Ricardo Gathers, the one-time St. John’s commit, has changed course and pledged to Baylor, according to ESPN.com.
“He went up there last week and said that he wanted to (commit),” Gathers’ brother Greg told Dave Telep. “I told him to sit on it for a week. Baylor had been recruiting him since he’s been in the 7th and 8th grade and there’s a connection with ‘Tweety’ Carter going up there and it’s a situation where they have Isaiah Austin, L.J. Rose and they already have Gary Franklin that he’s familiar with.”
The 6-foot-8 “Bayou Bull” chose Baylor over St. John’s, UNLV, LSU and Florida.
“(Ricardo) said they outworked everybody,” Riverside coach Tim Byrd told ESPN.com. “He told me the family loves them.”
Gathers, a double-double machine on the Nike EYBL circuit, will player power forward at Baylor. He is No. 13 at that position in 2012 according to Rivals.
“I think it was really important for him,” Greg Gathers said. “On top of that being on the circuit and being a guy from Louisiana he’s had to always play the five. Now he’s a four man; he does things from the wing too. He’s got a game like Thomas Robinson and maybe Jared Sullinger who can also show they get it done outside.”
After committing to St. John’s last summer, Gathers decommitted in November amid concerns over the future of the Big East and over the health of St. John’s coach Steve Lavin.
Before the Gathers-to-Baylor news, Lavin said he wants to sign “five or six” players in the spring and is focusing heavily on 6-9 Our Savior New American shot-blocker Chris Obekpa and 6-8 Brewster (N.H.) Academy big man JaKarr Sampson, a former St. John’s commit.
St. John’s also has former Texas A&M point guard Jamal Branch, who becomes eligible in December.
