Update on future Bobcat: Casey Trujeque

This is the first in a series of updates the future Bobcat and Griz players. I will cover how they did this past season as well as what I am hearing / projecting their impact on the programs will be. I am going to be coving both the men’s and women’s programs, and I will do a separate post on each player. Some may be longer than other. A few of the players are still playing ball but are almost done. The order will be somewhat random so don’t read anything more into it than I am picking them as they come to me.

Feel free to ask any questions and feel free to disagree and tell me why. We need though to keep things respectful.

Casey Trujeque 5-7 Price high school Los Angeles California

Casey was the first commit the Bobcat’s got in this class last April. I have been told or read, the Bobcats developed a relation ship with the Price high school coach while recruiting some other Price players. The Price coach called the Bobcat coaching staff and told them they needed to look at this kid (Trujeque) I think he would be a great fit for you. The coaches did and they loved what they saw, relatively quickly (I believe in less than 4 weeks) Casey was offered by the Bobcats and he committed.

I asked Huse last November or December who he thought would play point guard for Montana State in 2010-1. He said that he felt Rush would start their next year and Trujeque would play major minutes. When I my eye brow went up with the mentioning of Trujeque Huse went on to say Trujeque is the first true point guard that he has had in the program and that he will play early and could possibly start as a freshman. I do not think I have ever heard Huse project a true freshman to ever to play major minutes let alone start. I will take his comments with a grain of salt but obviously there is a feeling that he could make an impact.

Bobcat recruit: Jordan Didier

Arizonapreps.com (part of the Rivals.com network) is reporting the Montana State basketball program has offered Jordan Didier of St Mary’s high school in Phoenix Arizona. Didier is a 6-8 (although I have seen him listed also at 6-9) combo forward who played for St Mary’s his sophomore year, moved with his family to Indiana for his junior year but back to Arizona for his senior year. While the Bobcats and other programs have offered him he is seriously considering attending a prep school for a fifth year of high school.

St Mary’s is one of the better high school teams in Arizona and also features George Matthews who is a first team all State 5A team. Didier averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds a game for St Mary’s and was named to the Class 5A High School Basketball Teams honorable mention. Here are some evaluations.

ESPN Rating of 84

August, 2009: Didier is one of the more intriguing power forwards in the west. He has a slender frame that will need to get considerably stronger to bang in the paint area, but he is quite skilled. He has a solid finesse game where he can step out and nail the 3 point short.

Bobcats recruit Dwight McCombs

I have heard that the Bobcat basketball staff is recruiting Dwight McCombs of Moraine Valley Community College. I would not get your hopes up to much on this kid because I think I am a Little late with this info.

McCombs is a 6-8 225 pound forward / center, but with long arms and good hops plays much taller than his listed height. He is originally from Whitney Young high school in Blue Island Illinois. He signed with University of Miami – Ohio out of high school and played his first season there before transferring this year to Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois this past season. He did not play much for University of Miami – Ohio his freshman year but had a very good summer at a few JC camps to get the attention of D-1 coaches this fall. This is where he came to the attention of the Montana State coaches.

This past winter though he has raised his recruiting profile substantially by averaging 22 points, 13 rebounds 5 blocks and 2 assists while shooting 69% from the field and 61% from the free throw line. He is a very athletic and quick off his feet big man who has length that almost all programs are looking for. He is also an intimidating force on defense.

Bobcat recruiting: Corey Wickware

I have heard that the Montana State Bobcat coaches are recruiting Corey Wickware from Wabash Valley Junior College in Illinois. Wickware is a 5-10, 175 pound point guard who is just finishing up his sophomore year. He is originally from Southport high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was an all conference player.

This past season he really has surprised some folks by averaging 12 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists while averaging a sizzling 51% from the field, 41% beyond the three point arc and 86% from the charity line for Wabash Valley. The previous season he was a seldom used back up player. This season he has earned the following awards MVP of the Circle City Classic, All County Team, All Conference, 1000 point club, East-West All Star, Top 40 workout, Team MVP.

Wabash Valley is loaded D-1 prospects with 6 players who average double digit points. So far players Desmond Holloway (Coastal Carolina), Omar Sanders (South Carolina State) Cornelius Chatt (SIU-Edwardsville), Brandon Dunson (Arizona State), and Josh Lockett (Southeastern Louisiana) have committed or signed with college programs and additionally Chris Britt, and Brandon McGeeare are also thought to sign with college.

Bobcats recruit: Braeden Anderson

I have heard that the Bobcat basketball staff is recruiting Braeden Anderson a 6-8 (I have also seen him listed at 6-9) 230 pound, 2010 forward / center prospect. Anderson is currently playing for Christian Faith prep school in North Carolina. Once again, North Carolina is not normally in the Bobcats recruiting territory so I was originally a little dubious of this information until I did a little research.

This is Anderson first year playing for Christian Faith Prep school. Previous to this he played for Foothills Composite high school in Okotoks, Alberta Canada, and that is where I believe we spotted him. Christian Faith Prep school seems to be a destination spot for Canadian high school player as I believe well over half their roster is composed of Canadian.

For Foothills Composite in 2008-09 (junior year) Anderson averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists a game. This past season for Christian Faith Prep he averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds, but his play has put him on the national recruiting radar.

