Emmanuel Mudiay looks set to become the latest high school star to bypass college for professional opportunity overseas.
Photo by Dan Wozniak
Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com
was among the first to report that star guard
Emmanuel Mudiay of
Prime Prep (Dallas) will play professionally overseas next year instead of heading to SMU.
Regarded as the
top prospect in Class of 2014 by 247Sports, Mudiay is expected to head to Asia after being offered a contract.
As a senior at Prime Prep, Mudiay averaged 16 points, six rebounds and four assists per game while leading a young team to 30 wins. The 6-foot-5 combo guard earned
MaxPreps All-American honors following his junior and senior campaigns.
Mudiay was easily regarded as the biggest coup in Larry Brown's rebuilding efforts at SMU. He committed to the Mustangs last August, shocking the college basketball world by passing on more established programs like Kentucky and Kansas.
Other high schoolers to bypass the college route and pursue professional options overseas have been met with mixed results.
Former MaxPreps National Player of the Year Brandon Jennings signed with Arizona but headed to Italy instead, where he played sparingly for Lottomatica Roma during the 2008-09 season.
Jeremy Tyler actually skipped his senior year at San Diego High School in California to play professionally in Israel, but lasted just 10 games with Maccabi Haifa during the 2009-10 season. He later played in Japan before eventually making his way to the NBA.
Most recently, Baltimore sensation Aquille Carr made a few pay-for-play appearances in China before playing last season for the Delaware 87ers of the NBDL.
