Shown in his final performance at Harrisburg's Kimber Gymnasium, high-scoring Haiishen McIntyre is getting ready to make his Division I debut with the High Point Panthers. - (SEAN SIMMERS, The Patriot-News)
Harrisburg's Haiishen McIntyre, shown in the District 3-AAAA title game against Chambersburg, signed a letter of intent Monday with High Point University. - (SEAN SIMMERS, The Patriot-News)
Apparently, if you’re a senior from the greater Harrisburg area and NCAA Division I college basketball is on the agenda, North Carolina is the place to be.
Harrisburg’s Haiishen McIntyre became the fourth local senior to align with a Carolina-based program Monday, as the Cougars’ prolific backcourt star signed with the Big South Conference’s High Point Panthers.
High Point is coached by University of North Carolina product Scott Cherry, a Dean Smith protege.
"It’s a long process," said the 6-2, 160-pound McIntyre, who earlier this month issued a verbal commitment to Binghamton just days before BU head coach Mark Macon was dismissed. "To finally find a school is a good feeling, especially when you get a full scholarship."
"This is clearly the single-most difficult recruiting situation I've ever experienced," said Harrisburg coach Kirk Smallwood, whose last NCAA Division I signee was Quincy Roberts (St. John's) in 2008.
Difficult would help to explain McIntyre's situation with Binghamton, which was on and then, when Macon was relieved, off.
Yet not long after McIntyre’s Binghamton prospects disappeared, High Point was among several schools to reach out.
Within days, video of McIntyre’s on-court exploits reached Cherry & Co. His transcripts also were quickly dispatched, landing in the proper High Point hands.
Soon, a scholarship offer was extended.
Before things really, really got dicey.
"It never really reached that point," said McIntyre, who plans on majoring in sports medicine. "Once [the Binghamton] situation happened, all of my coaches were right on it and I had schools actually calling me the next day."
"They saw ‘Sheen enough on the AAU circuit," said Bobby Thomas, who coached the Mid-Penn Motion AAU outfit that included McIntyre. "They were very familiar with him. It wasn’t like I was selling ‘Sheen to them, they were busy selling me and the people around him on High Point University."
"This wasn’t the first time they’d heard of him or seen him. They told me this was too good to be true, for them to get a player of his caliber this late in the [recruiting] season."
Well, a Panthers program that was 13-18 last season (10-6 in the Big South) and 40-52 during Cherry’s three seasons, is getting a terrific player with high-octane offensive skills.
Projected as a combo guard, McIntyre landed first-team Class AAAA all-state laurels after averaging a school-record 24.2 points per game for a Harrisburg club (21-7) that reached the state quarters. The two-time Patriot-News Big 15 selection also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
"His better days are ahead of him," Smallwood said. "He’s a legitimate college guard and I think, in the right system, he’s gonna flourish."
"I heard good thinga bout Coach Cherry and his staff, and I passed that along to 'Sheen's mom (Arlene) and Coach Smallwood," Bobby Thomas said. "All the credit goes to Haiishen and his people.
"I think it's a great fit. When a situation like this comes along, a lot of kids say no. But I told them how 'Sheen's a good kid and [High Point] said he asked some tough questions. So, kudos to him."
Now that he’s headed for High Point, the optimistic McIntyre is ready to flourish. He won’t be alone in North Carolina either, as Central Dauphin’s Devin Thomas (Wake Forest), Red Land’s Mike Zangari (East Carolina) and Cedar Cliff’s Logan Stumpf (Gardner-Webb) also are headed to D-I programs in that hoops-happy state.
In fact, McIntyre will have the chance to play against Thomas and Stumpf next season.
"Just because you're in North Carolina, he'll get games against UNC, Duke and N.C. State -- just because you're there," said Smallwood, who was disappointed that McIntyre didn't receive more attention locally, particularly from Penn State.
"I'm looking forward to seeing him against some of the better competition in North Carolina as well as his conference games, just to see how he matches up."
Count Bobby Thomas among the others who genuinely believe McIntyre will match up rather well.
In a number of ways.
"I had this kid across the country and you couldn't ask for a better person to represent a uniform and a university," Bobby Thomas said. "He's a student-athlete period. He's a student first and the athletic part comes second.
"I have no doubt in my mind that he's gonna make central Pennsylvania proud."
Right now, McIntyre is just happy to have the recruiting process in the rear-view mirror. Now he can concentrate on rehabbing the surgically repaired knee he injured in the District 3-AAAA title game against Mid-Penn Commonwealth playmate Chambersburg.
He's also anxious to get his first in-person look at High Point -- since the quick courtship prevented him from traveling to North Carolina. Nonetheless, he's been busy researching and studying everything he can find about his next destination.
Especially since he's planning to begin classes in early July.
And regardless of how his recruiting process went down -- and all the moving parts that never really stopped moving until he put his name on a letter of intent Monday -- he's just happy it's all over.
"[Landing a D-I scholarship is] another goal accomplished," said McIntyre, who also considered Mount St. Mary’s, Coppin State and several other places. "Plus, I’ll have an opportunity to play against one of my good buddies at Wake Forest, Devin Thomas.
"They play good competition and get some TV time, so it should be a good experience for me."
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