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2011 recruiting

F

forestgreen

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Viks get an early verbal commitment:

Decatur's Jerron Smith commits to Portland State

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/h" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... state.html
 
Basketball: Kidus Ephrem's decision to commit to Portland State made with family in mind

http://highschoolsports.oregonlive.com/news/article/-227137846412276316/basketball-kidus-ephrems-decision-to-commit-to-portland-state-made-with-family-in-mind/
 
Thanks for picking that up, Forest. Ephrem sounds good. Good to see the in-state recruiting clicking .
 
Viking Basketball Adds Three Student-Athletes During Early Signing Period

http://goviks.com/news/2010/11/11/MBB_1111104638.aspx

Portland State Basketball Coach Tyler Geving has signed three student-athletes during the early signing period for the 2011-12 academic year.

Signing National Letters of Intent are Kidus Ephrem from Portland's Central Catholic High School and Jerron Smith from Decatur High School in Federal Way, WA. Signing an Aid Agreement with the Viking program is Gary Winston, who is currently attending Walla Walla Community College.

Ephrem, a 6-7 forward, comes from a Central Catholic program that was 16-10 last season, 11-3 in the Mt. Hood Conference.

"Kidus has a great upside and should mature into a great player," said Geving. "He can post up. He can step outside and shoot the three. The thing I think I like about him most is he is just starting to realize how good he can be. He has a long way to go in terms of reaching his potential.

"It is nice to get a good local kid who wants to stay home. He comes from a good program and is well-coached."

Smith is a 6-4 guard who led his Decatur High School team to the state playoffs as a junior.

"Jerron is an athletic wing who is a great scorer. He has put up big numbers ever since his freshman year in high school when he was on the varsity," said Geving." He has good bloodlines too. His dad, Wayne, played here, and his brother (Terrell) starts at the University of the Pacific. It is a basketball family and he is another kid who really knows how to score. As he gets stronger, his game will mature, but he definitely knows how to put the ball in the basket."

In fact, Jerron's father, Wayne, was Portland State's leading rebounder in 1975-76, averaging 9.3 boards per game.

Winston is a 6-1, 185-pound guard who graduated from Walla Walla High School in 2010 and originally committed to Idaho. He changed his mind and currently is attending Walla Walla Community College. Winston was a two-time All-League performer at WWHS who was named the Cascade Division Player of the Year as a senior. Winston led the Blue Devils to the Big 9 District championship and a berth in the Washington 4A playoffs.

"Gary was a great high school guard. He is a guy who is physically ready to step right in and play at our level. He can shoot it extremely well, has a great handle and great strength," said Geving. "He has a great feel on the offensive end, so I am really excited we have signed him."

Portland State has five seniors on this year's 15-member squad. The Vikings open the 2010-11 season on Friday, hosting Pepperdine at the Stott Center in a 7:05 p.m. game.

See the video of Kidus Ephrem signing his letter of intent

2011-12 NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT SIGNEES (11/12/10)
Kidus Ephrem, FR, F, 6-7, 220, Portland, OR (Central Catholic HS)
Jerron Smith, FR, G, 6-3, 180, Federal Way, WA (Decatur HS)

2010-11 AID AGREEMENT SIGNEE (11/12/10)
Gary Winston, FR, G, 6-1, 185, Walla Walla, WA (Walla Walla HS)
 
A little more info on Vik commit Jerron Smith:

BOYS BASKETBALL PREVIEW: Decatur and Federal Way should be strong again; TJ and Beamer young and inexperienced

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/fwm/sports/111273899.html

Decatur enters its inaugural season as the early favorites in the league, along with Lakes. The Lancers have played in the past four 3A state tournaments, placing second in 2008 and third last year.

The Gators will be counting heavily on senior guard Jerron Smith during their first 3A season. The 6-foot-3 Smith has already signed his national letter of intent to play next season at Portland State after a stellar junior year.

Smith was a first-team, All-SPSL South selection after leading Decatur in scoring at 20.9 points a game. He tallied 30 or more points five times last year and is currently the third leading scorer in Gator basketball history. His 978 career points trail only Marcus Tibbs (1,223 points) and Quincy Wilder (1,131).

Smith, who had 27 points Tuesday in a season-opening loss to Jackson, will be joined in the Decatur backcourt by junior Dom Hunter. The 5-foot-11 Hunter started several games for the Gators a season ago and averaged 4.9 points and 2.1 rebounds. Also back for Decatur will be the 6-foot-6 senior post Austen Wilson, who averaged two points and three rebounds. Wilson tallied 19 points in Tuesday’s loss to Jackson.

The Gators will be playing without the services of Jordan McCloud for the first time in four seasons. McCloud, a first-team All-SPSL player last year, is currently attending North Idaho Junior College. McCloud, who averaged 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds last year, was the first-ever Gator to play at four state tournaments.

Decatur will also be without Terrell Williams, who has started the past two seasons at point guard for the Gators. Williams transferred to Mount Rainier for his senior season after averaging nine points and 3.5 assists last year.

“We need our young players to step up and contribute at the varsity level,” Olson said.

