SHARONVILLE, Ohio – Darius Bazley and the Princeton basketball team will play a game televised on ESPNU in January, Princeton Athletic Director Gary Croley Jr. confirmed Thursday.
Bazley – the state’s No. 1 ranked boys’ basketball player in the 2018 class – and his Vikings’ teammates play at New Albany (Ind.) at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 19 on ESPNU.
Bazley, a Syracuse signee, is rated the nation’s No. 9 player in the 2018 class by ESPN.com.
The Vikings open the season Dec. 1 when they play in the Ohio Valley Hoops Classic against Xenia at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro.
"I am chasing after a state championship," Bazley told WCPO.com last month. "When I play it's not going to be like I am getting by for this game. I am sending statements. I am trying to prove something. I really want to get this state championship."
The New Albany game will be just six days after the Vikings play in the nationally-recognized Premier Health Flyin' to the Hoop Invitational in Kettering.
Princeton (15-10) returns nearly everyone from a sectional runner-up squad last season.
That also includes senior guard Darweshi Hunter, who average 17.3 points and 2.6 rebounds, senior guard Dominic Pierce (8.6 ppg., 4.5 rpg.) and sophomore forward Darion Henry (5.8 ppg., 4.7 rpg.), who is also a football standout.
New Albany features senior shooting guard Romeo Langford, who is rated the nation’s No. 5 player in his class by ESPN.com. Langford is uncommitted to a college program but has reported scholarship offers from the likes of North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Indiana. He cut his final list to Indiana, Kansas and Vanderbilt this past weekend.
New Albany (25-4 in 2016-17) start the season as the No. 1 raked team in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll. Bazley and Langford were also named to the Naismith Boys’ High School Watch ListTuesday.
