Three Men's Basketball Signees Earn Honors

All three of The University of Alabama’s November 2007 men's basketball signees have received post-season honors recently for their high school senior seasons of play.

The three signees will enter Alabama in August in preparation for the 2008-09 Crimson Tide basketball season under Coach Mark Gottfried.

The signees and their most recent honors are:

JaMychal Green, a 6-foot-9 center/forward from Montgomery was named “Mr. Basketball” by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. He will play in the McDonald’s All-American basketball game on Wednesday and later in the Michael Jordan Classic. He led St. Jude to the Class 1A state championship and is a three-time Alabama Sports Writers Association “Player of the Year” for his class.

Green, who is the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year, scored more than 2,500 points and led his team to state championship titles in 2006 and 2008. Green has been invited by USA Basketball to attend tryouts for the 2008 U18 FIBA America Championship Team that will complete in Formosa, Argentina July 14-18. Tryouts and the training camp take place in Washington, D.C. in early July.

Andrew Steele, a guard from Birmingham’s John Carroll Catholic, was recently named the Class 5A Alabama Sports Writer’s Association Player of the Year and to the Birmingham News’ Super Five team. Steele, the brother of Crimson Tide All-America point guard Ronald Steele, was also the Birmingham News’ Metro Player of the Year for 2007-08 and is an Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game participant.

He ended his high school career with 1,501 career points, 706 rebounds and 305 steals for his career. He shot 47.7% from the field for his career and 53% from the field his senior season. Steele averaged 16.1 points and 8.4 rebounds. Like his older brother who is an Academic All-Southeastern Conference collegiate player, Andrew Steele was highlighted as his high school’s “Scholar Athlete of the Week” on February 6, 2008 because of his 4.0 GPA.

Tony Mitchell, a 6-foot-7 small forward who signed with Alabama out of Swainsboro, Ga., averaged 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks per game and was recently named the Class AA Player of the Year by the Georgia Sportswriters Association. Mitchell was also his region’s Player of the Year. Mitchell was picked for Georgia’s 2008 North-South All-Star game.