Recruiting update: former St. John's commit Ricardo Gathers commits to Baylor

It took only one visit for former St. John's commit Ricardo Gathers to re-commit... to Baylor, the Big XII school in Waco, TX. The big man - a 6'7", 240 pound man in the middle - was an athletic and powerful post player who had been working to expand his range. Gathers was one of the missing pieces to the St. John's "ark", the player who could hold down the paint and rebound against the best.

But with Coach Steve Lavin sidelined with health issues, the Riverside Academy (LA) forward Gathers opened up his recruitment. LSU was a strong consideration, NC State had a close eye on him, and Duke's name popped up.

But in the end, Baylor - a school with a pair of centers already signed - won his commitment.

From ESPN, how he complements Baylor's recruiting class ($):

...Gathers is probably best known for his rebounding. He is an elite rebounder who is worth his weight in gold on both ends of the floor. He rebounds in and out of his area in traffic and exposes opponents who don't want to mix it up immediately.Gathers' strength and power is also a great fit in Baylor's system as well.

We also looked at Ricardo Gathers stats and game from the Peach Jam and the City of Palms Classic, if you're looking for more detail on how he's trying to add a perimeter game to his power arsenal.

For St. John's, this is a blow to the recruiting efforts. The Johnnies badly needed big men. Now they will turn their attentions to JaKarr Sampson, Chris Obekpa, and any other big men they can unearth*.

*it's important to remember that the Johnnies have two very good players is Moe Harkless and D`Angelo Harrison, and a year of development tends to do wonders for other top-100 players. The Storm don't necessarily need star big men - they need big men who can run while doing the dirty work of position defending in the post and rebounding.

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