2015 basketball Recruits Updates

[mslacat]

Hey for the hard core basketball fans here is an update on the 2015 fall LOI basketball signies. I have posted update on my twitter account and will continue to do so but here is a current wrap up of where they stand very early on in the high school season.
Mens

Tyler Hall 6-4 shooting guard from Rock Island Ill. Rock Island high school team was picked to finish 1st in their league and ranked 8th overall in the 4A (highest division) in Illinois. At 5 wins to 1 loss Hall has the most games in of any of our recruits. I don't have his exact stats but he is averaging in the 16-17 points a game range. He has had quite a few 19 & 20 point games but he also had a 5 point game in a blow out win which hurt his stat line.

Sam Neumann 6-7 shooting guard/small forward from Cretin-Derham Hall High School in Minnesota. Sam is now being listed at 6-7 so it looks like he is still growing. He became Cretin-Derham Hall High School all-time leading scorer the second game of the season this year. Cretin-Derham Hall High School is 3-0 so far this season and Neumann is averaging 23.7 points a game.

Madrell Worthy 6-3 point guard/shooting guard from Eastside Catholic HS near Seattle Washington. Worthy was named one of the top 5 players in Western Washington a head of quite a few other D-1 (including Pac-12 recruits). Eastside played their first game earlier this week and Worthy scored 19 for them. I wish I had the complete box score for that game as I understand Worthy had a an outstanding overall game and racked up quite a few rebounds and assists also.

Quinton Everette 6-3 guard/forward from Gillette Junior College in Wyoming. Gillette is currently 12-2 and has been ranked in the D-1 JC national top 10 most of the season. Everette is averaging 14.8 points (3rd best on the team), 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 51% from the field and 34% from three point range in about 21 average minutes per game. The thing I really like about Everette is that his big games have all come against the toughest competition.

Women

Annika Lai 6-1 guard from Fairview high school in Boulder Colorado I can not find a lot info about her individual stats but her Fairview team is 4-0 so far this season and she seems to be averaging in the 15-16 points a game range.

Extra Possible future Bobcat

Kavell Bigby-Williams 6-10 forward from Gillette Junior College in Wyoming. Bigby-Williams started out pretty impressively and then he hurt his hand (laceration) and it has slowed him a bit. He is currently 10.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3 blocks a game while shooting 60.8% from the field. He started the first 8 games of the season for Gillette but has been coming off the bench the past two game since he has returned to active duty. Still with stat lines like that if elligable he would get plenty of D-1 offers this year.

[msu_agfan]

Thanks for the info!

[duelalumnicat]

Mslacat, what are the Cats" chances of signing Bigby? I assume his relationship with Coach Haslan at least gives us a shot?

[mslacat]

Mslacat, what are the Cats" chances of signing Bigby? I assume his relationship with Coach Haslam at least gives us a shot?

I here mixed signals. I hear from some sources that he still has a verbal commitment to MSU when he becomes D-1 eligible in 2016. I hear other say that he is leaning towards the Bobcats in 2016 but is keeping his options open in case his stock rises and he gets some big time offered (Pac-10 etc.). In either case he has the Bobcats dead set in his radar, he likes the coaches (especially Haslam) and the school, but it could come down to who else in 2016 needs an athletic 6-10 power forward. In some ways the injury to his hand could have helped the Bobcats, especially when Gillette played Southern Idaho (JC power house ranked #1) with a a ton of D-1 college scouts (low mid majors to high mid majors) in the auditorium he only got a few minutes of playing time in. I am hoping the Bobcats can sign him next fall before his second season and then I hope he explodes. Always remember though I am looking at things through Blue and Gold colored glasses.

[msu_agfan]

I hear from some sources that he still has a verbal commitment to MSU when he becomes D-1 eligible in 2016.

So, he would not be able to play for us next year?

[mslacat]

I hear from some sources that he still has a verbal commitment to MSU when he becomes D-1 eligible in 2016.

So, he would not be able to play for us next year?

No the reason Bigby-Williams had to go the JC route was because he was designated by the NCAA as a "non-qualifier" for some academic reason. This is a common problem with Europian players. There high school system is not synced up with the USA/NCAA system and he was lacking something (history, science, math etc.) that the NCAA requires to play D-1 ball. Non-qualifier have two routes to go. They can go to a D-2 or NAIA but most choose to go the JC route. Once designated a "non-qualifier" by the NCAA the only way to get your eligibility for D-1 ball is to graduate from a certified JC with an associates degree. Typically it takes 2 years (some a little longer/some a little quicker).

