St. Joseph’s Prep’s Overton commits to Wake Forest

Andrew Koob (@AndrewKoob)
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Miles Overton at the Chosen League (Photo: Josh Verlin)

St. Joseph’s Prep 2013 guard Miles Overton took to twitter on Sunday to announce his decision to commit to Wake Forest. Overton felt like his relationship with the coaching staff, as well as Wake Forest’s great academics, was the biggest selling point.

“My relationship with the coaching staff is great,” Overton told CoBL by phone on Sunday. “They recruited me from the beginning, they recruited me very hard. When I went down there, I met the guys and they were a great group of guys. I got to play with them and we just connected and bonded very well.”

“It’s also a great school, I think they’re number 23 as far as academics, so that was a big part for me and my family and I just thought it was the perfect school for me.”

Overton, a three-star recruit on Scout.com and a two-star recruit on ESPN.com, also had offers from Xavier, Marquette, St. Joe’s, Drexel and Western Kentucky. And while he admits that any of those schools would have been a good decision for him, he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play in the ACC.

“All of those schools were a great group of schools and none of them would have been bad if I chose them,” said Overton. “But the ACC is the best conference in the country and I look forward to the challenge of playing in it.”

Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzedelik is very familiar with not only Miles, but the entire Overton family, including Miles’ father and former NBA player, Doug Overton.

“He’s great,” Miles said of Bzdelik. “He actually coached my dad when he played in the NBA. When my dad played for the (Washington) Bullets, he was an assistant coach there, so we know him pretty well and he’s a great coach. All the guys love him and he recruited me very hard for a long time and I’m just looking forward to playing for him.”

Now that his recruitment is behind him and he’s given his verbal commitment, Overton had a chance to look back on all the schools and scouts that wanted him to play for their respected teams.

“It was fun, I enjoyed it,” said Overton. “Sometimes it could be overwhelming, sometimes you feel like you’re overlooked, you don’t get the appreciation you think you deserve, but all in all, I loved the whole recruiting thing. The schools were great, the scouting was great, but I’m just happy I got it over with.”

Overton joins three-star small forward Greg McClinton as the Demon Deacons’ second 2013 commit. Last year, Wake Forest went 13-18 (4-12 in the ACC), starting out the season 10-5 before going on a 1-9 slide.