Ricardo Gathers - PF - Riverside Academy - Reserve, LA - BAYLOR

I was at John Jay today for Gathers' afternoon game. All I can say is, I should be banned for posting a couple of weeks ago for saying I would take Bernardi over him and calling him a dime a dozen. He may be the most impressive physical specimen I have ever seen in high school basketball up close. The combination of strength, speed and athleticism is downright scary. Today he was a man against boys. There were kids on the other team that literally were running away from him as he came down the lane to dunk.

I'd say he's taller than 6'6. I won't give him 6'8 but hes more towards 6'8 than 6'6. He's great in the open court. Very nimble feet, very good at filling the lane and finishing. Once he gets a head of steam, its pretty much over. His acceleration in the open court is amazing for his size.  He showed a decent handle in the open court for a guy his size. Had his head down once or twice and just bulled his way there, but he's so explosive it's like a runaway train. He's very good at going after the ball on the glass, with 2 hands. Offensively, other than alley-oops and lay-ups, he did flash a nice jump hook. Didn't face up too much. Missed a jumper from about the foul line, and missed his only three point attempt. But he does make nice quick moves when he gets the ball. His greatest strength is in the pick and roll. He sets a great screen and really comes off it nicely going towards the hoop. Put him in pick and roll and he will be a problem. Missed all his foul shots. Not terrible form, I think he can be respectable from the line if he keeps practicing. The way he attacks the rim, he'll get to the line a lot so he needs to improve.

I'd love to have him. He's a ridiculous athlete, and with our staff coaching this kid up, it will only improve his game. My only concern would be seeing how he would fare against height. College guys won't make it so easy for him. The opposing team today had nobody taller than him or even close strength wise. Also, just his ability to develop a little more of an offensive game away from the basket. A little consistent jumper would be nice. He won't just be able to dominate in college with brute strength and force every night.

But sign this kid up Coach Lav. He would tear Garden rims down.

I was at John Jay today for Gathers' afternoon game. All I can say is, I should be banned for posting a couple of weeks ago for saying I would take Bernardi over him and calling him a dime a dozen. He may be the most impressive physical specimen I have ever seen in high school basketball up close. The combination of strength, speed and athleticism is downright scary. Today he was a man against boys. There were kids on the other team that literally were running away from him as he came down the lane to dunk.

I'd say he's taller than 6'6. I won't give him 6'8 but hes more towards 6'8 than 6'6. He's great in the open court. Very nimble feet, very good at filling the lane and finishing. Once he gets a head of steam, its pretty much over. His acceleration in the open court is amazing for his size.  He showed a decent handle in the open court for a guy his size. Had his head down once or twice and just bulled his way there, but he's so explosive it's like a runaway train. He's very good at going after the ball on the glass, with 2 hands. Offensively, other than alley-oops and lay-ups, he did flash a nice jump hook. Didn't face up too much. Missed a jumper from about the foul line, and missed his only three point attempt. But he does make nice quick moves when he gets the ball. His greatest strength is in the pick and roll. He sets a great screen and really comes off it nicely going towards the hoop. Put him in pick and roll and he will be a problem. Missed all his foul shots. Not terrible form, I think he can be respectable from the line if he keeps practicing. The way he attacks the rim, he'll get to the line a lot so he needs to improve.

I'd love to have him. He's a ridiculous athlete, and with our staff coaching this kid up, it will only improve his game. My only concern would be seeing how he would fare against height. College guys won't make it so easy for him. The opposing team today had nobody taller than him or even close strength wise. Also, just his ability to develop a little more of an offensive game away from the basket. A little consistent jumper would be nice. He won't just be able to dominate in college with brute strength and force every night.

But sign this kid up Coach Lav. He would tear Garden rims down.

Excellent.  Thanks for the report.  It seems that some of what this kid provides is not totally appreciated in his videos.  Hope we can land him.

At this point, is it one or the other with Gathers and Anderson or can we get both of them?

At this point, is it one or the other with Gathers and Anderson or can we get both of them?

We CAN still have both and I think that's Lav's focus.  There are someother 2012 targets out there but they are the focus.

I didn't have a chance to post after seeing Gathers on Friday night.  HoopNut seeing him Saturday summed up a lot of what I had.  HoopNut saw him play a better game than me but I still left there Friday night even after a rough showing knowing this kid is what we need to complete things.

