Larry Bird had a little bit of everything as a Hall of Fame basketball player. He had strength, he had touch, he had vision and he had a raging desire to win.
But he didn't have the hands of Andre Washington, a 6-foot-11, 205-pound junior from Roanoke Catholic High School who has committed to play for Wake Forest.
At least that's the opinion of Bill Hodges, the Associated Press National Coach of the Year in 1979, the year he coached Bird and Indiana State to the national-championship game against Magic Johnson and Michigan State.
Hodges, now the coach at Roanoke (Va.) Catholic High School, confirmed Friday night that Washington has given his verbal pledge to the Deacons.
"He's got as good of hands as anybody I've ever coached,'' Hodges said. "And that includes Larry. He's really, really got a good set of hands.
"He can catch passes that most big men cannot catch.''
Washington transferred to Roanoke Catholic before the 2010-11 season from Franklin County High School. Though he played at Franklin County High School as a junior in 2009-10, he was able, by Virginia rules, to reclassify as a junior at private Roanoke Catholic and thus gain an extra season of high school eligibility.
Hodges said that Washington was being recruited by a number of schools.
"West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Virginia were probably the ones that came the most,'' Hodges said.
Washington, according to Hodges, has a wing span of 86 inches, but will need to add muscle and weight to make an impact in the ACC.
"He's really skilled, he just is not strong enough,'' Hodges said. "He has to get stronger. And that's something that we're working on, and he has a whole other year.
"He's got a touch of a mean streak in him, which is good. He doesn't back down.''
Hodges, 68, left Indiana State in 1982 and has since coached at both the high school and collegiate level.
He was head coach at Mercer from 1990-91 through 1996-97, and an assistant at Murray State in 1998-99, but left coaching before resurfacing at Roanoke Catholic before this season.
Washington is the third player to commit to Wake Forest for the 2012-13 season. Previously the Deacons landed 6-2 Codi Miller-McIntyre of First Assembly Christian School in Concord and 6-8 wing Aaron Rountree of Greenfield School in Wilson.
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