Here are some evaluations of Anderson

Bobcats recruit: LeRon Smith

ESPN is reporting that the Montana State basketball coaches are recruiting LeRon (I have also seen his first name delineated as Leron but I believe this is right) Smith from Morgan Park high school in Chicago Illinois. Smith is a 5-10 senior point guard for Morgan Park.

This past week end the number 20th ranked Morgan Park upset #1 rated Whitney Young high school to take the Chicago City Title. Along the way Morgan Park had to go through a gauntlet of higher ranked team to meet Whitney Young in the championship game. Morgan park features junior wing Wayne Blackshear who is already committed to Louisville for the 2011 recruiting class, Earlier in this season he was averaging over 30+ points a game as 12 rebounds, I am not sure if he was able to keep that torrid pace up but he is a big time scorer. Morgan Park is a very young team but all told their coach feels that 8-9 of the players on its roster will eventually sign with D-1 schools.

Once again I do not have firm stats on LeRon Smith but I believe he is averaging 10-12 points a game while dishing out 9 assists a game. The area though he seems to contributing the most to his team is in leadership and as a lock down defender. He has held a number of very highly touted (and bound for major D-1 schools) Chicago to single digits this season. Smith also boasts decent quickness and athleticism.

The three toughest Prospects

Well I have been following as best I can the future Bobcat and Grizzly basketball players as best I can this winter but there are three prospects out there who I have been having a heck of a time getting any info on the past 2-3 months. Two of them are pretty obvious for their locations. Emily Allen and Kate Webb the dynamic Aussie dual from Runaway Bay in Queensland Australia. The other is Casey Trujeque from Price high school in Los Angelis California. Here though is a little bit of what I do know.

The thing you have to remember about Allen and Webb and Australia. Given that it is actually summer down under and their school year ended sometime in November. Webb and Allen have already graduated from high school and are doing what ever high school graduate do while waiting for college to start … 8-10 months later.

I found a web page that indicates Allen, a 6-0 forward/guard is currently playing for the Queensland state U20 (under – 20 years old team). After two games Webb is averaging 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals a game in fewer than 20 minutes a game. This is not bad considering this is an all star team made up mostly of players 2-3 years older than Allen.

Sorry folks I have not been able to find any info on what Kate Webb is up to, although I do not believe she is playing for the Queensland U20 team, but I could be wrong.

Odds and Ends: Prospects

Hi folks I have a handful of interesting and some sad, odds and ends about some of the Griz and Bobcat basketball signees / commits that I thought I might share. Some might be a little older than others, but I hope it is something you find interesting.

–

–

–

• Danny Little from Billings Skyview and Montana State 2011 commit was featured in a Q. and A. article today by the Billing Gazette. Little talks about Skyview’s current season as well as why he choose to commit to the Bobcat program. You should check it out here.

• Chris McCall from Cheyenne high school in Nevada and a Bobcat 2010 signee was scheduled to play his first game of the post season this past Wednesday, but that did not happen. The Sunset Region boy’s basketball playoffs were postponed this week when Western high school filed in court complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction was granted until the matter could be heard. At issue Western was forced to forfeit 4 games because a player was ruled ineligible. The court handed down a ruling earlier today giving Western 2 games back. The Sunset Region is now scrambling to reschedule the tourney.

Bobcat recruit: Pierson Williams

Brice Jones 13 and Pierson Williams 22

Section Sports.com (part of the Rivals network) who covers California prep sports recently had an article on Taft High school’s Pierson Williams entitled Taft’s Unsung Hero. In that article it mentioned that Montana State basketball program seems to be the most serious contender for his services this spring.

Williams is a 6-4 shooting guard prospect for the powerful Taft high school located in Woodland Hills, California. Taft features two other players that I know have signed with D-1 teams already in book end forwards Bryce Jones (USC) and Deandre Daniels (Texas) both rated as 4 star prospects. Additionally junior point guard Spencer Dinwiddie is also considered to be an upper end Pac-10 prospect. There may be other D-1 prospects on Taft’s roster but I am too lazy to do the research.

This season Williams is averaging 10 points, 2 assists, and 3 rebounds, while shooting 55% from the field, 48% from beyond the three point arc and, 90% from the free throw line. Williams is a deep three point threat who someone told me to compare to Griz Ryan Staudacher but more athletic. He can drive the lane also, but this year main role is to keep defensive from collapsing on Daniels and Jones.

Bobcats recruit: Davion Pearson

I have heard that the Bobcat basketball staff is recruiting Davion Pearson from Palo Verde high school near Las Vegas, Nevada. Pearson is a 5-11 (ish) 175 pound senior point guard for Palo Verde, one of the top high school teams in the State.

Palo Verde feature 3 D-1 prospects including 6-6 forward Moses Mogan who signed in November with DePaul. Palo Verde main conference rival is Cheyenne high school who features Montana State signee Chris McCall. McCall and Pearson have been playing against each other for the past four years and have played together quite a bit in AAU ball.

Pearson is averaging 10 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 4 rebounds a game while shooting 40% from the fields, 27% from beyond 3 point line and 68% from the charity stripe. This year Pearson’s scoring numbers are down a little this year as he moved full time to the point guard but he has had a couple very big scoring nights this year with a couple 25 point games.