STORRS --- John Riek, the 7-foot-2 center from Sudan who is now playing at the Winchendon (Mass.) School, is expected to attend UConn’s First Night festivities at Gampel Pavilion on Oct. 12.

Riek, who is the fifth-rated overall prospect by scout.com and top-rated center, is a postgraduate at Winchendon since he has a high school diploma from Ethiopia. He will be eligible for next June’s NBA Draft, and most assume he’ll go pro, especially since he is still struggling with his English and may have trouble academically qualifying for school. But not everyone is convinced his game is ready for the NBA, even though he raised a lot of eyebrows at the LeBron James Skills Academy in July.

Expected to join Riek next Friday will be three players who’ve already committed to UConn – Kemba Walker (Class of ’08), Alex Oriakhi (’09) and Jamaal Coombs (’09).

Also, Assane Sene, a 7-foot center from South Kent School, will make an official visit to UConn next weekend. Sene already made an unofficial visit to the school last month.

--- David Borges

By David Borges
Register staff
STORRS --- Greg Monroe, the top-rated high school senior in the country, is tentatively scheduled to make an official visit to the University of Connecticut on Thursday, Nov. 8. He'll watch the Huskies play either Buffalo or Division 2 Ohio Valley that night in the finals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Storrs Regional (assuming, of course, that UConn gets by Morgan State the night before).

Monroe will make the trip with his mother, Norma.

After in-house visits from eight different programs, Monroe, a 6-foot-10 power forward from Gretna, La., narrowed his list down to five schools for official visits: LSU, Georgetown, Texas, Duke and UConn. He'll visit LSU this weekend, Georgetown Oct. 13-14, Texas Oct. 20-21 and Duke Oct. 27-28.

Tyrone Mouzon, Monroe's coach at Helen Cox High, said Monroe may make his decision shortly after his visit to UConn, or possibly wait until spring to make his choice. One thing seems likely -- Monroe won't make a decision before his trip to Storrs.

"Knowing Greg, he'll probably make all his visits," Mouzon said. "But he may go some place and just be blown away, you never know."

David Borges may be reached at dborges@nhregister.com