Like I said he was playing with D'Angelo's old AAU team and D'Angelo was there hanging with Moe and Nate Blue and they were all having a grand ole time.  Put two and two together 

He's a mack truck with a pogo stick.  Explosive.  Athletic.  Now here are the negatives of Friday night.  He missed a lot of bunnies.  But honestly he grabbed 75% of those missed bunny rebounds and converted them.  He was 1-7 I think from the FT line.  The form isnt a train wreck like a Shaq.  I saw Sean Evans shooting FT's.  Too much backspin.  As you recall Evans by the end of the year was pretty reliable at the line.  As with Sat he missed a jumper and a 3 on Friday night but the form was fine.  His job and his role is to stay in the lane and attract attention.  He does a superb job on positioning for rebounds and if he was here he would draw so much attention down low he would open up chances for others.  He dropped some passes but I'm not sure he played with this team before so there wasnt familiarity.  But goes to show on an off day he still can make an impact.  And then the next day HoopNut sees him utterly dominate.

And to clear up some concerns about him and his height as HoopNut said he is a legit 6-7.  But because of his wide frame he CAN play Center in the Big East without question.  The thoughts of him on the floor with a Pelle is scary.  Throw in Harkless or Sampson at the 3 with D'Angelo or Pointer or Garrett at the 2 and my god.

Very encouraging reports both on Ricardo's on court play/size and the off court group dynamics with our incoming freshmen!

Any body knows what could be next, timetable-wise, with Ricardo?

Hopefully, in the near future there will be "Now starting for St. John's, Ricardo 'Pogo' Gathers"!

Seems to be down to 6 schools.  SJU now the only BE school.  Before he use to mention UCONN and Syracuse as well.

Ricardo Gathers said 6 schools coming at him the hardest..Florida, LSU, Arizona, Texas, St. John's & Baylor. Location "not at all" a factor.

http://twitter.com/#!/NorthstarBball/status/80027060415889408

Good reports to hear. From all accounts he needs a little work but good to hear his FT form isn't completely effed... that was a worry looking at his FT stats.

Can he grab others' rebounds, or are his offensive rebounds just off of his own missed shots?

Good reports to hear. From all accounts he needs a little work but good to hear his FT form isn't completely effed... that was a worry looking at his FT stats.

Can he grab others' rebounds, or are his offensive rebounds just off of his own missed shots?

He was grabbing all rebounds.  I was just painting a positive picture on him missing the bunnies that at least he followed up his own misses.

Here's NBE's Write up on Gathers from This weekend.

Ricardo Gathers (Franchise All Stars 2012) – Gathers is one of the most physically imposing players in the country standing at 6’7” and 240 pounds. He looks more like an NFL linebacker than a high school basketball player and also has some serious hops to go along with his physicality. A power forward for most of his high school career, Gathers has started to expand his game to the perimeter showing the ability to handle in the open court and beat his defender off the dribble. He even buried an open 3 pointer in the silver championship game but his shooting stroke seems to have a bit of a hitch and needs work. Gathers should be an impact player as a freshman at whichever high-major program he chooses because he will step in and be one of the strongest players in college basketball right away.

Here's NBE's Write up on Gathers from This weekend.

Ricardo Gathers (Franchise All Stars 2012) – Gathers is one of the most physically imposing players in the country standing at 6’7” and 240 pounds. He looks more like an NFL linebacker than a high school basketball player and also has some serious hops to go along with his physicality. A power forward for most of his high school career, Gathers has started to expand his game to the perimeter showing the ability to handle in the open court and beat his defender off the dribble. He even buried an open 3 pointer in the silver championship game but his shooting stroke seems to have a bit of a hitch and needs work. Gathers should be an impact player as a freshman at whichever high-major program he chooses because he will step in and be one of the strongest players in college basketball right away.

I'd like to know what the hitch was because I didn't see one.

@NYCoffey in the future please provide a link to the source of the material please.

Will do. It just had a few of our recruits in the article so I cut and pasted for each recruit. I will post the link going forward.

Gathers will be at the NBA Players' Association top 100 camp (along with Kyle Anderson) this week. Good company to be keeping.

Article up on Northstar Blog where he indicates he has visited Texas and SJU and wants to visit Oregon and Arizona and then cut his list down with a decision by early fall.

Gathers mentioned Florida, LSU, Arizona, Texas, St. John's, and Baylor as the schools coming after him the hardest. With schools from coast to coast on his list, he said that location is "not at all" a factor for him.

"Not quite yet," Gathers said of whether he has any leaders. "I'm gonna start . . . breaking down visits, as far as what I'm gonna take, by the end of the summer."

To date, he has tripped to Texas and St. John's and is planning to see Arizona and Oregon in the near future. As for when he wants to have his recruitment done by, Gathers remrked, "Probably by early fall."

http://blog.northstarbball.com/2011/06/14/2012-bigs-gathers--spencer-talk-recruiting.aspx

Gathers might be here way sooner than expected.

Lovin how Dave drops a bomb so casual like.

Gathers might be here way sooner than expected.

 

Dave, you are a piece of work!!!

What a teaser!

it'll be good if him and kyle like playing together at the top 100 camp