Just to clarify, though, there are some of JC players who do have the grades to go D-1 but might not have the offers they want so they go JC to get more exposure. These guys/gals are NCAA "qualifiers" and as such if they get offers after their freshman year they can move on to a D-1 program as a sophomore and be eligible immediately. There are also "non-qualifiers" players that get injured their 1st year redshirt then play one season as a freshman and then move on to a D-1 program.

I can not say 100% I know exactly Bigby-Williams situation, but I am pretty darn sure he is classified as a NCAA non-qualifier so he needs his associates degree before he can play for MSU, and that normally takes two years.

[mslacat]

Madrell Worthy go to show a little bit of his athleticism last night in this dunk that has the Seattle basketball circles buzzing a little bit.

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[mslacat]

Tyler Hall (now listed at 6-5) had a game last night that has the Chicgo area sports media buzzing during the game and now after. In a 51 to 49 win over previuosly undefeated North Scott Hall took over the second half of the game and scored 24 points (21 in the second half) to lead Rock Island to the win. Against a North Scott who it self feature 2 future D-1 player on their team hall made:

Layups. Mid-range jumpers. Contested 3-pointers. Hall did it all against Grant Graham, arguably the best on-ball defender in the Mississippi Athletic Conference.

I really cant wait to see him in the Blue and Gold

Here are some of the twitter tweets from local basketball media types I read on line last night while watching the Bobcat/Portland game.

Tony Roe ‏@tonysroe 13h13 hours ago
Tyler Hall just hit a crazy 3 after a nasty crossover then got hit with the technical. He's taking over this game for Rock Island. #iahsbkb

Matt Coss ‏@mattcoss78 13h hours ago
Suffice to say, Montana State and North Dakota are smiling. Got a couple of steals with Hall and Seales. #iahsbkb

Tony Roe ‏@tonysroe 13h hours ago
Tyler Hall is going to be an absolute stud in the Big Sky. He's a steal for Montana State

Justin Rust ‏@JustinRust 13h hours ago
Well that Rock island vs. north Scott game lived up to the hype. Tyler hall was very, very impressive

Links to media reports today

http://www.qconline.com/sports/high_sch ... 1971a.html

http://qctimes.com/sports/high-school/b ... d5296.html

http://qctimes.com/sports/youtube_7fdb7 ... ko.twitter

[phantom]

Tyler Hall (now listed at 6-5) had a game last night that has the Chicgo area sports media buzzing during the game and now after. In a 51 to 49 win over previuosly undefeated North Scott Hall took over the second half of the game and scored 24 points (21 in the second half) to lead Rock Island to the win. Against a North Scott who it self feature 2 future D-1 player on their team hall made:

Layups. Mid-range jumpers. Contested 3-pointers. Hall did it all against Grant Graham, arguably the best on-ball defender in the Mississippi Athletic Conference.

I really cant wait to see him in the Blue and Gold

Here are some of the twitter tweets from local basketball media types I read on line last night while watching the Bobcat/Portland game.

Tony Roe ‏@tonysroe 13h13 hours ago
Tyler Hall just hit a crazy 3 after a nasty crossover then got hit with the technical. He's taking over this game for Rock Island. #iahsbkb

Matt Coss ‏@mattcoss78 13h hours ago
Suffice to say, Montana State and North Dakota are smiling. Got a couple of steals with Hall and Seales. #iahsbkb

Tony Roe ‏@tonysroe 13h hours ago
Tyler Hall is going to be an absolute stud in the Big Sky. He's a steal for Montana State

Justin Rust ‏@JustinRust 13h hours ago
Well that Rock island vs. north Scott game lived up to the hype. Tyler hall was very, very impressive

Links to media reports today

http://www.qconline.com/sports/high_sch ... 1971a.html

http://qctimes.com/sports/high-school/b ... d5296.html

http://qctimes.com/sports/youtube_7fdb7 ... ko.twitter

Just to clarify, Tyler is not from the Chicago area. He's from Rock Island which is on the Mississippi river about 2.5 hours away from Chicago. The game last night was an annual event that pits the Illinois schools vs Iowa schools across the river. It's set up for the best Illinos Quad City (Rock Island, Moline Illinos, Daveneport, Bettendorf Iowa) team to play the best Iowa team. There is typically a full house at Augustana College (D3 school 3000-4000 capacity) for the featured game. North Scott, Rock Island's opponent has a player signed at Creighton and about player signed at North Dakota. The player guarding Tyler was an AAU teammate signed at a D2.

