Signing Day Preview: Bobcat Men

This Wednesday will be the start of the spring signing day which will go until mid May and I wanted to update on various rumors and as well as my opinion (guess) on what the four programs are doing and who they could sign during the late period.

The current trend that all four programs have been following the past 3-4 years is to primarily sign high school kids in the early period and JC transfers in the late period, and this year they look to no different.

Bobcat Men:

Signed in the Fall:

Blake Brumwell 6-7 240 Center – Big Sandy, MT
Chris McCall 6-4 175 Shooting Guard – Las Vegas, MT
Casey Trujeque 5-7 165 Point Guard – Los Angeles, CA
Shawn Reid 6-5 195 Forward / Guard– Post Falls, CA

Commits

Jordan Salley 6-7 230 – Forward /Center – Los Angeles, CA

Salley looks to be on board and ready to sign. Considering one of his social networking pages has the Bobcat logo plastered all over it, it looks like a pretty safe bet. His rehab for his knee injury last June seems to be coming around well, he is working out and should be ready to go by this summer.

Tre Johnson 6-7 215 – Combo Forward – Reno NV

Johnson seems to be on board to sign with the Bobcats. There 2-3 newspaper articles last week about his commit to MSU some with short interviews. Still I will feel better after Wednesday. Johnson was also recruited by Boise State and Santa Clara, these were the two schools involved in poaching former Bobcat commit Tre Nichols. I am still a little nervous.

Montana-Wyoming All-Star 2010: Montana Boy’s

The Midland Roundtable has announced their Montana rosters for he annual Montana versus Wyoming All Star games that will be played on June 11 in Sheridan, Wyoming and June 12 at Rocky Mountain College in Billings. The men’s All star series dates back to 1997.

This years boy’s roster features one major star in Stanford bound Josh Huestis of CMR high school. The roster, though, is one of the deepest and most balanced, in quality talent, that the series has seen in a few years with 5-6 other players who got, or are getting, serious looks from some D-1 schools. Matt Miller was offered by a number of D-1 schools in basketball before signing with Boise State for football, while Blake Brumwell signed with Montana State last fall while. I have also heard that Overstreet, Pearson, Stulc, and Muller have or were given serious looks from D-1 clubs.

Scoring will not be a problem with this team with Overstreet, Muller, Stulc, Brumwell, Huestis and Pearson having put up 25 points or greater multiple times this past season. Additionally Brumwell, Pearson and Huestis each averaged double digits rebounds this past season, with Stulc and Miller not that far behind them. The Montana team will have great perimeter scorers, as well as strong physical inside presence. With this much quality balanced talent this team will be difficult to defend.

Bobcat men receive a commit from Tre Nichols

I heard earlier today that the Bobcat basketball staff has received a commitment from Tre Nichols who played this past year at McLennan Community College in Texas. Nichols signed with Texas State out of high school and played for them his freshman year before moving on to McLennan CC this past year. Nichols is listed as a 6-0 (that might be very generous) point guard, but is not a true point. He might be considered the favorite term of coaches right now a “combo guard”. We used to call that a scoring point guard.

In high school he was a very highly touted point guard out of Killeen High School in Killeen Texas. He committed early to Texas State and then saw his stock rise considerably his senior year. He was receiving interest from Baylor, Texas Tech, Rice and Houston, but he decided to honor his commitment to Texas State. During his senior year he averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 5 assists a game all garnering all conference awards. Scout.com and Rivals both had him rated as a 2 star prospect.

Bobcats get a commit from Tre Johnson

Tre Johnson 6-7 Hug High School Reno Nevada

I have heard that the Bobcat basketball staff has received a commitment from Tre Johnson of Hug High school in Reno Nevada. Johnson is a 6-7 200 pound power forward prospect who led Hug to a 15-10 record and named to the Maxpreps.com Nevada: “Unofficial” all-state basketball team, as well as numerous other all conference/State teams.

Johnson senior year he averaged 19 points, 4 blocks, 10 rebounds, 2 steals a game while shooting 58% from the field, 60% from three point range (although he only had 5 attempts) and 65% from the free throw line.

