Ja'Quan Newton's glad Miami was his choice
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Had Ja'Quan Newton made up his mind a little more quickly during his recruitment, the former Neumann-Goretti star might have been playing his college basketball on the Main Line instead of in the South Florida sunshine.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Had Ja'Quan Newton made up his mind a little more quickly during his recruitment, the former Neumann-Goretti star might have been playing his college basketball on the Main Line instead of in the South Florida sunshine.
But Villanova coach Jay Wright had one scholarship offer to make to both Newton and Baltimore high school star Phil Booth. As Wright recalled this week, "We needed to get a high-level guard and we told both of them, whichever one commits first."
Booth made the move and got the scholarship. Newton took his time, considered teams such as Syracuse, Oregon and Texas A&M, and went with Miami, becoming the first top-50 recruit to sign with the Hurricanes.
"It worked out good," Newton said Wednesday. "I wanted to wait it out and make the best decision for me and my family. So that took time. Villanova, they didn't want to wait and somebody else committed before me. That's how it went. When that happened, I just moved on.
"Then I was waiting and Miami was working with me. They wanted to wait until I made my decision, so I made the best decision for me and my family."
Newton, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, has flourished this season as the Hurricanes' sixth man for coach Jim Larranaga. He is averaging 10.8 points and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from beyond the three-point arc. In addition, his 143 free-throw attempts are second on the team.
"I think he picked the right school, the right coach," Wright said. "I think he's headed for a great career. Jim is using him perfectly and developing him at the same time. He's got him playing defense, which you have to teach every high school kid. But his ability to get shots, get buckets, you can tell he's developing as a shooter."
Newton attended Wright's summer camps when he was younger and called him "a great guy, a great dude." But in the end, he said that getting out of his neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia was the best move for him.
"Honestly, my family didn't want me to stay home," he said. "If they wanted me to stay home, I would have committed to Villanova. But they wanted me to get away from the neighborhood I lived in, get away from the people that were around the neighborhood. Coming here and moving away from everything was the best decision of my life."
Newton missed the last three games of the regular season after getting suspended by Larranaga for an undisclosed violation of team rules. He said he learned his lesson from having to sit out.
Larranaga has called Newton a catalyst off the bench and added, "We wouldn't be where we are without him."
"He's an attack guard," the coach said. "He really puts pressure on the opponent's defense. He's improved his defense dramatically and he allows us to rest our two senior leaders, Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan."
Even with a berth in the Elite Eight at stake Thursday night, Newton said he has no thought of showing the Wildcats what they missed when he takes the court.
"No, there's no revenge," he said. "I'm just going to go out there and play my game, do the best things I can do for my team to win. It's no big deal."
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