Winchendon coach confirms Raffa is coming

If Anthony Raffa is going to lead the University at Albany men’s basketball team, it won’t be until the 2008-09 season.

Raffa will play next season for The Winchendon School, a prep boarding school in Massachusetts, after he didn’t score high enough on his SAT to be NCAA eligible this fall, according to Winchendon coach Michael Byrnes.

Raffa, a point guard from Wildwood (N.J.) Catholic High School, signed with UAlbany last November. UAlbany coach Will Brown called Raffa his “point guard of the future,” and Raffa averaged 30.1 points per game last season.

Byrnes said Raffa, who will begin classes Sept. 10, has every intention of passing the SAT and re-signing with UAlbany next season.

“Every thought process, everything I’ve understood from the kid and the family is that he’s going to back to Albany,” Byrnes said Friday.

Because Raffa is no longer bound by the letter of intent he signed last fall, bigger programs
could try to get involved with him. But Byrnes said he’ll discourage other schools from recruiting Raffa.

“Until the kid or the mom says otherwise, I’ll make sure he goes back to Albany,” Byrnes said. “No other school will be able to have any contact with Anthony Raffa as long as he plays for my team.”

Byrnes didn’t say what SAT score Raffa needs to reach to be eligible. The NCAA uses a sliding scale so that the higher an athlete’s core grade point average, the lower the SAT score can be, and vice versa.

Byrnes said Raffa is a good student but has learning disabilities, including dyslexia and atten
tion deficit disorder, that have affected his performance on long exams such as the SAT.

“We do a phenomenal job on our SAT prep with our math and English, so it’s going to be very beneficial for Anthony to take it every possible time until he passes it,” he said.

Byrnes said UAlbany at first tried to place Raffa at New Hampton School, a prep school in New Hampshire, but Raffa insisted on Winchendon because he has a close relationship with Byrnes from basketball camps.

Byrnes said Raffa can use the year in prep school to improve his maturity on the court as well as his academics.

“He has so much passion and enthusiasm, sometimes to a fault,” Byrnes said. “He plays at a high intensity level and it carries over to the rest of the team. He just needs
to do a better job containing his passion and energy.”

Without Raffa, UAlbany’s options as point guard include returning starter Brian Lillis, reserve Jon Iati and incoming freshman Josh Martin.

Note: UAlbany announced Friday it will embark on a four-day foreign tour to Barbados, beginning Aug. 31. The team will play four exhibition games against club
teams.

Source: Mark Singelais