The word on the basketball court(Theo Pinson to Wesleyan)

The word on the court, or from the court if you will, is that Theo Pinson(ORMA) will be enrolling at Wesleyan Academy in High Point this fall and he will be getting ready to play for Coach Keith Gatlin and along side Montay Brandon and Jaquel Richmond…….

Theo Pison has been listed by Dave Telep from espn.com, he’s their high school basketball insider, as the top high school player in the nation, coming out of the Class of 2014……..

This should make Wesleyan one of the top, if not the top private school basketball team in the state and among the tops in the nation……

Good luck to Theo Pinson on his enrollment at Wesleyan in High Point and we hope this turns out to be a good move for he and his family……..

35 thoughts on “The word on the basketball court(Theo Pinson to Wesleyan)

  1. 2011-2012 private school year is going to be real interested “WOW” Keith Gatlin got hisself a SQUAD. SO will Richmond, Brandon and Pinson be the 3 around town? Is Weslayn the school to put on your schedule? Or want to beat…lol. Cant wait to see. This year will be excited to watch.

  2. Wesleyan has put together quite a team and Theo Pinson is just the icing on the cake. Their other additions are good enough to boost them the top of the local basketball rankings. Theo Pinson just adds that much more and truly puts them up with last years healthy Westchester team. A potential national ranking? We shall see.

  3. OMG!!! “WOW’ 2011-2012 basketball season for private school is going to be real interesting. Coach Gatlin has a fully loaded team this year. WIll this be the BIG THREE (Richmond, Brandon, Pinson ) around town? Is Wesleyan the team beat? Is this team to put on your schedule? IDK? Can’t wait to see! Im ready front and center…..lol

  4. Andy,

    Do not sleep on Trey Chapman coming from Greensboro Day…..He is being recruited by Harvard, App State, UNC-Charlotte and Univ of Richmond….Averaged 20 a game this spring with the Charlotte Royals…This is predicted his breakout year…..

  5. Oh yea Andy I had heard the Chapmans were talking about making the transition to Wesleyan but didnt know if it ever went down or not. Sooo on that note Im with Can’t Wit 2 See: Keith Gatlin got some “MONSTERS” over der. Just Save me a seat thats all im gon SAY…..lol

  6. Wesleyan is not only going to be good but tall. As far as I know they will not have a real center however they will have height. Jaquel Richmond is 6’2″, Theo Pinson is 6’6″, Montay Brandon is 6’7″, Trey Chapman is 6’7″, and Josh Woodward is nearing 6’8″. That is just the most likely starting line up. Off the bench they will have Harrison White, a 6’6″ shooter and Deshaunte Carelock a 6’7″ power forward. All of this is assuming that no player is going there that I don’t know about. For all I know they could be getting a foreign seven footer to play center to replace Deng Leek but who knows. We shall see come next year. Can’t wait!

  7. James Trey Chapman is a very sound basketball player…..First time I saw him was at the camp up at Forsyth Country Day run by Tyler Lewis dad(Rick Lewis)……Chapman is a smooth ball player and he will help Wesleyan…..So will the other players you have mentioned……Private school basketball will be very interesting and fun to follow again this coming season……Caldwell Academy might be on the outside looking in, but if they have everybody back, they will be good too with Wesleyan, Greensboro Day, High Point Christian, Westchester and Forsyth Country Day……Looking forward to it already…..

  8. Caldwell lost one senior last year and he was more of a defensive role player. The Eagles still have Senior Matthew Uchedike, juniors Emeka Ikezu and Brett Manning along with a new 6-4 transfer to play small forward. We are 2A so only Westchester is in our conference out of these schools listed but we will play Greensboro Day once and HPCA twice.

  9. If we lose this upcoming season it will be all Gatlin’s fault. The man has 3 top 50 guards in their respective classes. He better win with all this talent. It will be interesting to see what happens…. I am going to make the bold statement and say Gatlin can’t coach a lick and is just a cheerleader on the sidelines if they don’t go undefeated in the 3A private state.

    Trojan Fan

  10. Chapman is 6’4″. He quit the Charlotte Royals and moved to Coach Shaw’s Phoenix team.

  11. I wonder what all these players coming in says to the young varsity players last year and JV kids.

  12. It means see you later. What do you expect from a school that each of the last two years had players get D1 scholarships, only to be ruled ineligible by the NCAA. We all know the school could care less about their academic reputation.

