Recruiting News: Scelfo to Cornell

The Cornell Basketball Blog learned from a source close to the situation that the Big Red received a verbal commitment this weekend from 6'3" 180 lb. combo guard, Dominic Scelfo from Jesuit High School in New Orleans.

Scelfo indicated Cornell was his leader during the summer months, but once admissions and financial aid hurdles were recently cleared, Scelfo made his final decision. He was one of Cornell's top targets and was indentified early in the recruiting process by the Big Red coaching staff.

Before committing to Cornell this week, Scelfo had scholarship offers on the table from Rick Majerus' Saint Louis Billikins of the Atlantic 10 Conference, Conference USA's Tulane Green Wave, as well as from other D-Is such as Texas-San Antonio, New Orleans, Army, and Louisiana-Lafayette. Other southern programs such as LSU were also interested during the summer before it became apparent that he was headed in the direction of the Ivy League.

Known as a hard-nosed combo guard in the mold of an Adam Gore or Chris Wroblewski, Scelfo can run the offense as a point guard or play off the ball and bury shots. He also has a reputation as a hardworker and scrappy defensive player.

During 2008-2009, Scelfo averaged better than 18 points per game and shot a blistering 58% from behind the 3-point arc and 92% from the foul line. He earned All District MVP (coaches’ poll), The Clarion Herald's Elite Team, All New Orleans/St. Bernard Parish Team, CYO All Tournament Team, Newman Invitational All Tournament team, Country Day All Tournament Team, and the Jesuit National Christmas Classic All Tournament Team.

After playing with the Mid City Cyclones AAU program and tearing up his competition in the AAU National Championships, Slam Magazine wrote:

I’ve probably seen Scelfo more than any other kid in this event, due to him attending school in the N.O., but just like when I saw him play over the holidays (at a Christmas tournament in the DMV), he seems to rise to the occasion against upper-level national comp, as he not only drained treys in his typical fashion (the kid’s a pure shooter), but he did a nice job of running the show, played tough and scrappy D, got into the lane and finished with savvy and simply outworked his opponents.