Loudoun Valley junior Paul Rowley had no plans for attending
Loudoun Valley’s Paul Rowley blocks this shot by Heritage's Mister Lewis earlier this season. (Tracy A. Woodward - THE WASHINGTON POST) Saturday’s ACC matchup pitting Maryland against Virginia in College Park. But he found himself in the building for tipoff.
Rowley received an unexpected call from Maryland inviting him to the game.
“That was new. That just kind of popped up,” Rowley said. “The student body was great, just incredible school spirit and support. It looks like a fun place to play.”
Before the game, Rowley met with an assistant coach who told him Maryland would soon send someone to watch him play for Loudoun Valley.
As the 6-foot-7 forward continues to build a portfolio of high scoring performances — he has hit the 20-point mark in six games this season — the amount of attention he’s receiving from universities continues to build.
Averaging 16.2 points for Loudoun Valley, Rowley already has offers from Mount St. Mary’s and Quinnipiac of the Northeastern Conference.
He said all the NEC schools have been in touch. Cornell has scouted him along with a lineup of impressive academic institutions.
“I’ve talked to a lot of Patriot League and Ivy League schools,” Rowley said.
According to his Web site, Rowley scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of his SAT and carries a 4.38 unweighted GPA.
Rowley and his family set up paulrowley.net as a resource for recruiters to read about Rowley’s statistics and watch highlights.
Still, nothing draws attention like watching him play live.
After Loudoun Valley attended a team camp at West Virginia in the summer, Rowley was invited back for an elite camp. He said the Mountaineers send him a lot of mail, and so does William and Mary.
Vikings Head Coach Chad Dawson called Rowley a “very good inside-out player” and praised his versatility, developed jump shot and improved strength.
Rowley played point guard during stretches of a Saturday tiebreaker against Potomac Falls to determine the top seed in the AA Dulles District tournament. As the tallest Viking, he also plays center and defends opposing bigs for Loudoun Valley.
“In the next level, ideally I’ll probably be a tall or a small forward and play on the wing or maybe a mismatch four if I can put some more weight,” Rowley said.
While contributing to a streak of 17 straight wins to start the season, Rowley has forced opponents to pick their poison. When teams focus their defense on seniors Josh Grimard (16.3 points per game) or Jovon Miller (12.2), Dawson leans on Rowley to pick up the slack.
“He takes a lot of pressure off of those guys,” the coach said. “They work in unison like that. We haven’t done a real good job of that this week, but most of the season we have, and we just have to get back for that.”
Loudoun Valley went 2-5 to end of the season with a loss at Heritage and two losses to Potomac Falls. The initial 17-game win streak was strong enough to name the Vikings district co-champions.
As the No. 2 seed in the AA Dulles tournament, Loudoun Valley plays Dominion Monday night.
