by Jim Quinn MD Marylandprephoops.com Early last July, Marylandprephoops.com sat in the bleachers in St. Alban’s Gymnasium at the Ban the Brick Summer League with Archbishop Spalding Coach Mike Glick as he watched one of assistant coaches direct the Cavaliers in a game against Paul VI Catholic. As we gathered background information on Glick’s fine rising senior class of guard Justin Castleberry, small forward Lawrence Dixon, and guard Marquis Sullivan, all of whom we profiled individually either this Summer and Fall, Coach Glick confidently predicted, “All three of these kids will get Division One college scholarships. They are all great kids, good students, and really good players. They’ll all get offers to real good academic schools. I think they’ll all sign in November and we might even get them all (verbally) committed early in the school year.” Glick’s prophecy held true as 6’2” combo guard Justin Castleberry verbal to Bucknell shortly after the academic year started and 6’5” Lawrence Dixon committed to Holy Cross and the 6’ wing guard Marquis Sullivan popped for Loyola College before the month of October had passed. Castleberry, Dixon, and Sullivan will be the top scorers and team leaders on the 2004-2005 Cavalier team. Dixon and Sullivan are three-year varsity players for Glick. They both played key roles on the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 Spalding teams that each reached the Baltimore Catholic League (BCL) Tournament Championship Game before succumbing to Mt. St. Joe’s. Castleberry transferred into the Severn, Maryland, Catholic school after two years at DeMatha HS. Though Mt. St. Joe’s has denied the Cavaliers in the last two BCL Championship Games, Spalding did win the MIAA”A” Championship last year. Late last week, Coach Glick contacted us to confirm that the trio had each formally committed on the first day of the NCAA November National Letter of Intent period. “They are all signed, said Glick. “This is the eighth straight year that we have sent at least one player to a Division One college on scholarship. This is my sixth year at Spalding and we’ve had at least one player signed to a D-I scholarship every year. All three of these players are all fully (academically) qualified.” This is the third consecutive year that Spalding has produced multiple D-I hoops signees. In 2003, center Will Bowers signed with the University of Maryland and forward Gus Durr, Jr. signed with Mt. St. Mary’s. Last year, McDonald’s all-America Rudy Gay signed with UConn and center Jason Loughery signed with Mt. St. Mary’s. The other starting senior on last year’s Spalding team, point guard Jesse Brooks, is attending prep school this year. “Jesse is at Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts this year, Coach Glick told us. “He was a full academic qualifier when he graduated from Spalding but decided to prep to get some more D-I college looks. Jesse will get a D-I scholarship this year.” Regarding the signings of Dixon, Castleberry, and Sullivan, Coach Glick told Marylandprephoops.com., “I’m very proud of all three of these young men. They are very good student-athletes. They were all ‘priority recruits’ by the colleges that signed them. They all signed with great academic schools. At Spalding, academics come first and I think this Class of players has proven that. I’m also proud of the hard work that these kids put in on the court and in the classroom. Frankly, the last couple of years, a lot of the attention at Spalding has been on Will Bowers and Rudy Gay, now it is these players’ turn. I think they’ll all have very good senior years. I think we are going to be a lot better team than most people are predicting, and these seniors will be our leaders.” Subscribe to Maryland Prep Hoops Newsletter/Magazine for complete coverage of Maryland high school basketball. Advertise In Maryland Prep Magazine (Email Us for more info) Subscription Info