N.C. State recruit reopens search

Lisa Leslie has confirmed that her son, Word of God Christian Academy basketball player C.J. Leslie, has withdrawn the verbal commitment he made to N.C. State as a high school freshman, while making clear that she still likes NCSU and her son is still considering playing for Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe.

"He just wanted to expand his visits to other schools," said Lisa Leslie, who added that she and her son had decided Saturday night to open the search again.

Mitch Summerfield, Word of God's chief operating officer and son of founder Dr. Frank Summerfield, confirmed that Memphis is among the other schools that the 6-foot-9 junior would like to visit but would not specify where else he might look. Memphis and N.C. State are also on the list of Leslie's Word of God teammate, John Wall, a senior point guard who intends to turn pro after his freshman year in college.

Leslie, ranked as the No. 4 power forward nationally by the recruiting web site scout.com, "really hasn't thought that whole process through yet," Summerfield said.

"I'm in N.C. State's corner, of course," he added. "I'm pushing [N.C. State]."

Summerfield said that the chances are "still very strong" that Leslie will wind up at State. "He actually talked to Sidney Lowe directly to let him know they are still on his list," Summerfield said. "He just wants to make sure he's not hurting his chances of being ranked and all of the things that go along with his summer this year."

T.J. Jones, coach of the Lake Norman Wizards, a 16-and-under traveling team based in the Charlotte area, said Leslie would play for his team for the first time this summer.

Summerfield said Leslie basically felt he had committed too early — before he had progressed athletically and academically in the past two years. Summerfield would not specify the student's grade-point average but said it was above the minimum 2.4 that Word of God requires for athletes to be eligible to compete. -- Roger van der Horst, (Raleigh) News & Observer