Johnson is a major athlete, with good speed and great jumps. He was getting a lot of attention from D-1 bowl division teams as a wide receiver, but he wanted to play basketball in college – smart kid. I do not think the Bobcats have seen an athlete of his caliber on the front line in a very long time. Offensively I hear he still has a tremendous upside, even beyond what is now considered to be a great get for a Big Sky school. Johnson will contribute next year and will be another forward (along with commit Jordan Salley) who can play above the rim.

Johnson played on the same AAU team as fall Bobcat signee Chris McCall. I don’t know how much this had to do with his decision, but I think it does show the work both Huse and Assistant coach Starr did to develop a good relationship with the Powerful Las Vegas Prospects AAU team.

It has been no secret I have been coveting Johnson all since last summer and you can read more about him here.

Bobcat Recruit: Darian Thibodeaux

I have heard that the Montana State coaching staff is recruiting Darian Thibodeaux from Navarro Junior college in Texas. Thibodeaux is a 6-3 175 pound shooting guard whose reputation is that of a three point shooter with out standing range.

Navarro JC has been ranked in the JC Div 1 to 25 most of the season, and qualified for the National Junior college tournament this past year making into the semi finals. Navarro features 5-6 players who could sign with D-1 schools this fall including Thibodeaux.

For the season Thibodeaux averaged 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists while shooting 41% from the field, 33% from the point line (on 200 attempts) and 66% free throw line (I would expect better). During the NJCCA tourney though picked up his game and was named to the all tournament team. In the quarter finals he scored a career high 30 points including 8 three pointers. Thibodeaux is not just a three point shooter I hear he has a pretty good intermediate game also that he uses to set up his three point game and visa versa.

Update on future Bobcat: Jordan Salley

Jordan Salley 6-7 Lutheran High School La Verne, California

Last spring and heading into the summer Jordan Salley was becoming a very hot commodity in recruiting circle with his outstanding play during the high school season and spring AAU ball then he blew out his knee in late June of 2009. While quite a few schools back off Montana State was one of the schools that stuck with Salley. His relationship with coach Huse and Starr was strong enough that in December of 2009 before even taking an official visit to Montana State he committed. His knee is now almost 100% and he is firmly committed to signing this April 14th.

Salley did not play this year with Lutheran high school but he was a part of the team all season and accompanied them to Bakersfield as they won the State 5A championship. Lutheran is a junior dominated team (Salley was their only senior on the roster) this season, but have 4 players that are getting looks from Pac-10 schools. Despite this all season when reading articles on Lutherans outstanding play this season, there is almost always the line “and they are doing it without their best player Jordan Salley”

As a junior Salley averaged 17 points, 11 rebounds 3 blocks while shooting 62% from the field and 60% from the free throw line. He had 30 rebounds in one game and scored over 25 points 5 times that season. His stats could be even better but his play (and stats were) limited in eight 30+ point blow out by Lutheran.

Shawn Reid wins Idaho 5A MVP

Montana State Bobcat fall signee was named 5A Boys All-Idaho Basketball Team MVP. He won the award over a handful of very impressive players, including 6-6 Josh Fuller a University of Utah signee. Also on the team is his teammate Marcus Colbert, a 5-11 point underclass man, who the Bobcats might want to keep an eye on. Here is portion of the article on Shawn from the Idaho Statesman.

Player of the year: Shawn Reid (senior guard), Post Falls Trojans

Why he is Player of the Year: The two-time Inland Empire League MVP guided Post Falls to its first state championship in 46 years and posted 16 points and eight rebounds in a 68-60 win in the state final against Eagle. Reid (6-foot-4) averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds and 2.9 assists during the season, and 17.3 points and eight rebounds at state.

Coach’s comment: “Shawn Reid is the most versatile player in the state,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “His ability allows him to influence every facet of the game, and caused matchup problems for every opponent we played this year.”

