Hoops recruiting hard to judge initially
Posted Friday, May 2, 2008 @ 01:22 pm

Like the NFL draft, college basketball recruiting — especially at a low-major program like SEMO — is hard to judge immediately.

That’s why, even though the three spring signees SEMO coach Scott Edgar announced Thursday don’t exactly wow you with their statistics, I wouldn’t automatically write them off as marginal prospects.

Bijon Jones, a 5-foot-10 point guard, and 6-7, 225-pound forward/center Israel Kirk played for Motlow (Tenn.) Community College this past season.

Jones averaged seven points, four assists and two steals — he shot an impressive 47 percent from 3-point range — while Kirk averaged five points and four rebounds.

Those are not exactly eye-opening numbers, but consider that Motlow went 28-5 and had seven players sign with Division I schools, including several with high-level programs.

So maybe Jones and Kirk are much better than their stats indicate. Only time will tell.

Edgar told me that he considered Jones to be the best on-the-ball defender that he saw in junior college this past season, so that is pretty intriguing.

The third spring signee is 6-8 post Stuart Pirri from Christian Life High School in Baton Rouge, La.

Pirri did put up solid numbers, averaging 18 points, six rebounds and four assists as a senior while leading the state of Louisiana in 3-point field goal shooting at 48 percent. He made 139 from beyond the arc.

The two players SEMO signed early, 6-5 forward Mark Caviness from Indian River (Fla.) Community College and 6-5 wing Martino Brock from Nashville (Tenn.) Christian Academy, compiled strong stats and are probably the more touted of Southeast’s five-man recruiting class.

But, like I wrote earlier, those things are always hard to judge. The final determination of how these recruits rank will come over the next few years, when we see how they perform and how much they help the Redhawks.

By the way, Edgar told me that he expects all five of his new players to be eligible for the 2008-09 season.

As for a possible new assistant for the Redhawks after chief recruiter Ronnie Dean was let go, Edgar told me that he’s not looking for somebody to directly replace Dean but will instead shuffle his staff a bit.

Zac Roman will move up from the third — or limited earnings — position and join Rodney Hamilton in being the Redhawks’ top two assistants.

Edgar said he will take his time finding somebody to fill the third and final coaching spot.

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Maxwell perhaps not done at SEMO after all
Posted Saturday, April 19, 2008 @ 11:02 pm

It looks like maybe sophomore forward Jajuan Maxwell isn’t leaving the SEMO men’s basketball program after all.

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SEMO women expect to sign player
Posted Tuesday, April 15, 2008 @ 09:13 pm

The SEMO women’s basketball team is expected to receive a letter of intent from a junior college forward/center Wednesday when the spring signing period begins.

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