By George Pohly
@MIPrepZoneMD
Romeo Weems is staying put.
The subject of rumors that he’d leave New Haven before his junior basketball season, the 6-foot-6 Weems will play for the Rockets in 2017-18, his mother said.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Nyasha Weems, speaking for herself and Romeo's father, William Weems, said in a telephone interview. “There have been a lot of rumors, but until you hear it from me it’s just that – a rumor.
“We’re at New Haven for a reason. I have a great feeling about New Haven.”
Romeo Weems helped New Haven win the state Class B championship as a 10th-grader.
He averaged 18.1 points and 11.8 rebounds per game as the Rockets went 27-1, won their first state crown and became the second boys basketball state champ from Macomb County.
One persistent rumor was that the 15-year-old Weems would transfer to U-D Jesuit, the 2016 state Class A champion that has won five consecutive Catholic League A-B Division tournament titles.
“I heard he’s going to several places,” Nyasha Weems said. “All the people who say things like that are just guessing.
“I take it all in stride. People are going to be people. I think (rumors) will keep coming.”
Romeo Weems, his mother said, has had a good experience at New Haven, where he enrolled as a freshman.
“He has friends. He’s learning. I like that he goes to school there. We’re OK with it,” she said.
Michigan State and Ohio State are among the colleges that have made scholarship offers to Weems, who was named the 2017 Michigan Class B Player of the Year by The Associated Press.
Tedaro France II, the Rockets’ coach, has helped her son grow as a person and as a player, Nyasha Weems said.
“I trust him,” she said. “He’s a person who helps (Romeo) every day. He’s dedicated to all the kids.”
New Haven has won back-to-back regional championships with Weems on the roster.
In 2016, the Rockets lost in a state quarterfinal game, but last season New Haven won a quarterfinal for the first time and beat Ludington 45-36 in the state final at the Breslin Center as Weems scored 19 points.
“He still has more to go,” Nyasha Weems said. “He wants to win another state championship. He wants to win Mr. Basketball (as a senior) and he wants to be No. 1 in his class in the national (recruiting) rankings. Those are his goals.
“I want him to get an education, play ball and have fun.”
New Haven started two seniors, guard A.J. Crawford and wing Eric Williams Jr., in the championship game against Ludington.
Weems, named to the AP and Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan all-state teams, also averaged 3.6 assists, 3.7 steals and 3.2 blocked shots last season.