Derwin Kitchen CLEARED to play for Florida State!

JUCO All America.  6'4", 180.  Point Guard or 2-guard.  In any case, this is huge for no reason other than depth.  Put up 14.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 dimes in JUCO.  Runner up for Mr. Basketball in Florida at Raines High (Jax).  This is exceptional.  I'll wait for TrueCubbie's thoughts, but everyone should be pretty happy about this.  With any luck, he should help us not finish 291st in turnover %.  

Tallahase Democrat with more:  http://nolesports.tallahassee.com/article/20081212/FSU05/81212024

LilNoles Wrote:  

I have (had?) high hopes for him.  I thought he could stabilize our backcourt and allow Toney Douglas to play his natural position.  He could be the difference between NCAAs and another trip to the NIT...

 

He is a Sophomore, with 3 to play 3.

He adds great depth and will allow FSU to play Toney Douglas much less than the 36+ mpg he’s averaging.

Cat-quick and a great slasher… should make things reallly interesting the rest of the way. I’m pumped about this… he should play tomorrow!

 

The Noles are 8-1 on the year.  

Truecubbie:

Kitchen is a Sophomore originally from Jacksonville, FL who initially committed to the Gators. (http://florida.scout.com/2/272032.html) He was the 57th ranked player in his recruiting class of 2005. He is known as a good ball handler, a shooter and he has experience. He was a Rivals top150 player and was a 3 star recruit. ESPN gave him a 40. He looked at schools like UF, Marquette and Miami. He transfered from Iowa Western Community College, a team that finished in the Top 20 of the NJCAA for the past two years and whose coach was coach of the year two years in a row. Kitchen was an All-American while at IWCC.

I think this will be a nice addition to the Noles tomorrow night. Our guard experience is limited and adding an “experienced” player will be great. I will be interested to see how he plays with Douglas, hoping that it allows Douglas to get to his spots and shoot. I also hope that it gets our younger guards to relax as they no longer have all of the pressure to produce. Its always nice to have a seasoned veteran in the locker room and I agree that he will be a great addition to the team. Lets hope he can keep his eligibility. Thanks for the great post LilNoles!