HUGE, HUGE News: Kevin Bailey Commits to Portland!!!

Kevin Bailey, a 6'5" SF out of Clovis, CA, a Rivals Top 150 player, a three-star rectuit on ESPN, and recruited by several Pac-10 teams (UCLA, Stanford, Washington) is going to be a Pilot!!! Oh, and did I mention he has a 3.97 GPA?

That is, if Twitter can be trusted. Evan Daniels is a analyst for Scout.com.:

@EvanDanielscout
Kevin Bailey has committed to Portland, per his AAU Coach Ryan Silver.
http://twitter.com/EvanDanielscout

http://www.calihighsports.com/articles/130

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/98095/kevin-bailey

Folks, this is HUGE.

Eric Bossi of Rivals has also posted it on his Twitter account:

@ebosshoops
Fresno shooting guard Kevin Bailey has committed to Portland. That's a Rivals150 pickup.
http://twitter.com/ebosshoops

Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!

Wow, it's popping up everywhere! they probably all got it from each other.

If it is true, this is another great get for Rev.

And we still have one spot open... wouldn't surprise me if they kept the last spot open for the spring signing period and tried to leverage the signings of Bailey and Cason (both big time recruits) into landing another really high quality player.

Whew... what a fun time to be a Pilot basketball fan.

Just think... next year we'll have all these underclassmen:

PG: Tim Douglas (Soph)
SG: Tanner Riley (Soph), David Carr (Fresh)
SF: Kevin Bailey (Fresh), Korey Thieleke (Soph)
PF: Dorian Cason (Fresh), Ryan Nicholas (Soph), John Bailey (Soph)
C: Riley Barker (Soph)

Plus one more open scholarship spot!

Wow, does the future look bright!!!

Nice. Great work by Rev and the coaching staff.

Great news!!! Can we confirm that Dorian and David have officially signed as well?? From what I've seen in practices so far, Tanner and Riley Barker are going to be SOLID, and the addition of the new guys will only up the competition for spots on the floor, which can only mean good things for results in the next couple of years!!!

As I posted on dons board this is a huge get for Portland. Lmu was recruiting him so I caught a game of his during the summer. He is super athletic ... Shot needs a bit of work but he can slash to the rim and get way above it. Excellent job by you coaching staff... Was being looked at by a lot of PAC 10 schools. Very good student too.

HUGE! wow...



If this ends up being true, this is a huge moment in Portland Basketball...

Some video footage to wet your appetite:

2 of the top 25 players in the state of CA? Damn you Rev, what have you done with my lovable loser Pilots...

No but seriously, that blend of athleticism and size we have slated for next year is just flat out tantalizing... I wonder if they look for another ball handler, or if they go with another true center with that last roster spot, um this is fun!

DaTruRochin wrote:2 of the top 25 players in the state of CA? Damn you Rev, what have you done with my lovable loser Pilots...

No but seriously, that blend of athleticism and size we have slated for next year is just flat out tantalizing... I wonder if they look for another ball handler, or if they go with another true center with that last roster spot, um this is fun!

I know, right? Portland is going to have some awesome athleticism over the next several years - when's the last time we could say that?

A center seems to make the most sense to me, or at least another big. I know the coaches love Barker and really believe in his potential, but he can't play 40 minutes a game, and Nicholas, Bailey, and Cason are all a bit undersized to play center.

With Waterford, Douglas, and Rodgers back next year, I'm not sure a PG makes sense, though if none of those guys steps up and really develops this season, perhaps another PG will be needed.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Rodgers, yeah big makes way more sense...

Also, it should be noted that Cason was getting recruited by the Ivy League, combine that with Bailey's pretty stellar HS GPA, those are some damn good additions to the academic community to UP as well. Nothing like increasing the average accepted GPA, rising the prestige of the school, thus making my diploma look even more awesome. Yes, ultimately it is all about me.

Wow...now that's how you build on an upset victory over UCLA.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/98095/kevin-bailey

This is our highest scoring recruit at the ESPN site I can remember. 90 is a high score for a 3 star guy...

"Bottom Line:
Bailey is an intriguing prospect because of his athleticism, frame, and high basketball IQ. He has all the intangibles to be a top-flight wing or scoring guard at the next level."---ESPN.

**Sorry about the repeat post of the ESPN link.

Here's a link to the Rivals 150 list:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-2288

Our guy is at #143. It looks like Tony Wroten committed to UW. It's so cool to be able to compete for players of this calibur. I'm pretty stunned, but, this guy obviously cares about academics and more than just basketball even with his amazing abilities...

I looked around the net for the obligatory in your face dunk, and there are several.

I wonder if Rev will be OK with him doing this..