Early look at the 2010-11 Bobcat Men

With summer approaching and recruiting for 2010 over , with the possible exception of walk-on, I thought I would take a preliminary look at the next years Bobcat men’s team. Below I will break it down who I think, as of now are projected starters, major rotation guys as well as bench players, and finally I will give you my depth chart as of the first week in June. As always I reserve the right to change my mind come this fall.

Favorites for Starting positions

Bobby Howard combo forward– Howard really came on strong for the Bobcats in conference season last year earning First Team All Conference. He averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds a game during conference and the coaches will be looking to matching or bettering those numbers especially the rebounding next season. I think Howard will be the guy who will be facing pressure to be the leader on and off the court, but he should be up to the challenge. Look for the Bobcats to look to play Howard at the small forward some next year also.

Eric Rush point shooting and wing guard – Like Howard, Rush is going to looked at to be a leader for this team. Rush was also a double digit scorer for the Bobcat, but his biggest asset is flexibility to play any where from the point to the small forward. I see him starting at the shooting guard, but he could start at the point or wing if another player emerges at the shooting guard. Where ever he starts he will play all 3 perimeter spots for the Bobcats and they will need to get 30-35 minutes a game from Rush.

Danny Piepoli shooting guard / small forward – After spending the past two years as a key reserve, Piepoli will be looked to hold down the other wing position along side Rush. Danny has steadily improved his game over the last two years and his emergence as the leading contender for an open starting position, led to Austin Brown to transfer looking for a place he could start. The Bobcats will be very young next year as with Rush the Coaches will be looking for Piepoli to give them a solid 30-35 minutes a game.

Rod Singleton point guard – Singleton was recruited to be the Bobcats starting point guard for 2010, so at this point you have to pencil him as the starting point guard. Singleton is a pure point guard but can also score the ball so he may get some looks as a shooting guard if Trujeque becomes a viable option at the point. Of the four player in this Singleton is the one player I could see possibly moved out of the starting line up. If a player like Allou or McCall make a strong argument for a starting role, do not be surprised if Huse move Rush to the starting point guard to make room in the starting five, but it would take a very strong effort by one of these players to move Singleton out.

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Rating Bobcat 2010 Basketball Class (Part 1)

This blog has is mainly a basketball recruiting blog so I really wanted to try to do an in-depth look at the Montana State men’s basketball 2010 recruiting class. I also wanted to try not to cover ground that has already been covered a half dozen times here and else where. I wanted to be able to rate this class in my own way but also give anyone else who may be reading this post the ability to rate it themselves. You may not have your own blog but in your own mind you can hopefully read this and come up with your own mental grade. The first part of this post will be the looking at the individual player who make up the 2010 class. Part two will putting it all together and grading out the different aspects of the class and an over all grade.

You do not have to agree with me, I would prefer you make up your own mind.

Talent:

This clearly is the best recruiting class Brad Huse has put together since coming to Montana State. I am not going to rate the athletes 1-7, but instead talk about them in tiers. If you want an excellent article on ranking the prospects check out Will Holden’s great article here. I helped Will with this article and would have to agree with how he ranked the athletes. I would, though, like to point out that in my opinion there are very little difference between #1-3. I also think come next September and the recruits have had a chance to work on their game and body’s over the summer, this ranking could have significant changes. I have seen recruits shoot up the depth chart significantly by working their butts off over the summer and others who dropped because they did not.

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.

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.

Prospect update: Reid vs. Weisner

In an interesting match last night #3 ranked (Washington 2A) Walla Walla high school matched up with #3 ranked (Idaho 4A) Post Falls in the opening game of the North Idaho Invitational in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. The game feature Post Fall star and future Bobcat Shawn Reid as well as Walla Walla stars Michael Weisner (Griz signee) and Gary Winston (Idaho signee). The game was a barn burner in which Post Falls pulled out a 84 – 75 win in over time.

Walla Walla came out strong in the first quarter, while Post Falls struggled to find it’s shot, to take a slight lead which they held most of the game. Post Falls found it shot in the third and fourth quarter and fought back to tie the game by the end of regulation. I believe 7 points was the biggest lead any team had until the over time period. In the over time period Post Falls and Reid took over the game and outscored Walla Walla 13 -4 for the victory.

Prospect Update: Bobcat Men

Bobcat 2011 commit - Danny Little

I am going to update the signed and committed players to the Montana and Montana State programs as best I can periodically through out the year. A lot of the info and stats that I quoted here can be found on the individual pages for each prospect. You can access these pages through the “Commitment Page”.

This is the first of the four updates and will feature the Montana State men’s commits / signees.

Some of the prospects I have been able to find a lot of information about their season so far, other not so much. I will continue to try to find as much as I can and post that info on the commitment page.

2010 Signees

• Casey Trujeque 5-9 PG, Price HS. Price is well into its season with a 9-0 record, but I have not been able to find is a little bit more than the game scores. Price won the season opening Pasadena Tournament. They were the lowest division school in the tourney. Guard Allen Crabbe (California bound) was selected the tournament MVP and Bobcat signee, Casey Trujeque made the all tourney first team. Trujeque’s other star team mate center Richard Solomon was named to the second team all tourney.
• Chris McCall 6-3 SG, Cheyenne HS– McCall has only three games in so far this season but is leading his team with a 20 point and 5 rebounds a game, average. He is also shooting an impressive 55% from the field, 60% from three point range and 75% from the charity stripe. McCall’s teammate and Eastern Washington signee Jaylen Henry is averaging 11 points 10 rebounds a game. Two other players from Cheyenne are also expected to play college ball.