  13. hp

    It says that all these kids got in the school fair and square. They weren’t selected to go play there, they chose to go play there. Ask any of them. They will tell you the same thing. They weren’t admitted as replacements for the current basketball players, they were admitted as students that just happened to play basketball. Since these students were the people making the first move towards getting admitted, the school is not really to blame. Let’s be honest, none of these kids would be at Wesleyan if Gatlin wasn’t there. A blind man could see that. However, that doesn’t instantly mean that he recruits these kids and is trying to give the other players a message. If I was still in high school, I would want to play for him. Not only is his name alone a big asset, but he knows everybody. He can get scholarships for alomost anybody on the team (even the current players) because of who he knows. For goodness sake Sven Sabljak got a scholarship and he was no where near good. Also, he brings college and professional players to their practices. Will Graves was at many games last year because he built a relationship with the players. That is pretty cool if you ask me and I would love to be in that environment.

    c3p0

    I know both of the Leek brothers and if you ever thought they would be eligible, you are crazy. That is not a knock on them. They were in America for less than four years and quite frankly the English section on the SAT is hard enough for Americans. But when English is your third language I can understand how it might not be so easy to pass.

  14. I know for sure Trey Chapman is 6’6″ because I took his height and wieght at GDS. He plays with Charlotte Royals and played with them tonight in Charlotte. He played in one tournament with Team Phoenix Shaw at Bob Gibbons….

  15. I know for sure Trey Chapman is 6’6″ because I took his height and wieght at GDS. He plays with Charlotte Royals and played with them tonight in Charlotte. He played in one tournament with Team Phoenix Shaw at Bob Gibbons….no rumors please

  16. Preciate it Tony. I knew he was taller than 6’4″ because I am 6’5″ and he is much taller than me.

  17. The last 3 kids who graduated from Wesleyan receiving real scholarships did not qualify. What does that say about a school that has a fee to go there that costs thousands of dollars?

  18. Clearly you did not know the last three kids you mentioned because if you did you would not be surprised. The only reason they were at Wesleyan is because the people they lived with had money. They were all in the enrichment center which is for kids with learning diabilities and lets just say had no diagnosed “disabilities.” Besides, you mentioned the last three with scholarship offers. In the last two years there have been seven players with scholarship offers. One is attending Pfieffer right now and will be a freshmen. The other three turned down their DII scholarship to go to UNC and NC State, but I guess your right. Their education was faulty.

  19. Trojan fan

    You are not thinking clearly. I think that in game situations, Gatlin could be better but he isn’t that bad of a coach. Or at least I don’t think colleges would offer coaching jobs to bad coaches but I could be wrong. I know he is a good coach off the floor well actually, maybe not. Or maybe college coaches purposefully send their players to a bad teacher to get better. Oh, and maybe professionals that play in Europe just train with him for fun and not to grow in their ability. Here is what I think. You haven’t sat on the bench and been around him as a coach. I also think you haven’t seen him in practice to see how much he actually knows about the game. You just look at him and throw out the accusations. Have you ever thought that the past two years teams just haven’t been spectacular. I went to Wesleyan a few years back, and I still live in High Point. I went to most of their games last year and literally all the games the year before. Who was actually good on those teams? Montay Brandon was good this past year, but the year before, the half-season he played with Wesleyan he had one good game. Jaquel Richmond is a very good player but was a freshmen and clearly showed some freshmen flaws like an inconsistent shot and the occasional travel. Deng Leek was tall and that was about it. He had no hands and could hardly finish his lunch much less a layup. Leek Leek from two years ago was very athletic, but had no right hand and was a very inconsistent shooter. He wasn’t heavily recruited and it is pretty obvious as to why. Sven Sabljak I don’t think was at must of the games, at least in the head. Last year, Brandon and Richmond did pretty well especially as a tandem but without a complete team it is hard to win consistently against good teams. A team without a star but a bunch of decent GDS level players will beat a team with one or two stars and not as much backup talent 9 times out of 10. Next year Wesleyan will have multiple stars and very good backup talent. You thought the last two years teams have been much better than they really were. Even with that, their seasons have been much better the last two years then they were all the way back to when Steve Denny was the coach. So you might want to think. Do you want a bad coaching Gatlin (which you have no argument for) and great players and pretty good seasons? Or do you want him to leave along with all the talent and go back to losing season after losing season?

  20. Around the coaching circles Gatlin is considered a horrible X’s and O’zdb8s guy. Good at workouts/development but could never make a game time adjustment!

  21. Richmond is actually not a true freshmen. He reclassed after leaving Dudley AFTER his freshmen year. He should be a rising junior.

