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29 June 2010
MORGANTOWN - Kevin Noreen, the 6-foot-10 Mr. Basketball for Minnesota's Class 1A state champion this past season, signed with West Virginia Monday night, according to Mountaineers Coach Bob Huggins.
Noreen visited over the past weekend. His decision finalizes the 2010 recruiting class and gives WVU the nation's 2009 high school scoring champion.
"When he visited and saw the relationship between Bob Huggins and his players, that was the deciding factor," said John Sherman, Noreen's coach at Minnesota Transitions Charters Schools. "West Virginia felt like home to him. Kevin feels good about the Mountaineers' system and his potential to have a key role in the quest for the national championship."
The Mountaineers previously signed Logan guard Noah Cottrill, Mountain State Academy center David Nyarsuk and Houston forward Darrious Curry.
Noreen also visited Washington State and Duquesne after he was released from a signed National Letter-of-Intent at Boston College in April. Sherman said Noreen heard from dozens of school upon his release, was visited promptly by Indiana and Texas and also considered Oklahoma, UCLA and North Carolina.
He scored 4,086 points in his varsity career and is the state's all-time leader in career points and rebounds. Sherman said he finished 35 assists shy of the state's career record.
"The numbers could be skewed a little bit because we play fast," Sherman said. "There was a year we averaged 106.8 points per game and our average for Kevin's career is over 100 points per game. We get up and down the floor pretty fast and we shoot a lot of 3s. We play a transition game. We trap in the half-court and we get out and run.
"He's very good at that style. He played the head position in the diamond press and was right on the ball when we pressed full-court. He played the top position of our 2-2-1 half-court trap. He can play all over the floor on defense and he blocks shots. When he was in the back, he blocked quite a few shots. He blocked nine shots in the state championship game."
Noreen, who weighs 230 pounds and has grown 13 inches since seventh grade, led MTCS to a 30-3 record and the state title this past season. The school lost in the final in 2008 and in the first round in 2007. Noreen scored 1,205 points as a senior to set the state's career record, but also played varsity since seventh grade.
