Utah Utes basketball: Team expected to sign point guard

The Ute basketball team is expected to sign point guard Josh Watkins to a national letter of intent on Wednesday.

Watkins, who was the MVP of the NJCAA tournament last month after leading Howard College to the championship, had visited the University of Cincinnati last weekend after visiting Utah the week before. Sources in Cincinnati and Texas said Watkins has decided on Utah, but Ute coaches are not allowed to talk about recruits until they have a signed letter in hand.

The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Watkins would be the third JC player the Utes have signed in the past two weeks. Earlier, they signed 6-6 forward Antonio DiMaria out of Casper College and 6-6 guard Will Clyburn out of Marshalltown CC in Iowa.

The JC players will take the place of four underclassmen — Carlon Brown, Marshall Henderson, Jordan Cyphers and Matt Read — who left the program at the end of the season.

e-mail: sor@desnews.com