[mslacat]

Thanks for the clarification about where Rock Island is.

[mslacat]

Winter Break update:

Most of our fall signees are on a Christmas break from competitive games so I thought I would update the few basketball junkies where these future Bobcats stand so far this season.

Tyler Hall 6-5 SG Rock Island HS (Il) - Rock Island is 11-1 so far this season and has been active this Christmas playing in a local tourney. Last I heard they were scheduled to play in the championship game of the tourney but I have not seen the results yet. Again I have not been able to find a reliable source for his stats but I believe he is socking about 18 points a game. Hall has really been impressing the local media in this tourney, you can see some of the comments I posted previously. Hall has scored over 20 points in each of the last three games shooting over 50% and really taking over the games when he needs to. For some reason he is reminding me of former Bobcat great Jason Erickson in that he may not always be the leading scorer but will do what ever is needed to win a game, whether it is scoring passing rebounding or defense, He is also being consistently listed at 6-5 now, and I seen comments that he looks a lot bigger than he did last year.

Sam Neumann 6-7 Guard/forward Cretin Derham Hall HS CDH is currently 7-2 this season and Neumann is leading them in scoring at 22.4 points clip. He is also grabbing 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals a game while shooting 48% from the field and 41% from three point this season. Neumann has been a pretty consistent scorer for CDH with 6 over twenty points and his low game was 16 in a blow out win. While Neumann is listed as a guard he has played all over the court for CDH.

Madrell Worthy 6-3 Guard Eastside Catholic Eastside is 4-0 this season and Mandrell is leading them with a average 17.8 points a game. Teammate 6-8 Matisee Thybulle (Washington State signee) is averaging 16 points a game. In the latest power polls Eastside Catholic is ranked #3 in the state 3A. Worthy has been moved to point guard full time this season and it seems to have payed off. His scoring has been quite up and down 25 points one night and 9 points the next, but his team is off and rolling. His big scoring games have come against tough competition and his low scoring games against inferior competition (25-35 point blow outs). It will be interesting to see what happens when conference time rolls around.

Quinton Everette 6-3 g/f Gillette Junior College. Gillette is 14-2 this season with its only losses to the College of Southern Idaho (#2 ranked) 82-80 in OT in Idaho and Williston JC 97-93. Everette started the season coming off the bench as spark plug 6th man but as of recently has been starting and his averages have been rising. He currently is averaging 16.1 points a game (2nd best on the team) 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.3 steals a game while shooting 52% from the field and 36% from three point range.

[msu_agfan]

Winter Break update:




Madrell Worthy 6-3 Guard Eastside Catholic Eastside is 4-0 this season and Mandrell is leading them with a average 17.8 points a game. Teammate 6-8 Matisee Thybulle (Washington State signee) is averaging 16 points a game. In the latest power polls Eastside Catholic is ranked #3 in the state 3A. Worthy has been moved to point guard full time this season and it seems to have payed off. .

I am not an expert, but I am wondering if Worthy would be a good point guard for us? From the limited time I have watched our team, we will need a higher caliber point guard. Frenchwood seemed to be a little slow to me. Am I correct in that?

[mslacat]

Winter Break update:




Madrell Worthy 6-3 Guard Eastside Catholic Eastside is 4-0 this season and Mandrell is leading them with a average 17.8 points a game. Teammate 6-8 Matisee Thybulle (Washington State signee) is averaging 16 points a game. In the latest power polls Eastside Catholic is ranked #3 in the state 3A. Worthy has been moved to point guard full time this season and it seems to have payed off. .

I am not an expert, but I am wondering if Worthy would be a good point guard for us? From the limited time I have watched our team, we will need a higher caliber point guard. Frenchwood seemed to be a little slow to me. Am I correct in that?

