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80 NCAA D1 schools express interest to sign Kobe Paras

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/sports/7/2/kobe-paras-070216.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Kobe Paras. Photo courtesy of Vyn Radovan</div></figcaption></figure></div>Shortly after it was announced that Kobe Paras withdrew from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) a huge number of NCAA Division 1 schools have reportedly expressed interest to sign the young Filipino basketball phenom.His coach William Middlebrooks said he was expecting the Filipino player to be in school and on the court in time for the 2016 college basketball season.“He&#x27;s a hot commodity right now,” said Middlebrooks in Steve Angeles’ report to ABS-CBN.“We&#x27;re just back to the drawing board about finding the right fit, the right opportunity. That they understand who Kobe is what his game is all about what he means to the Philippines.”There are 347 Division 1 schools across 49 different states in the US.Kobe’s father, PBA legend Benjie Paras, immediately flew to Los Angeles immediately after news of his son’s withdrawal from UCLA broke out.Benjie remains positive that they will be able to choose a good university for his son, a FIBA 3X3 slamdunk champion.“We want for Kobe to pick a good school. That he can play, and at the same time getting a good academics,” said the former two-time PBA Most Valuable Player.“I&#x27;m just here to support Kobe… Support coach [Middlebrooks] and Cathedral [high school] and the organization. Whatever decisions they make, I&#x27;m going to be fine with it.”It was initially reported that Kobe failed to make the cut at UCLA because of an issue with his Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) score.“Our understanding was as long as he&#x27;s a full qualifier academically, he&#x27;d be in (UCLA). And for whatever reason the head of admissions made a different decision,” he said.“It was taken out of context I think it came across strange to people. Various people interpret it the way they interpreted it but we don&#x27;t know what the reason is. Even the principal has not talked to anybody at UCLA admissions so therefore whatever the reason is they chose to make this decision we don&#x27;t have a fact to as why they made the decision.” -- From a report by Steve Angeles, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website.</a>)

Shortly after it was announced that Kobe Paras withdrew from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) a huge number of NCAA Division 1 schools have reportedly expressed interest to sign the young Filipino basketball phenom.