Warren Harding’s Culver commits to West Virginia
Warren Harding’s Culver
commits to West Virginia
By BRIAN DZENIS | bdzenis@vindy.com
WARREN
IT WASN’T ABOUT WHO CALLED OR TEXTED DEREK Culver the most, it was about who showed up.
Over the weekend, the Warren Harding basketball star let his coach, Andy Vlajkovich, know that he was ready to end the college basketball recruiting frenzy that’s surrounded him his entire high school career.
“The process was becoming too hectic. You wake up every day and you see a coach calling you and another coach wants to text with you,” Culver said. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but when you’re young and you have that many people calling you, it’s like ,‘Wow, I need to get this over with.’”
On Tuesday in the Warren Harding High School gym, Culver choose West Virginia as the destination for his next step in his basketball career. Florida, Kansas and Connecticut were the other finalists.
Culver, a 6-foot-9 power forward is the Mahoning Valley’s most talented basketball prospect by a mile and has earned national recognition. ESPN lists him as the best prospect from Ohio, No. 12 at his position and No. 78 overall in the nation. He received 14 offers to play college basketball. Outside of the four finalists, Arizona, Cincinnati, Clemson, Indiana, Iowa, Kent State, Marquette, N.C. State, Purdue, Virginia Tech and Xavier were all after Culver.
Mountineers coach Bob Huggins was the first coach to contact Culver, offering him a scholarship before his sophomore season.
“If it wasn’t him, it was one of his assistants at literally every one of my games and that showed me a lot,” Culver said.
Huggins was born in West Virgina, but has Ohio ties. He played at Indian Valley South in Port Washington and served as an assistant coach at Ohio State and head coach of Walsh, Akron and Cincinnati during his career. His nickname, “Huggy Bear” is a misnomer as Huggins has a reputation for being very intense with his players. Culver said he thinks that’s exactly what he needs.
“Coach Hugs is second to none. I’m going to give it my all for him and I’m sure he’s going to look out for me,” Culver said. “Hugs, he’s a standup guy that tells it like it is. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything and that’s what I need. I don’t need a coach that tells me what I want to hear, he tells me what I need to hear.”
Culver said geography wasn’t a factor in picking the Mountaineers. What did work in their favor was winning over his mother, Sharon White.
“That was my first choice from the beginning,” White said. “I don’t play basketball, he does, so whatever he decided, I was OK with it.”
Like her son, White had grown weary of the constant calls, texts and letters. She traveled around the country to get Culver involved with AAU ball, Vlajkovich said. When asked about the sacrifices she made for her son, White said the list was too long.
“There’s not enough time or newspaper space,” White said with a laugh. “I have sacrificed so much, but it was worth it, every bit of it.”
Culver is coming off a junior season where he averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Raiders went 23-4. Their season ended with a 49-43 loss to Garfield Heights in the regional semifinals. Culver is expected to pass the 1,000-point milestone early in his senior season. With the recruiting circus coming to a close, Culver can focus on cementing his Harding legacy.
“It’s the [state championship] or nothing. We came close too many times with several talented teams and I’m tired of it man, I’m tired of losing,” Culver said. “We’re getting one this year.”