2013 Guard Rene Castro Pops for Butler and Brad Stevens

In preparation of their first season within the Atlantic 10 Conference, Butler and head coach Brad Stevens continue to work towards the future.

After back-to-back runs to the national championship game in both 2010 and 2011, the Bulldogs failed to qualify for the Big Dance a season ago. However, expectations are slowly building with some talented newcomers and improved veterans. In addition, Stevens has worked to put together a pretty solid recruiting class for next season and over the weekend it increased by one.

Just under three months after landing Rhode Island-native Andrew Chrabascz, Stevens once again dipped into New England, securing a pledge from fellow BABC AAU teammate, Rene Castro.

Castro, a 6-foot-2 combo guard and native of Worcester, Massachusetts, pledged his decision in favor of the Bulldogs on Saturday.

In addition to the pair of New England products, Butler also holds a verbal pledge from Saint Louis-native, Nolan Berry.

Castro currently attends Worcester Academy (MA) and has ran with BABC in the off-season over the course of the past few years. The Boston-based AAU program continues to produce top notch talent, including the nation’s top overall recruit from the class of 2012, Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel.

This past summer at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam, Castro led BABC to the finals, averaging 18.0 points per game.

The decision came in favor of the Bulldogs after consideration from Duquesne, George Washington, and Boston University.

 

Paul Seaver is the College Basketball Network Manager at Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @TheArenaPulse