Coming to America

Theo Rabinowitz
RedStormReport.com Staff Writer

Phil Wait had only seen a handful of American college basketball games, and yet there he was, in early-July, preparing to compete in arguably the toughest of college basketball conferences in the country.

Wait had only been in New York for two and a half months; yet there was the 7-foot-1 big-man on Thursday night at Taffner Field House on the campus of St. John's, weaving the ball between his legs and not-so-gracefully attempting the moves that can be seen from Rucker Park to the Kingdome, as he pulled up, draining a three-pointer and sending his Red Storm teammates into a frenzy as he strutted back to the other end of the floor. While the St. John's freshman may not acknowledge it, he has caught the New York swagger in a New York minute.

The Manchester, England-native is no stranger to the United States, having spent two year at Proctor Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire, before moving on to spend the 2007-2008 season at the Gran Canaria Basketball Academy in Spain. While Wait had scholarship offers from Rhode Island and Providence, he chose the Jamaica, N.Y. school, among other reasons, because head coach Norm Roberts and his staff had been recruiting him the longest.

In the weeks before heading off to the Big East School, Wait had been skeptical as to what his experience at an American university might be. "At the time, I wasn't looking forward to it (going to college), but it has been a lot different than what I originally expected," said Wait before the 2008 Red Storm Tip-Off on Thursday evening, an event for students to give them a sneak peek into the men's and women's basketball team.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUk9byuwJ6I

Phil Wait was definitely a pretty cool kid, I like his swagger as mentioned in the article. I think he is going to be a solid guy. I don't mean to hype him as the next Hakeem but I think he can make solid contributions.

he should be better than TJ by default.

he should be better than TJ by default.

You are really hammering this point in every thread possible.

JJ,

Thanks for posting the article.   I was impressed with Wait when I interviewed him.  He was very upfront and seems like he really worked hard in the offseason on his body.  He certainly looks bigger in person than in his pictures that I saw when he was in high school.