Braves' Hatchett received early exposure to world of recruiting

Bobby Hatchett was in the eighth grade when a college coach talked to him about playing basketball after high school for the first time.

The soon-to-be star at Scott County Central was attending a camp at the College of the Ozarks when coach Steve Shepherd pulled him aside.

"He told me he was going to start recruiting me, but I really didn't care," Hatchett says now. "I was young. I was just like, 'Oh well, whatever.'

"But I think back on it and I'm like, 'Dang, he was recruiting me early.'"

Over the next five years Hatchett would become a pro at dealing with all the coaches who called -- and called and called and still call today -- seeking his commitment.

Hatchett now is in the middle of his freshman season at Midland College, a premier junior college program in Midland, Texas.

From the beginning he had grander plans than playing at the NAIA-member College of the Ozarks, but the attention from Shepherd, who continued to call him and made sure he attended the same camp each year, was the first sign that his college dream would become a reality.

"It used to be fun, though," he said with a laugh. "I mean any way they can get a hold of you just to talk to you and see what you like, they'll do it. It's about the money, so they're trying to get the best."

While the novelty of the process wore off long along, Hatchett has not been jaded by it. He talks about the downsides without complaint and handles the absurd with humor.

It wasn't always like that, though.

"To be honest, I used to run from it," Hatchett said. "I mean, they talk about the same stuff. There's certain coaches I'd talk to. Like if I hadn't talked to this coach in a while, I'd talk to them. But if I didn't, especially if I didn't want to go to that school and I know I didn't, I wouldn't waste my time."

On instruction from his mother, Hatchett learned to be honest with the coaches he wasn't interested in playing for.

"A lot of time they still call," said Hatchett, who also regularly received text messages from coaches. "You just have to talk to them if you can. It's hard though, trying to stay on the phone with them when you know they're going to talk about the same stuff."

That's Hatchett's least favorite part of the process -- the repetitive part.

"They ask the same questions," he said, laughing again. "About your game, your grades mainly, your team, what type of system you see yourself playing in and what kind of system you play -- running a lot of plays or pressing."

He didn't always know the best way to answer the inquiries.

"At first I didn't," Hatchett said. "I used to ask my grandpa [Larry Moseley] because he kind of went through it with my dad, so I used to ask my grandpa a lot."

When the coaches were done quizzing him, they focused on themselves.

"They brag about the same stuff," Hatchett said. "It's just how good their programs are and just telling all the good things about it. That's their job, I guess."

By the time Hatchett had claimed his second state title in March, he had fielded calls from schools in Division I power conferences, mid-major schools including Southeast Missouri State and Southen Illinois and almost every other level of basketball played after high school.

When he decided to focus his search on junior colleges, he agreed to visit three schools -- Midland, John A. Logan in Carterville, Ill., and Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

"They was a lot different I feel like -- basketball-wise and just school-wise and stuff like that, it was different," he said.

While coaches often speak about the importance wooing recruits with fancy facilities and titles, Hatchett was struck by the radically different message he heard at Midland.

"The thing is what I liked about Midland was they was No. 1 last year and they had a real good team last year and they could have won it all really, but they never really bragged on the team or the locker room," he said. "They got one of the biggest JUCO gyms in the country, and they never really bragged or nothing like that. They were just more about school and me getting to where I need to go and where I want to be. That kind of sold me right there."

Because there is another level of basketball waiting on him when his two years at Midland are complete, Hatchett still is a target.

"Recruiting -- it never stopped," he said. "It just never stopped. A lot of mid-major schools, they've been recruiting me, but it never stops. I don't really talk to them as much as I did in high school, but they send a lot of mail and stuff like that."

Recruiters even have invaded his Facebook page.

"In high school, a coach never talked to me on Facebook or wrote me on Facebook, but our first scrimmage here we played in Dallas and these coaches didn't have my number and I guess they couldn't get in contact with me, so they all just hit me up on Facebook," Hatchett said.

Just seven months after making the decision to go to Midland, Hatchett is in no hurry to focus on the next one.

"We just going to put that off," he said. "I'm just trying to get way better -- just trying to mature. That's all."