Olson will be counting on several newcomers to pick up the slack of the losses of McCloud and Williams. Markus Rawls, Yohiness Jennings and Abe Ferrell-Logan seem to be the likely candidates.

The Gators will have some time to develop during the extended preseason, which also includes non-league games against powers North Kitsap, Mercer Island, Foss and Wenatchee, among others. Decatur’s SPSL 3A schedule doesn’t kick off until Jan. 4.

The Gators got an early test Tuesday night when they took on the Jackson Timberwolves and their Oregon-bound guard Brett Kingma, who knocked Decatur into the loser’s bracket at last year’s state tournament. Jackson, ranked fourth in the 4A division, beat the Gators, 74-63.
 
I saw this entry over on Coach Geving's twitter page today:

"New addition to team. Renado Parker started school yesterday. 1 game this week saturday at home."

If you don't know who Renado Parker is, he went to Kentridge HS, then North Idaho JC and then the University Of Idaho, and left that program 2-3 weeks ago. Parker was a JC All-American at NIC, plays power forward and is listed at 6-6 and 240 lbs. Here is his play profile from the University of Idaho athletic site:

http://www.govandals.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17100&ATCLID=204983771

AT NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE: Led the Cardinals to unprecedented levels in his two years at NIC ... led NIC to a combined 54-9 record in his two seasons, a 17-0 home record, and back-to-back Scenic West Athletic Conference titles - the school's only two outright SWAC titles in men's basketball ... helped the team to a No. 6 final ranking among NJCAA schools in 2010 and a No. 14 ranking in 2009 ... earned 2009 NJCAA First-Team All-America and SWAC Most Valuable Player honors as a freshman after averaging 14.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and shooting 59.5 percent from the field ... averaged 13.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and shot 52.1 percent from the floor in 2009-10 as a sophomore ... was a two-time Region 18 All-Tournament team honoree and a two-time all-SWAC honoree ... in his 62-game career at NIC, he averaged 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 steals and shot 55.5 percent from the floor.

AT KENTRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL: Parker was a highly-touted player for Kentridge ... was named Washington 4A Player of the Year as a senior ... led Kentridge to the state championship game in 2007 as a junior ... averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds per game for his career and finished as his school's all-time leading scorer ... was rated the No. 1 power forward in the state of Washington by Northwesthoops.com.
 
Since the season for us has ended, guess it's time to hit the recruiting trail. We probably could use another big body and a point guard, judging from our graduating seniors.
 
I heard that PSU has recruited a pg from citrus college (juco) in California(Lateef McMullan). I looked him up and this kid has nothing but good reviews.. I have a friend in California who says this kid is the truth and that in his championship game he played 34 min, no turnovers, 23pts and hit an amazing 7-10 from behind the arc, now that's crazie.. He said and the scouts paper say, he is a threat on offense, he is quick, he can control the tempo of a game and his defense is nothing to sleep on.. I can't wait to see this kid.. welcome to Vikingville Lateef. Let's go to wrk..
 
If McMullan is that good, lots of schools would be after him and they were not. The guard at CSI, where Odum came from, is a much better player.

Odum will be all Big Sky next year.

Good info though, but I do not see him a program elevator.
 
any updates on recruiting?

i see portland state is in the running for kelly parker at gonzaga prep, could possibly play at psu, but not going to be a game changer. we need players to get us back to the top and we need more than we have right now.
 
MrMM5 said:
I heard that PSU has recruited a pg from citrus college (juco) in California(Lateef McMullan). I looked him up and this kid has nothing but good reviews.. I have a friend in California who says this kid is the truth and that in his championship game he played 34 min, no turnovers, 23pts and hit an amazing 7-10 from behind the arc, now that's crazie.. He said and the scouts paper say, he is a threat on offense, he is quick, he can control the tempo of a game and his defense is nothing to sleep on.. I can't wait to see this kid.. welcome to Vikingville Lateef. Let's go to wrk..
Click to expand...

Looks like you're right about Lateef McMullan. It's states he is a solid verbal, led his team to the California JC state championship game. Go Viks!!!!!!

http://rivals.yahoo.com/oregonpreps/basketball/recruiting/player-Lateef-McMullan-120109" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Interesting to see how the recruits have turned out. Lateef has moved into the starting point guard without a hitch. He shoots well; I worry about his assist numbers. Jerron Smith played 19-20 minutes against Walla Walla and shot the lights out. Don't know about Renado- he'll start playing this week maybe. Whitmore did well before hurting his elbow. Doctors say he'll be back this week or next. Winston has proven to be a dependable 2 guard. Even Cataldo is shaping up. This was a very good recruiting year.
 
Parker certainly looks like the real deal... not sure anyone in the BSC has a scorer like him in the low post coming off the bench, he will be a real asset for them. For anyone that has seen him play in one of the last couple of games, how does he look defensively?
 
jonathan said:
Parker certainly looks like the real deal... not sure anyone in the BSC has a scorer like him in the low post coming off the bench, he will be a real asset for them. For anyone that has seen him play in one of the last couple of games, how does he look defensively?
Click to expand...

Hoping to get a good look on Thursday.
 
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