Two-time 4A MVP Kenneth Roberts of Bingham High - the biggest catch left to be landed from Utah's best-ever class of prep basketball recruits - has announced that he will sign a national letter-of-intent next week to play for Brigham Young University.
Roberts, who averaged 26 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists a game while helping Bingham to back-to-back 4A state championships, was named the state's Mr. Basketball honoree last month by the Deseret News.His announcement is a verbal commitment, with the signing of postseason letters-of-intent first allowed next Wednesday.
Roberts opted for BYU over a trio of other finalists for his services - Utah, Kansas and Utah State. As late as last week, Roberts had hinted that he was leaning toward either Kansas or Utah, with the 6-foot-8, 205 pounder having made recruiting trips to Kansas, Arizona State and Cornell.
While recruiting efforts between Roberts and the Cougars had been cool at times, it was not like either party wasn't well acquainted with the other.
Roberts follows in the footsteps of older siblings Glen, Fred and Steve - all three having played basketball at BYU. While Glen and Fred - the latter now with the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA - had more notable careers, Steve played on the Cougars' junior varsity team.
"I just wanted to stay close to home, to do for my nieces and nephews what Fred had done for me," said Roberts, adding that his choice of BYU over Utah and Kansas constituted "a really tough decision."
BYU has essentially skimmed off the cream of the state's recruiting crop, having already signed Emery County's 7-foot-5 Shawn Bradley and Richfield's 6-foot-4 Ryan Cuff to early letters-of-intent last fall, making Roberts the third of the state's two-time MVP to join the fold. Bradley, Cuff and Roberts have developed a budding friendship while crossing paths in prep games, postseason all-star games and off-season camps and competitions.
Roberts confirmed that the ongoing friendship did play a part in his decision, but not as much as family traditions and staying close to home.
"It has been fun to play with those guys - and it still will be."
With Roberts announcing his plans and the recent verbal commitment of Payson's Jim DeGraffenried and Bonneville's Sean Sylvester to attend Weber State and Southern Utah State, respectively, the state has already aligned eight of its players with NCAA Division I teams.
Bradley and Cuff committed to BYU early, while another fall signing had Judge Memorial guard Chris Jones joining with the University of Portland.
Last week, frontliners Bryon Ruffner of Timpview and Eric Franson of American Fork verbally committed to sign with Utah State.
In committing to Weber State, DeGraffenried will be playing college ball on the same Dee Events Center court where he closed out his prep career in the 3A state tournament. After averaging nearly 30 points and 13 rebounds a game through the regular season, the 6-foot-6 center scored 143 points in his four 3A tourney games on the Wildcat home court.
As the sole senior starter for Bonneville this year, the SUSC-bound 6-foot-1 Sylvester averaged 18 points and 6 rebounds a game through the 1989-90 season.