  22. Not sure why Coach Gatlin is considered not a x and o coach. I could run down his list of Coach Gatlin accomplishments as McDonald’s all American, top player in state of NC, scholarship to Maryland, long euro pro career but that would not convince anyone he was a good coach. Coach Gatlin style is he lets his players make plays but he gives them structure. That style worked against GDS last season when they said Coach Gatling could not coach. He is quick to say his day on the court is past but it is about showcasing the talents of his young men and them doing well in the classroom. Some local coaches do not care about the kids’ future but only that they remain the winningest coach in NC. They want to show you there x and o’s and not show college coaches the kids can play. They use demeaning tactics to make the kids think they are not that good to make them conform to showcase the x’s and o’s. Coach Gatlins build confidence in his players because since he played ball he knows that 50% of the game is confidence and 40 is skill and 10% coaching. The kids respect him because he has played this game for food. Stop hating on Wesleyan Christian Academy and just be thankful we have this caliber of players and coaches in the Triad. This will bring more coaches to the Triad area and to all high schools in this area. Coaches will not just come to Wesleyan but will makes stops to many area school with good players.

  23. Wesleyan had a kid go to Pfeiffer and the other kids were not academically eligible. You get to college and everyone claims they had all these schools recruiting you and it’s a bunch of baloney.

    The SAT and GPA standards for collegiate admissions at the D1 is about as low as it can go to be eligible for college basketball. You pay money on top of the 9000 it costs to go to Wesleyan to be in the “enrichment” center. I don’t know what type of enriching they are doing regardless of the learning disabilities a kid has. I would want my thousands and thousands of dollars back in additional tuition if I paid for my kid to attend some special enrichment center and could not even be eligible for collegiate sports.

    It reminds me of John Calipari not graduating his players…. doesn’t have the right priorities in line.

  24. Andy,

    I believe HS basketball is your biggest draw. Please keep a thread going about high school basketball in the off season. I see no one comments on baseball and a few comment on football but basketball is the sport everyone wants to talk about. Please keep something going in the off season and I belief this will drive more folks to your site.

  25. Things is hoops is that kids’ families are not the ones paying for them to go there. You think their best players are paying to go there? Same could have been said at westchester last year.

  26. Wesleyan should go undefeated and win states? Hmm no, have you ever watched a David Gaines coached team up at Christ School? They lost great seniors but they just reloaded with major talent. I can promise you Wesleyan will not breeze through the 3a ranks

  27. They will not breeze by 3a states but they will be the favorite over any team with the exception of maybe Christ School. Honestly beating Christ School is a difficult task but last years Wesleyan team played them to five points in Arden. Next year, they will have twice the talent and a much better chance. Christ School got some additions but nobody like Theo Pinson. Christ School will not have height like they have had the past six years so honestly, I think Wesleyan will have a good chance of winning states. They are my favorite to win.

  28. Wesleyan gave Christ School and Coach Gaines a run for their money up at Arden last year on game that was seen on national television……..Coach Gatlin has been to the mountain top with his college game and now he is trying to take Wesleyan there as well……Pinson might be the piece of the puzzle that will take the Trojans there and Trey Chapman will be huge for them too, wait and see on James C., he can go inside, plus shoot the three….

  29. I remember saying weeks ago that Theo would end up at Wesleyan. I must be psychic.

  30. We would be the best team in the State if Gatlin knew how to coach. We have Theo Pensin the #1 player in the country, Jaquel Richmond, and Montay Brandon. That is an unbelievable trio. If Steve Denny was back at Wesleyan we would be better than Christ School. I think it will be an interesting game this coming season. Gatlin had the team play them tough then lost to Rabun Gap by 30 the next day. I would think a GOOD coach would have his team build on the success from the night before opposed to getting smashed.

  31. @Trojan Fan do you have any idea what you are talking about? If you did you would know Theo’s last name is spelled Pinson, and that Steve Denny was one of the worst coaches wesleyan has ever had. All he ever had his players do was shoot 3’s, that was why they were very inconsistent and rarely qualified for the state championship. Watch out for hpca with all the high major recruits coming in. scary

  32. Dont sleep on High Point Christian.Talented big guys. 3 over 6’8″. And have young quick guards. Saw them play over at DCC in a tournament. They are rolling 13 guys deep. Their coach got them swarming all over defensively. They were already one of the best teams last year. I think that the HPCA Wesleyan game is going to be crazy good.

  33. Honestly, being an HPCA student myself, after seeing the talent wesleyan has continued to bring in along with the experience they gain playing with top players in the country on a daily basis, I believe it will be almost impossible to compete. I would much rather have a 6’6 athletic player than a tall, goofy african playing for me that can hardly catch the ball. For example, deng leek. he did nothing for wesleyan last year, what do you think a bunch of big kids are going to do for us this year against three of the best players in the entire country? only the game can tell, but I can predict it won’t be very much. GO HPCA

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