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Nehemias Morillo Signs With USF; Ruben Guerrero Verbals

Coach Orlando Antigua calls Morillo a "long versatile wing that can play multiple positions."

By Gary Stephen
Jamie Squire

We have some basketball news! USF has officially signed Nehemias Morillo, a 6-6 shooting guard from Monroe College. Also, big man Ruben Guerrero has committed to USF, according to his high school's Twitter account.

Monroe College is in the Bronx, and Morillo himself is from the Dominican Republic, so it's likely that Coach O worked some personal connections in this case.

We don't have a whole lot of information on Morillo yet. But he does have an interesting stat line: 12.2 points per game, 4 assists per game (to 2 turnovers), and a whopping 6.2 rebounds per game. For a shooting guard, that's a lot of rebounds. He also scored 15 points in 20 minutes in an easy win over (College of) Central Florida. Surely we all can get behind that.

Morillo's numbers immediately reminded me of Cedric Smith, a Greenberg-era shooting guard who was never the first option on offense, but was solid and contributed a lot of steals and rebounds. (He's currently the head coach at Freedom High School, by the way.)

What role will Nehemias Morillo play on the 2014-15 USF Bulls? With only three experienced players returning (Chris Perry, Corey Allen Jr., and Anthony Collins), anything is possible. But I can imagine him playing a similar role to the departed Martino Brock: seeing 20-25 minutes per game, at various positions, serving as the go-to scorer when needed.

Of course, USF already has two incoming freshman shooting guards in Troy Holston and Dinero Mercurius, plus 6-6 forwards Bo Zeigler and Dre Klayton who redshirted last season. If nothing else, USF now has a lot of tall guys who can shoot.

The other recruiting news today is about Ruben Guerrero. He has not officially signed yet, but rumors of his verbal commitment to USF were all over Twitter this morning. If true, this should be consummated soon, since the basketball signing period is open until May 14.

Guerrero is a 6-10 center from Spain who attracted the interest of Indiana... and, bizarrely, no other schools. Three months ago, SB Nation sister site Big Ten Powerhouse had this to say:

There are several other potential Division 1 athletes on [Guerrero's high school team], so Ruben is playing around a lot of talent. Corey Evans of the Roundball Report noted today that Indiana has officially offered Guerrero. [Ed. Note: As does 247sports.com.] Most reports (and there are not many) have stated he has a very good jump shot and is also a very mobile big man which would certainly fit the Tom Crean system. Given the lack of press around Guerrero to date, there is not any other news on other offers outstanding and it is certainly possible Indiana could be the only one at this point as Coach Crean tries to find yet another diamond in the rough.

They later say that Indiana was interested in several high school big men, but didn't offer any of them, and may look to a graduate transfer. This would make sense, since Tom Crean is likely facing pressure to win now, and may not have the time to develop a project. A rebuilding USF program does, and the Bulls could end up getting a very good player. Though replacing John Egbunu right out of the gate would be a tall order for any incoming freshman.

Also, we found something else Chris Perry is good at:

If USF has a really good basketball team in the next three seasons, Chris Perry will be the Ron Anderson Jr. of that team.

I again point out that Ruben Guerrero hasn't officially signed his Letter of Intent yet, but that could happen as soon as Monday. USF has more scholarships to give -- three, by my count -- and we will likely see more new players joining the team in the next couple weeks.