Kennedy Signs Up Two

OXFORD, Miss. - Andy Kennedy's Ole Miss basketball team reinforced the future of its backcourt with championship experience Wednesday, announcing that David Huertas of the national-champion Florida Gators is transferring to join the Rebels.
Due to NCAA transfer rules, the 6-foot-5, 178-pound guard can start practicing with the team in the fall but is ineligible for the 2006-07 season. Huertas may begin playing in the 2007-08 campaign with three years of eligibility remaining.
"David is a quality young man and a big guard with the ability to score in a variety of ways," said Kennedy, who is preparing for his first season as Ole Miss head coach. "He is obviously familiar with the SEC and comes from a winning program.
"With the players we have graduating after this upcoming season, it's an ideal situation for us to have a player of David's caliber sit out a year and come back with three years left."
A rising sophomore from Humacao, Puerto Rico, Huertas is currently working out at the Puerto Rican national team trials and is the youngest member of the preliminary roster.
He played in 35 games as a freshman for the Gators in 2005-06, including all 16 SEC contests, the NCAA Elite Eight win over Villanova and the Final Four victory against George Mason. Huertas connected on 33.3 percent (12-of-36) from three-point range last year and scored a career-high 15 points against Savannah State.

OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss continues to bolster its 2006-07 basketball lineup, inking Eniel Polynice of Sarasota, Fla., to a national letter of intent on Monday as announced by Rebel head coach Andy Kennedy. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound guard from Booker High School will be eligible for the 2006-07 season as a freshman.
"Eniel is a very talented, multi-dimensional lead guard with the skills to help us at both backcourt positions," said Kennedy. "He comes from a very successful high school program and led his team to a state championship. Eniel was heavily recruited by a number of other schools, and we feel fortunate he chose to be a part of our program."
The Sarasota Herald Tribune Co-Player of the Year, Polynice helped guide Coach Derrick Kirce's Booker Tornadoes to a 30-3 season and the 2006 4A state title, earning tournament MVP honors. As a senior, the all-state point guard averaged 17.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocked shots. He was also MVP of the Sarasota County All-Star game.