I gave not seen Worthy play in person, but based on what I have heard he is more of a combo guard or scoring point guard. I am not sure if he is that pure point like Colbert is. I am also noticing that of the guards the coaches are looking at for 2016 most of them are the 6-0-ish pure points. so I expect them to continue to look to recruit the point guard spot next year.

[phantom]

Winter Break update:

Most of our fall signees are on a Christmas break from competitive games so I thought I would update the few basketball junkies where these future Bobcats stand so far this season.

Tyler Hall 6-5 SG Rock Island HS (Il) - Rock Island is 11-1 so far this season and has been active this Christmas playing in a local tourney. Last I heard they were scheduled to play in the championship game of the tourney but I have not seen the results yet. Again I have not been able to find a reliable source for his stats but I believe he is socking about 18 points a game. Hall has really been impressing the local media in this tourney, you can see some of the comments I posted previously. Hall has scored over 20 points in each of the last three games shooting over 50% and really taking over the games when he needs to. For some reason he is reminding me of former Bobcat great Jason Erickson in that he may not always be the leading scorer but will do what ever is needed to win a game, whether it is scoring passing rebounding or defense, He is also being consistently listed at 6-5 now, and I seen comments that he looks a lot bigger than he did last year.

Sam Neumann 6-7 Guard/forward Cretin Derham Hall HS CDH is currently 7-2 this season and Neumann is leading them in scoring at 22.4 points clip. He is also grabbing 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals a game while shooting 48% from the field and 41% from three point this season. Neumann has been a pretty consistent scorer for CDH with 6 over twenty points and his low game was 16 in a blow out win. While Neumann is listed as a guard he has played all over the court for CDH.

Madrell Worthy 6-3 Guard Eastside Catholic Eastside is 4-0 this season and Mandrell is leading them with a average 17.8 points a game. Teammate 6-8 Matisee Thybulle (Washington State signee) is averaging 16 points a game. In the latest power polls Eastside Catholic is ranked #3 in the state 3A. Worthy has been moved to point guard full time this season and it seems to have payed off. His scoring has been quite up and down 25 points one night and 9 points the next, but his team is off and rolling. His big scoring games have come against tough competition and his low scoring games against inferior competition (25-35 point blow outs). It will be interesting to see what happens when conference time rolls around.

Quinton Everette 6-3 g/f Gillette Junior College. Gillette is 14-2 this season with its only losses to the College of Southern Idaho (#2 ranked) 82-80 in OT in Idaho and Williston JC 97-93. Everette started the season coming off the bench as spark plug 6th man but as of recently has been starting and his averages have been rising. He currently is averaging 16.1 points a game (2nd best on the team) 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.3 steals a game while shooting 52% from the field and 36% from three point range.

Hall had 14 points and 8 assists in a buzzer beater loss in the Championship game of their Christmas tournament.

[mslacat]

Here is a little Tyler Hall update provided to me via Twitter today by Daniel M. Makarewicz ( @danmak57 ) a local reporter for the Dispatch-Argus News Paper

http://www.qconline.com/sports/

Over a 6 game stretch Tyler Hall has been shooting 58.7 % from field, 48.5 % from 3-point range and averaging 20.3 points a game.

[mslacat]

Update on Mandrell Worthy

Worthy sprained an ankle about a week and half ago in a game and has had to sit out last nights game. No word when he is coming back. In his absence Eastside Catholic pulled out a 1 point win against Cleveland high school 55-54. Worthy's current stats are 16.4 points, 5 assists and 6.5 rebounds a game.

[mslacat]

Update: 1/27/15

Tyler Hall - Tyler hall seems to be coming on as the season progresses last week he had a 33 point 7 assist and 4 rebound game only to follow that game up with a 30 point (new school record with 8 3-pointers) 5 assist 4 rebound game a few days later. Rock Island high school is currently 15-2 and ranked 8th in the spate of Ill.

Mandrell Worthy - Came back last week from a high ankle strain that kept him out of for about 3 weeks with a 23 point 7 rebound 4 assist 3 block shot performance in a loss to Washington power Garfield high school 68-54. I was told Mandrell did most of his damage in the first half and seemed gassed in the later part of the second half. For the season Mandrell is averaging 16.6 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists a game for the 13-3 Eastside Catholic HS. Interesting note about Mandrell is that most scouts prior to the season, knocked him on needing to improve his three point shooting, but from what I can tell he seems to be shooting quite well from three point range this season.

