Bradley Beal (St. Louis, Mo.), the most valuable player of this summer’s U17 FIBA World Championship in Germany, has signed a national letter of intent with the University of Florida, head coach Billy Donovan announced Wednesday.
"Clearly, I feel like we signed one of the best guards in the country,” said Donovan. “We're extremely excited about adding Brad, we believe he's a special player and a winner, and excited that he's going to be a part of our program."
Beal, a 6-3, 180 pound shooting guard from Chaminade College Prep School in St. Louis, Mo., is rated the No. 2 player at his position and No. 7 player overall in the 2011 recruiting class according to ESPN.com, Scout.com and Rivals.com. The St. Louis, Mo., native becomes the first Chaminade player to suit up for the Orange and Blue since former Gator and current NBA All-Star David Lee did so from 2002-05.
A member of the gold-medal winning United States team that won the inaugural U17 FIBA World Championship this past summer in Germany, Beal took home MVP honors after averaging 18.3 points per game, while making 47.7 percent of his three-point attempts. The newest Gator scored 19 points in the 111-80 championship-game victory over Poland to place first on the medal stand.
One month later, Beal also took his St. Louis Eagles AAU travel to the finals of two prestigious tournaments, the U17 AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, Fla., and the inaugural Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Tournament at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C. This past August, Beal led the Team USA Midwest squad to the championship game of the 2010 Nike Global Challenge in Portland, Ore., featuring the top high school and U19 basketball players from around the world. Against Team USA South in the finals, Beal scored a game-high 40 points along with eight rebounds. For his efforts, Beal was named to the USA All-Tournament Team.
In March, Beal was named the 2010 Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri following a junior year where he led his school to a 21-6 record and the Class 5 district championship, averaging 29.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. With the award, On Jan. 25, 2010, Beal was named the ESPN RISE Southwest Player of the Week after scoring 44 points in a 68-61 victory against St. John Vianney.
Before his junior year of high school, Beal anchored the U16 Team USA squad to a gold medal in June of 2009 at the World Championships in Mendoza, Argentina, where he averaged a team-best 19.0 points per game over the five-game schedule. In the 101-87 triumph against host-nation Argentina, Beal helped his country clinch gold by scoring a game-high 26 points, including 7-of-14 from beyond the arc.
