The mother of Cleveland High School basketball standout KK Curry shot down reports that her son plans to leave the Blue Raiders’ program prior to his senior season.
And, the mother of two other players that have chosen to play at private schools starting next season says that decision was part of a family plan to provide the best educational and athletic opportunities for Norance and Quante Berry.
“As of right now,” said Stameshia Curry, “KK has not left Cleveland High School and for all I know he’ll be playing there next season.”
KK Curry, one of the state’s top 2018 prospects, and his younger brother, Tray, a rising freshman, are enrolled at Cleveland High School, their mother said in a telephone interview Friday.
“The articles on my boys have caused a lot of confusion,” Stameshia Curry said. “I’ve been upset. I was in shock when I read the articles on KK and Tray. Nobody wanted to say they said these things. I can’t speak for the other kids, but I’m speaking for my boys.”
KK Curry, a 6-foot-4 bundle of talent, was the team’s leading scorer his junior season while earning All-District 5-3A honors and took home the Region 3-3A All-Tournament MVP award. The Blue Raiders finished 24-5 after losing to rival Walker Valley in the region semifinals.
Curry, rated the state’s No. 11 prospect for 2018, has not been playing with the Blue Raiders during the summer and that’s due to suffering a hip injury in May while participating with his AAU squad.
“Ever since he was a sophomore private schools and academies have wanted him to come play for them,” Curry’s mother said. “I know he’s a good basketball player with a lot of talent and ability, but I’m his mom. I graduated from Cleveland High School and I haven’t looked at any private schools or academies and I want this to stop.
“I don’t plan to pull my sons out of Cleveland High School. If they do leave, I will tell the coaches and call you.”
Tray Curry was a standout player at Cleveland Middle School as an eighth-grader and will arrive at Cleveland High as a highly touted prospect for coach Jason McCowan. The youngster has already garnered substantial notice for his play on the AAU’s summer circuit.
The Berry brothers have decided to attend private schools and are doing so on amicable terms with with McCowan.
Lakema Nalory said the decision for Norance Berry to attend the Christ School located in Arden, North Carolina, took only about a month, but the idea to send Quante Berry, rising freshman, to Tennessee Preparatory School has been a long-range plan.
“The opportunity at Christ School was something we talked about as a family and decided it was something we could not pass up,” Nalory said. “It happened really quick, but it’s the same thing as parents around here sending their kids to Baylor, McCallie or Webb in Knoxville. We visited a couple of schools and within a month we had our decision, and Norance had a lot of input into that decision. If fact, the final decision was mine, but Norance made the initial decision to pursue this.
“It’s going to help my son mature into a young man,” Nalory said. “He’s going to be playing with at least two of the top players in the country and he’s a straight-A student and Christ School’s educational challenge will be him even stronger in the classroom. This is a life opportunity”
Berry played significant minutes for the Blue Raiders last season and likely would have played a larger role in 2017-18 had he remained at Cleveland.
Berry, a sophomore-to-be who already has flown to California to visit Cal and Stanford on recruiting trips – he was joined on the trip by Cleveland assistant coach Reggie Tucker – is eager to start this new chapter of his time as a student-athlete.
“I’m looking forward to getting over there,” Berry said in a phone interview from Rockville, Md., where he will start a training regimen at the Pat A Roc Basketball Skills Academy founded by Patrick Robinson on Saturday. “I believe I will be pushed as a person educationally and athletically so I can go further in life. It’s a really strong academic school.”
Christ School, an Episcopal school for boys founded in 1900, is also well known in the world of basketball. The Greenies’ program produced Mason, Miles and Marshall Plumlee, all of whom played collegiately at Duke and later became a rare brother trio in the NBA at the same time.
“Christ School came to watch some other players on my AAU team (BMaze Elite) and we later talked about the school and I had thought about reclassifying and they can do that over there,” said Berry, who will move on to New Jersey for more training before returning to Cleveland.
Had he remained at Cleveland High, Berry would have been a 15-year-old junior. At Christ School, he can reclassify to be in his normal age group and be a 2020 prospect.
“I met a couple of the players that I will be playing basketball with on my visit,” Berry said. “It’s going to be good, but no doubt I’m going to miss my friends I played with at Cleveland.”
As for Quante Berry, his mother decided long ago he would likely go the private school route to benefit his maturation process.
“I always wanted Quante to get an extra year to develop educationally, even though he’s an A-B student right now,” Nalory said. “That’s the situation with Quante.”
Nalory was complimentary of McCowan and his staff, saying: “There is nothing negative toward Cleveland High School about my decision to send my boys to other schools. There’s nothing here about a lack of playing time or anything else. We have no issues with Cleveland high or the basketball program. Any issues at Cleveland are separate from why my boys are leaving.”
Two other players – Taye Cobb and Desmond Simpson -- are actively seeking other schools in which to attend and play basketball in their senior year.
One option for Cobb is East Hamilton High. Simpson’s list of possible landing spots is extensive.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)