The Bobcat Nation

It’s been over a decade since the Saints have dominated the Alberta basketball scene and they can thank a pair of Sudanese natives for their return to prominence as. 6'7" wing Thigin Moses has led St Mary’s on the offensive end while 7'1" Riiny Ngot is a beast on the defensive end. What’s even scarier is that Ngot had never played before moving to Calgary and continues to improve every game. Throw in 6'7" Brett Kobe and their size has proved to be too much for opponents.

NCAA Amends 5/8 Rule, May See Late Signees
Anthony Ray
ArizonaPreps.com Recruiting Analyst


6'2" Senior Ryan Holmes could benefit from the NCAA's decision to the terminate the 5/8 rule
Last week the NCAA decided to amend, well, actually terminate the 5/8 scholarship rule, which limited division-I basketball programs to a maximum of five new scholarship additions in any one recruiting year and eight over two years. The 5/8 rule had coaches across the country overwhelmingly upset about their lack of ability to recruit players each year. The termination of this rule could benefit some Arizona seniors.

The rule, which had hampered many divison-I college programs across the country for some time, actually may have helped more than it hurt. While most schools were left with scholarships sitting on the table at the end of each year, as a result of players transferring to other schools, being released from the team, or even entering the NBA draft, this may have actually helped many schools. While normally Duke, Arizona, Kansas, and other high level college programs traditionally sucked up all of the top level national recruits in the country each fall and spring, the 5/8 rule created parity as low to mid-major schools were able to compete with high majors for quality talent. While a high major school might not have a scholarship available for a top notch recruit late in the spring, a mid major school might, allowing these schools to improve their programs at the expense of high majors.

The recent rescinding of the 5/8 rule by the NCAA has given each division-I college in the country their full amount of basketball scholarships back for the year. This improvement of scholarships has created some late scholarship opportunities for many unsigned seniors across the country. One Arizona senior that could benefit from such a move by the NCAA is Millennium High School's 6'2" senior point guard Ryan Holmes. Holmes actually led the state of Arizona this season in scoring, averaging better than 28 points per/game on the season, but has yet to be recruited hard by any division-I school.

According to Vernon Holmes today, Ryan's father, Ryan has received some interest as of late from Montana State. "They told me that they really like Ryan, and that they could not believe that he is not being recruited," said Vernon.

Much of the problem why Ryan has not been recruited harder is that point guards in the state of Arizona often do not get recruited hard, especially when there are so many top rated point guards on the West Coast traditionally rated higher than those in the state of Arizona. But Holmes could benefit from the termination of the 5/8 rule, and see his potential to play at the division-I level realized this spring. According to Vernon Holmes, Ryan will take a visit to Montana State on Friday, May 14th.

Arizona Preps will keep you posted as this story continues to develop.

Cavanaugh Will Head East
Lorenzo Harris



Cavanaugh was impressed with Maine's reputation for developing big men
The rash of signings during the late signing period is due, in part, to the repealing of the 5/8 rule and the lack of quality big men throughout the country. Christian Cavanaugh, who signed a National Letter of intent recently, is a beneficiary of both and says he will play college ball in the Northeast.

The 6-foot-9 power forward from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, Calif. signed with the University of Maine. He also received offers from Montana State University, Northern Colorado, Lipscomb, and MSU-Billings. He visited MSU-Billings early last month. A trip to N. Colorado scheduled for this week was cancelled.

When asked about his reasons for choosing Maine, Cavanaugh said “The people... players and coaches, the education and the opportunity to come into a program that is growing in stature and have impact on it."

Maine's reputation for developing big men was cited as an additional reason. Over the last eight years, every Maine big man reportedly has gone on to play professionally.

"If I don’t choose Maine, I’ll always wonder how good I could have been,” said Cavanaugh.

Maine's two starting big men will be seniors next season and Christian feels there is an opportunity to step in after a year.

According to Christian's stepfather, Barry Volk, his performance in Las Vegas during the Pump Easter tournament was the turning point in Christian's recruiting.

"After Christian’s performance with the Soldiers in Vegas versus Jordan Wilkes, Maine called and offered a scholarship on the spot," said Volk. "Montana State, Northern Colorado and Lipscomb offered official visits and calls started coming in from Santa Clara, Fresno State, UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis."

Christian narrowed his choices to Montana State (MSU) and Maine. He visited Montana State the last week in April and, from there, flew to Maine. The MSU visit went well but the Marin resident was particularly impressed with the Orono campus, which is approximately 84 miles north of Augusta, Maine.

"He loved the [MSU] campus and the people but the program at Maine was just superior," said Volk. A better caliber of play, better coaching, good repoire with the players and a better learning environment were all cited as the primary reasons for choosing Maine.