SIU Verbal: Jordan Myers

[AceFan]

Forest Park High School is located in Ferdinand, Indiana.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=8875396&nav=menu54_5

Forest Park's Myers picks SIU
Posted: Aug 20, 2008 08:27 PM CDT

Updated: Aug 20, 2008 08:30 PM CDT


By Rich Miller - bio | email
Posted by Mike Mardis - email

Forest Park senior basketball standout Jordan Myers has made a verbal committment to continue his career at Southern Illinois University.

The 6-8, 240 pound Myers was on the Indiana Junior All-Star south team this past summer. He also played for the Evansville AAU basketball club with another Harrison's Kendall Brown, who is also bound for Carbondale.

"I've always known about them and I've always kind of wanted to play there," Myers said. "I went down there the other day and I got to meet the players and coaching staff and I really liked it. And I can also see a lot of similarities between the program and Forest Park. Coach Beach and (Chris Lowery) have similar thoughts on the way they run offense and defense."

Besides leading the Rangers in scoring and rebounding last season, Myers made the all-Pocket Athletic Conference team and was honorable mention all-state. He's one of the players on the pre-season first team all-state list.

"I think it's a great fit," Beach said. "Jordan is a gym rat, Chris Lowery loves to play defense, much like we try to do here at Forest Park, so Jordan, hopefully we will be preparing him for Southern Illinois and then you have to have somebody who can put the ball in the hole and Jordan can certainly do that."

Myers, who began his high school career at Reitz before transferring to Forest Park prior to the start of the 2007-08 school year, considered Eastern Kentucky and Bowling Green before committing to SIU. IU also showed interest.

[DoubleJayAlum]

At some point, Evansville needs to stop serving as the pipeline for SIU recruiting if it wants to be competitive again.

[UE-BBALL#1]

At some point, Evansville needs to stop serving as the pipeline for SIU recruiting if it wants to be competitive again.

The odd thing is... I don't think UE was seriously after either of these guys. Interesting signing.

[doinit salukistyle]

define "showing interest"

[goaces]

Honestly, I am shocked at this verbal commitment. I never thought this kid was that good, and thought he might be a high level D-2 or lower level d-1 player. This ain't a jab at SIU, they got the track record behind them demonstrating what they have done. To my knowledge the Aces had zero interest in him.

[MSNSaluki]

We beat out Eastern Kentucky for this kid.
Draw your own conclusions.:salukis:

[WSUfan]

We beat out Eastern Kentucky for this kid.
Draw your own conclusions.:salukis:

I've heard of Western Kentucky; I think Drake fans have too. http://ballhype.com/video/drake_western_kentucky_buzzer_beater/ :innocent: Who is Eastern Kentucky?

[MSNSaluki]

I've heard of Western Kentucky; I think Drake fans have too. http://ballhype.com/video/drake_western_kentucky_buzzer_beater/ :innocent: Who is Eastern Kentucky?


Exactly.:doh:

[Dawgbit]

We beat out Eastern Kentucky for this kid.
Draw your own conclusions.:salukis:

We beat out UMSL for Randal Falker.

[upsaluki]

Kid seems like a project, but has some good size. We are obviously having a recruiting hangover after last year's haul. I'm not sure we can afford to have him redshirt next year because of depth issues in the frontcourt.

[MSNSaluki]

We beat out UMSL for Randal Falker.

That was five years ago when Chris Lowery wasn't the greatest recruiter on the planet.:lol:

However, point taken.

[BTbird]

On the positive side, 6'8" 240 going into his senior year of HS? :fear:

[doinit salukistyle]

good point dawgbit...we also beat out NorthWest Missouri State for Joel Sambursky, and I'm not even sure who we beat out for Jermaine Dearman (wasnt a D-1 school)

[Aces101]

This kid was at Evansville Reitz high school for his first 2 seasons. He transferred to Forest Park to get more playing time when Clint Hopf graduated. I have seen him play and see him as a stretch for a D1 school. Being in S. Indiana, I have not heard any gossip about him being recruited heavily.....this is a surprise commitment.

[AceFan]

From The Evansville Courier

Forest Park standout commits to SIU basketball

By Drew Bruno (Contact)
Originally published 07:58 a.m., August 22, 2008
Updated 07:58 a.m., August 22, 2008


He’s become one of most well-known talents in Southwestern Indiana and now is a Division I basketball recruit, but never has Forest Park power forward Jordan Myers been mistaken for a point guard.

Thus his reaction, when Rangers coach Tom Beach suggested he go to renowned basketball camp “Point Guard College” in Texas, was about as enthusiastic as a penguin summering in the lone star state.

“I told him, ‘come on now, I’m 6-foot-8. What good is that for me?’” Myers recalled this week.

A lot, it turns out. The camp is geared toward teaching leadership and the mental aspects of the game more than physical point guard skills, and Myers left with more than 40 pages of notes that the 6-8, 240-pound big man thinks can help him.

The diversity of his offensive skills helped him land eight Division I scholarship offers, and Myers has verbally committed to Southern Illinois University. He averaged 17 points and eight rebounds as a junior.

“On the offensive end, Jordan is very, very, very good,” Beach said. “Schools were drooling at his offensive ability.”

Proficient at scoring with either hand in the lane, Myers has range to shoot 3-pointers from “deep” as his coach says, and has the court vision and passing ability of a point guard. “I was one of the biggest guys there,” he said of this past summer’s “Point Guard College." But now he and his coach expect him to be one of the best leaders in the Blue-Chip conference this season.

Myers said he is relieved and excited to have the decision made prior to his senior year in high school. He will focus on improving his foot speed and defense and said he expects to redshirt his first year with the Salukis. “I’m OK with that,” he said. “It will be a good thing to work on my footwork and quickness and strength.”

He’s also excited to be joining such a strong program. Myers, who attended Reitz his freshman and sophomore years, is an Evansville Basketball Club teammate of fellow SIU-commit Kendal Brown and they also played together as members of the South Six Junior All-Star team.

“I feel like there was a connection with coach (Chris) Lowery,” Myers said.

[DawgieStyle]

On the positive side, 6'8" 240 going into his senior year of HS? :fear:

exactly. You want big boys in the valley, you're going to have to take some chances on recruiting. The really good bigs go to the power conferences. Guards are a little different.

If he grows another inch or 2 his senior year and gains some muscle, your looking at one of the biggest players in the valley in up coming seasons, why not take a chance on him and see if he improves. Red shirting isn't a bad thing, some of the best players the valley has seen have red shirted.

[azbirdfan]

One thing I've been very impressed by with SIU over the years is that they've done an incredible job of recruiting guys for their system, many of which weren't being highly recruited by other schools however ended up being studs at SIU as they fit in perfectly to the system SIU runs. Congrats on another commitment, I have little doubt that he'll be a solid player in the Valley.

[Jon 4 the jays]

I have to beat the wsu fans to it.

GodMyersGod

Having had my fun nobody wanted Kyle Korver. UNI did not even show up for a scheduled recruiting meeting with him.