By Anthony Bosco
The Cardozo High School varsity boys’ basketball team has established itself as the top public school team in Queens and one of the premiere programs in the five boroughs in recent years under head coach Ron Naclerio.
And if a recent published report holds true, the Judges may claw their way back to the city championship this season with the addition of 6-foot-9 junior Theo Davis.
According to a report on the Web site HoopScoop.com, Davis, a blue-chip prospect out of Henry Carr High School in Toronto, was scheduled to enroll at the Bayside high school this week. Naclerio, however, said he was not sure Davis was going to be at Cardozo this year and had not had any direct contact with the player regarding his transfer.
“I know his family is coming to Queens,” admitted the Bayside native and longtime Cardozo coach. “If he does come, everything has got to be done legit. Everything has to be handled by the Board of Ed.
“I don’t know anything about him academically,” he added. “I don’t even know how (HoopScoop) got it.”
The report said that Naclerio, who also works as a contributing editor to HoopScoop, was not a source for the story.
“Apparently Naclerio, who is the head basketball coach at Cardozo, didn’t trust us enough to tell us that this was going to happen,” the report said. “If he had and he told us that it was off the record, he would have totally taken us out of the loop. However, due to the fact that we have other sources on this and Naclerio never said a word, we are free to run with it.”
Naclerio said he had heard that Davis may end up at some other New York City programs — most notably Brooklyn’s Bishop Loughlin of the CHSAA. But Naclerio also did not deny the report that his basketball team was about to get a lot better.
“I saw him play at the Adidas camp,” Naclerio said of Davis. “He’s got talent. He’s raw, he’s good, but I don’t know if he’s coachable.”
Davis was also reportedly supposed to transfer to St. Patrick’s (Elizabeth, N.J.) this summer around the time he played at the ABCD Camp in Hackensack, N.J. Described as having “good skills for a young big man” by one Web site, Davis was also cited for his good mid-range jump shot. He also attended the 2003 Nike All-American camp in Indianapolis.
If Davis does join the team, he will be coming to a club that made it to the PSAL semifinals a year ago, the furthest the Cardozo team has made it in the playoffs since the city championship run of 2000. Though the Judges lost star Cameron Tyler to graduation, they are expected to be returning a host of key players including Vic Morris, Skyler Khaleel, Duane Johnson and Nick Flagg.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
