Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Standley to NMSU ... kind of

Justin Standley, a point guard that played his senior season at McClymonds High in Oakland, CA, will be at NMSU in the fall in some form or fashion, most likely as a non-qualifier who could potentially red shirt.
I spoke with him tonight, following are some comments with commentary where needed. Here's a Kevin McCarthy story on him from 2008.

On his academic situation
"I just have to finish a sign language course over the summer for a foreign language class so I can't come out until August."
Standley transferred from Aamador Valley High prior to his senior season (more on that in a minute). He said that McClymonds didn't offer this particular class, but by all indications, Standley is a solid student and he says qualifying shouldn't be an issue for him. Obviously he knows what he has to do and is going about doing it.

On if he would be willing to redshirt
"They told me that I needed to get faster and stronger to play at the Division I tempo. I would redshirt if I had to. It would give me a chance to continue to get my knee stronger and still practice and learn the system."
Standley said he tore five ligaments in his knee his freshman season in high school. It kept him off the court until the summer prior to his junior year.
"It slowed me down and I'm still working my way back."

On his career
"Transferring to McClymonds opened doors. It took a while but I started prove myself. It's a winning program that produce athletes so college coaches would come to our gym and it made it easier."
McClymonds is 89-6 the last three years and Standley played with four college signees as a senior.

On his court leadership
"It became a habit over the years. My AAU coach preached to me and told me to use my IQ level to help other out and now I feel like it's my job. It was hard at a new school being a leader but eventually it happened."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is he a non-qualifier? I thought he was a good student.

Jason Groves said...

Like he said in the QandA, there is apparently one class that he still needs. Think of it as a Terrence Joyner situation where he had to wait until he cleared.