Update on future Bobcat: Shawn Reid

Shawn Reid 6-5 Post Falls high school Post Falls Idaho

The Bobcats were the first D-1 program to identify and start recruiting Reid in the summer 2008. After a good summer in 2009 playing for the Eastern Washington Elite Red AAU team a lot more schools were beginning to take notice of Reid, but when the Bobcats offered that summer he committed.

Reid averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds this season for Post Falls, as Post falls won the 5-A (Idaho’s highest division) State championship and Reid was named tourney MVP. Despite this though I have heard from a few sources that they felt his production this season was not quite what was expected. Still, though Reid played on a much tougher team this year than in the past, a team that featured a hot shooting sophomore guard who really like hoist up shots. Reid had quite a few huge scoring game of 25+ points, and then other where he seemed content to let other score.

Reid reminds me a lot of Eric Rush. He does not have the ball skills of Rush but is much more physical at this stage in his career. Has range, out to three point territory, but also likes to initiate contact inside on the drive or post up. He a very good rebounder for a perimeter player, he is one of those players who just has a knack for knowing where the ball is going to bounce. He is a very smooth athletic player with good springs on him.

Update on future Bobcat: Chris McCall

Chris McCall 6-4 Cheyenne high school Las Vegas Nevada

As I understand the story when the Bobcats started recruiting McCall they were not sure if they would really have a chance with him, but they had good relations with his AAU coach and the coaches seemed to have a nice connection. McCall showed an interest in Montana State so they invited him up to Bozeman last October. He tripped with Casey Trejuque who had already committed to the Bobcat 5-6 months earlier and the two hit it off, they really enjoyed playing together in some pick up ball, and they really liked Montana State. About 24 hours after returning home McCall committed to the Bobcats making the coaches extremely happy.

McCall was considered to be the jewel in a very strong Novemebr signing period. Talking to Huse in December he called McCall the best guard he has signed at MSU. He did have some qualifiers on that stament when pushed. There are a few player he has signed he considers wing/forwards as opposed to guards so it gets complicated understanding coach speak. In any event the coaches are very excited about McCalls potential in the Blue and Gold.

McCall started off the season on fire averaging 20+ points a game for the first half of the season. He cooled off some the second half of the season to finally average about 17 points, 3 assits 2 steals and 4 rebounds, while shooting 47% from the field 50% from beyond the three point line and 87% from the charity strip. I had heard from someone that he may sprained his foot in January but I can not confirm this.

Cheyenne has three players who have committed to college program already. Along with McCall , 6-7 Jaylen Henry (13 points 11 rebounds) to Eastern Washington and Paul Gentle to a D-2 school. Two – three other players may also end playing college ball.

Update on future Grizzly: Billy Reader

This is another update on a future Bobcat or Griz player today I am going to look at Billy Reader.

Billy Reader 6-8 Lake Oswego high school in Lake Oswego Oregon

Last spring Billy Reader was considered a D-1 prospect but not a lot of schools were tripping over themselves to get to him. He averaged a very modest 9 points and 6 rebounds a game his junior year albeit on a very good Lake Oswego team, but when you are in the 6-8 to 6-9 range recruiters do tend to pay attention. Last spring and summer though he definitely piqued the interest in a handful of D-1 programs with his play in the AAU circuit. Reader was considered to be the #2 big man on his AAU with the #1 distinction falling on Portland State signee 6-10 Brandon Cataldo, but what playing with Cataldo did do for Reader was allow him to move out of the center spot to the power forward spot and it is here that Reader really caught the interest of D-1 coaches.

What coaches’ saw in Reader were some athleticism and offensive skills that would definitely allow him to play the forward spot in college and at 6-8 great size also. The word that started to be bounced around was potential. Montana, Montana State and Portland State really thought they had a real sleeper in Reader and were all recruiting him very hard. He of course eventually signed Montana.

This past year it appears that Reader showed some of that potential for Lake Oswego. Reader averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds for them this year but was sort of up and down. He had high games of 21, 22, 24, 27, 28 points as well as lows of 4, 8, 8, 9, & 9. His rebounding was like wise a little up and down. It also seemed for the Lake Oswego team as Billy Reader went so did the fortunes of LO.