will transfer to the Sun Devil basketball program.  Eric Boateng, who played sparingly this past season, is strongly considering ASU, according to sources familiar with the recruiting process. Boateng visited the campus over the weekend.
Boateng, a 6-foot-11 center from England, would have to sit out next season, then would have three years of eligibility remaining.
Boateng averaged 0.7 points and 0.6 rebounds in 2.5 minutes per game for Duke.
Also, Jeff Pendergraph — the team’s best inside player last year — reiterated what he’d said 10 days earlier, that he plans to remain at ASU under new coach Herb Sendek.
“I don’t want to be anywhere else,� said Pendergraph, who acknowledged he was “kind of in the middle� about whether to leave when ASU fired Rob Evans last month.
But he decided to stay after getting to know Sendek and his staff.
Also, the fact that he’s grown close to his teammates was “a big factor� in his decision.
“We’re like brothers,� he said.
“It seemed like a waste to go to another school to build camaraderie, when I have excellent camaraderie and brotherhood already.�
The 6-10 Pendergraph, who made the All-Pac-10 freshman team, will be a sophomore next season.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him,� Sendek said. “He’s a terrific young man.�
ASU has 10 players on scholarship now, including incoming freshmen Christian Polk, a guard from Glendale Deer Valley High School, and George Odufuwa of Kimball High School in Dallas.
Another player who had planned on playing at ASU when Evans was the coach, Josh Love of Hill College in Texas, is not being recruited by the current staff.
ASU has two scholarship openings; they hope to fill one of them with Boateng.