Northern Iowa gets commitment from 6' guard

[Da Coach]

Anthony James, a senior from Normandy High School has committed to University of Northern Iowa.

http://www.geocities.com/donglomo@sbcglobal.net/ajames-niu.html

I have seen this kid play, and he is really good. He got very little recruiting interest from D1 schools, and I can't understand why. It looks like UNI was the only D1 offer he got. I would not have minded seeing Bradley recruit this kid.
He played point guard for his high school, but is probably more of a 2-guard at the college level. But he is a prolific scorer, and shot 59% from 3-point range as a junior, and 56.5% as a senior.


Here are his team's stats this season--

http://prepsports3.stltoday.com/basketballboys/08/stats/overall179.shtm

http://prepsports3.stltoday.com/basketballboys/08/stats/lead187.shtm

Video--

http://www.watchlocalvideos.com/watch-130436.htm

Scout profile--

http://hsmissouri.scout.com/a.z?s=398&p=8&c=1&nid=3353572

[tornado]

UNI has has a glut of guards and several have left over inadequate playing time, like Mason Stewart, Stephen Jones, etc...
They will also have John Moran coming in next year, and well as these guys returning who all play SG:
Travis Brown, Kerwin Dunham, Carlton Reed, Molstead, Jon Montgomery, Brian Haak, and Drew Lundberg.
Ahelegbe is their only real PG returnng.......but he was also termed a combo guard and can play the 2-guard position.

What UNI is lacking appears to be depth in the front court, and yet they keep signing more SG's.

[BradleyBrave]

What UNI is lacking appears to be depth in the front court, and yet they keep signing more SG's.

Sounds like BU.

[tornado]

I knew someone would say that, but I didn't think it would be you, BB
anyway...I am prepared.......

So you think we go 9 deep at the SG position??
Just who are you counting?? Are you counting the team managers, too?

Even if you count BOTH Ryan Phillips and Brian Lavin (we don't even know if they'll be back), then we will still only have seven SG's next season (Lavin, Phillips, Thornton, Cole-Scott, Warren, Dodie, Roberts)

McCain is a true PG and so is Sam, and Theron is a forward and plays forward.

PLUS....even if you count all our SG's only ONE ties up a scholarship for four years (Warren) three don't use a scholarship at all, and the rest tie up the ride for just two years.
In the UNI situation, they're alltying up the scholarships for four and even five years (Dunham and Lundberg are redshirts).

we are going be way better set in the frontcourt.

[BradleyBrave]

I think we're going to be OK up front too. But the lack of quality frontcourt depth is a major reason why we fell short of the NCAA's the last 2 seasons. Then I look and see that we've recruited 3 more guards, and are going after a 4th. I'd like a 4 year big in there somewhere so we don't have to go through the struggles of lacking quality frontcourt players again.

[Rusty 54]

I don't think we have nearly as many guards as uni, but after this next year (assuming out last scholarship goes to a guard) we will have only Thompson and Egolf, along with any bigs that we recruit. We are losing Sings, Austin, Collins and Wilson (some may not count him as a big) after next season, and while the frontcourt should be crowded next year, the year after that our frontcourt depth looks to be thin.

[STL HOOPS INSIDER]

Anthony James did have a lot of schools recruiting him. Northern Iowa was there from the start and Coach Foster did an excellent job. We had a lot of interaction with Anthony this year and we couldn't be happier with his decision. He will be a good player in the Valley.

Here are some videos of Anthony James.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnCNLDy2Klo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk_DlITFynE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FllAtDNFHPk

In this video he's #52 in white.

Averaged 21ppg this season leading his team to 20-6 record.

[STL HOOPS INSIDER]

Has Bradley had a player from the Saint Louis area since Phillip Gilbert?

[tornado]

Has Bradley had a player from the Saint Louis area since Phillip Gilbert?

Not really.........

Joey Paul and Chris Mroz both went to play for UM-St. Louis after leaving BU,
and JJ Tauai was from Verona, MO and San Singh is from Ozark, MO.

[Da Coach]

Since Gilbert was not actually from St. Louis, can anyone recall BU players from St. Louis?

The St. Louis players I remember are Mark Bailey, a 1990 recruit of Stan Albeck, from St. Louis Christian Brothers HS, and David Thirdkill, of Soldan HS.

[tornado]

just to be thorough BU also had Hasan Houston from St.Louis (University) 1979-81, Lee Edwards from St. Louis Central (1959-62), and Barney Kilcullen from St. Louis St. Mary's (1952-55)

and Mark Bailey was from Chesterfield, MO

[Da Coach]

Article about UNI. For some reason, the writer talks about the guards they will have next year, and completely ignores this new commit, Anthony James. Maybe he didn't get the memo.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/SPORTS020704/803210386/-1/SPORTS09