Catching up with: Curtis Dennis
-
- July
- 10
The other day at Iona Prep I ran into Ryan O’Neil, who is entering his sophomore season as quarterback at Lafayette. I figured I’d balance it out a little by catching you up on a basketball star from the area.
I spoke yesterday with former Blessed Sacrament standout Curtis Dennis, who is finally about to play his freshman season at New Mexico. I say “finally” because Dennis graduated from Blessed Sacrament in 2006 after leading the Cardinals to the Class B Federation final, averaging 20.6 points per game.
Dennis spent the following season at Gulf Shores Prep School in Houston and then the next year at famed Findlay Prep in Las Vegas. After red-shirting last season for New Mexico, he’ll finally get his chance to step on the floor for the Lobos and coach Steve Alford.
He turned 21 in January.
“It’s weird to think that I’m 21 and am only a freshman,” said Dennis, a 6-foot-5 guard. “It’s been frustrating. But I’ve made it.”
Dennis made the decision on his own last season to red-shirt, a wise move with a bevy of veteran guards ahead of him. One of them was Tony Danridge, a first-team All-Mountain West Conference pick. Danridge was a gifted shooter and the nation’s top college dunker.
Dennis has played well through the summer out in New Mexico and figures to be a vital piece this season. With Danridge and 6-7 reserve guard Chad Toppert gone, the opportunity is there for Dennis.
”(Toppert) played 35 minutes in most games,” Dennis said. “That will probably now be my role.”
I knew Dennis pretty well in high school and caught up with him several times over the last three seasons. He was always a kid blessed with talent but would often try to do too much as a player. The two years of prep school and the year as a red-shirt at New Mexico should benefit him in that department. It also helps that he’s filled out his body and is just over 200 pounds.
Overall, Dennis is loving the Midwest West Coast lifestyle — a far cry from his Bronx roots where he grew up with 12 brothers and sisters.
“Life out here is great, especially if you play basketball,” Dennis said. “If you play basketball, they treat you really well out here. There are no pro teams out here. We’re looked at as the NBA team. People know who you are. You sign autographs every day. It’s nice out here. It’s far from New York City, though.”
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 2:58 pm by Kevin Devaney Jr..
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Kevin do you know what happened with that Rye standout Liam McCabe-Moran, he graduated that year to, is he playing basketball somewhere?
Just goes to show you how tough it is to play D1 hoops. This kid had to spend an extra 3 years after high school to get his shot. 21 year old freshman aren’t that unusual these days. Another local product who had to put in a lot of time before qualifying was Edwin Ubiles from Poughkeepsie High – he’s had a great career at Siena. Let’s hope that Dennis can do the same at New Mexico.
A quick look at Google shows that Liam McCabe-Moran is playing basketball at Harcum College, a junior college in Bryn Mawr, PA averaging 2.8 points a game.
theres gonna be a 7 on 7 football league at byram hills on wednesday nights u should check it out kevin
You didn’t mention the other stand out from Blessed Sac who was one of the top JC prospects in the nation this year…Jarrid Famous. He is going to South Florida. He had tons of choices but wanted to go here. He is now 6ft 10.. This kid has true pro potential
Does anyone know of any good men summer league tournaments in the white plains area. I keep hearing about the Theodore D Young Tournament but I can’t find any info online. I want to come out and see what the Westchester area has to offer has far as quality basketball.
Basketball Fan,
The tournament at Lincoln Park in New Rochelle is always interesting. I have not been to many games, but I know Mt Vernon, North Rockland, Horace Greeley, and of course New Rochelle all have teams in there.
They usually play games Monday through Thursday at about 6pm and 8 pm.
NRNRNR,
Thanks for that info. I’m going to look into it. Mt. Vernon and New Rochelle are always good games.
New Mexico is in the midwest?
Congrats to Curtis and his family. I have known this young man since we was a kid playing basketball at the Bronx YMCA….
I meant since he was a kid…
Great Story. Glad to see he was resilient and never caved in.
Does anyone know what ever happened to Vaughn Heyliger. He went to Spring Valley High School. He played on the team that went 22-1.
I heard McCabe-Moran from Rye went to juco but was at a prep school in CT first…Calhoun from PC was at the same juco n said McCabe-Moran got injured early in the yr only played in a few of the games but still got an offer from Columbia…apparently has 3 yrs of eligibility too
Liam McCabe Moran is now at Manhattan College
http://www.gojaspers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=52462&SPID=5439&DB_OEM_ID=12500&ATCLID=204809126&Q_SEASON=2009
The Next standout to come out of Blessed Sacrament will be DAVID SAMUELS Class of 2010. A 6-7, 6-8 kid with tons of potential. Has offers from mostly Mid-Majors, but should increase once the season begins. Don’t sleep on this kiid, he’s a total Stud.