Newberry releases top three

Jeff Newberry has released his top three of Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and UConn in no particular order.

We caught up with Newberry to break down why each of the three schools made the cut.

"Texas Tech, they actually came into the picture late and it was kind of a shocker," the New Mexico Junior College player said. "People never expected them to be in my top three. I went to their football game last week. I understand their situation.

"I saw the team play a little pickup. They have a real good team and a lot of pieces, but they just look like they're missing a guy who can just come down and get everyone involved. I feel like they lost that in Josh Gray."

The idea of playing for Tubby Smith, whom Newberry calls a legendary coach, also is intriguing.

Newberry started his college career at Mississippi.

Once he left Oxford, Miss., he hoped Oklahoma State would offer him a scholarship when he completed a year at junior college. The Cowboys didn't offer him at that time.

"I ended up going (to junior college) for another year and OSU came in and started recruiting me," Newberry said. "That's how I got involved with them."

UConn was another school that jumped into the mix late. The Huskies probably have the best basketball culture of the three schools on a year-to-year basis.

"UConn probably came in two weeks ago," the 6-foot-2 athlete said. "That's a respected program that takes a lot of commits to the next level. It's just a basketball school, the environment is a good position for me to go into and get a lot of looks."

Newberry has three official visits remaining.

He'll use one to visit Stillwater, Okla., this week.

"I could give Texas Tech an official in the next two or three weeks," Newberry said. "Official, unofficial, either way I'd be driving down. It's not far. It's about an hour and a half away. I'm only down to three schools with three official visits left. Using an official would let me see the campus for a whole weekend and see what it's about."

The point guard got to see the Tech fan base up close by attending the TCU football game.

"It was really good," Newberry said. "Coming from a SEC school, I went to the Tech football game, and Texas Tech's stadium was probably a bit bigger than Ole Miss'. The students, that was just crazy. They had a record attendance, and they said the students can be just like that at the basketball games. That kind of caught my eye. That was a real good experience."

That's the top three. LSU, Creighton, Murray State, Rhode Island, USC, UTEP and West Virginia have been eliminated.

Newberry plans to sign with Tech, Oklahoma State or UConn between Nov. 13 and Nov. 20.

"I'll sign in the early signing period," he said. "That was the point of making my top five and top three so early. I want to focus on basketball here."