Sam Neuman - He is averaging 21 points 7 rebounds and 4 assists a game while shooting 48% from the field and 41% from three point range for the 16-3 Cretin-Derham Hall high school. CDH has 3 senior players D-1 players on their Neuman and 6-4 guard Donnell Gresham (12 points, 4 assists 6 rebounds) signed with Montana State and Northeastern respectively this fall, but now 6-3 guard Joe Rosga (20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) is getting a lot of recruiting attention from Texas Tech. Gresham is having somewhat of a down year (i believe he has been fighting an injury) but Rosga has really exploded on the recruiting scene. He is an aggressive and deep 3 point shooting threat. I wonder if the Bobcats had not signed 4 guards this fall whether they would be interested.

Quiton Everette - Everette has moved back to coming off the bench as of late. Not sure what is going on but the move came right after one of his best games of the season. They may have moved him to the sith man role when they moved Kavell Bigby Williams back to the starting line up (more below). He is currently averaging 15 points, 5 rebounds 2 assists in about 22 minutes of playing time per game.

The more I follow these guys this season the more I am impressed with two main qualities. #1 All four of these players seem to be Swiss army knife players meaning they are not just scorers or rebounders but multi-talented players who can score in multiple ways, and rebound, but additionally all four can pass the ball and defend. This is especially true of Hall, Worthy, and Everette. I am also impressed by the shooting ability especially Hall and Neuman who can shoot who don't need a screen to get off a three. Worthy and Everette do not have the three point credentials of the other two but both are shooting over 35% from three and definitely look like they are a threat from there. I think Neuman has the potential to be big time scorer for the Bobcats, with his size and range he could be a tough match up problem in the Big Sky. Hall and Worthy are the type of down the line players coaches love to put on all conference team. Not saying all three will be All-Conference, it depends on who much they are willing to work and whether Fish can put them into a position that they can excel on the court, but I like these guys.

Bonus

Kavell Bigby Williams - Kavell seems to have recovered from his high ankle sprain he suffered in December. The last four games for Gillette he has been moved into the starting line up and has averaged 16 points 12 rebounds and 4 blocks a game in about 28 minutes of playing time.

[msu_agfan]

Thanks for the update!

[mslacat]

It has been a pretty good week for some of Montana State's Fall Basketball recruits

Mandrell Worthy (6-3 PG-SG) last night was the talk on Seattle prep basketball Twitter feed for his play in the 4th quarter against a very good Franklin Team. Mandrell had 16 of Eastside Catholic's 19 points in the 4th quarter to help Eastside come from behind for a 62-61 win. This does not include a additional 2 point basket that was waived off in a disputed offensive foul call against Mandrell. Mandrell dominated the second half of the game scoring in a variety of ways. For the Game Mandrell had a total of 33 points.

Sam Neumann (6-7 SG-SF) this week had two very good games. A few days ago, against a very good 20-6 East Ridge he had 27 points 8 rebound game while shooting 67% from the field & 50% from three point range to lead (23-3) Cretin-Derham Hall to a dominating 74-68 win. The big game, though, was against a very powerful 20-3 DeLaSalle high school. This was considered to be one of the most anticipated match up the Minnesota boy basketball this season. DeLaSalle is the defending 3 time 3A State champion and between the two schools there were about 6 players who have either signed with or have D-1 offers. Additionally the game was played on DelaSalle's home court. Neumann had 24pts and 7 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 56% from the field. For much of the game the 6-7 Neumann, who is listed as a guard, was asked to play inside and dominated in the paint. Cretin-Derham Hall won the game 77-65

Tyler Hall did not have quite the competition level as his soon to be team mates but he help did lead his Rock Island team to a 73-44 dominating win over a 22-7 Galesburg . Hall had 16 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists in limited action. It was Rock Island last home game of the season and locked up their 6th strait Western Big 6 conference title.

On the JC side of our Future Bobcats

Quinton Everett continues to come off the bench for Gillette JC and is averaging 16 points (3rd best on the team) 5 rebounds 3 assists a game while shooting 49% from the field and 38% from three point range in about 22 minutes of playing time a game.