This is the first part of a two part series about the April signing period. Part 1 the Bobcats, Part 2 The Grizzlies

The Men: The Bobcats will initially sign two athletes in the first day’s of the signing period, and then there could be a week or two before any other players or signed. Michel Swita a 7-0 commit from France, by way of North Idaho committed last December and he will sign. Swita was one of two major targets the Bobcat’s identified for the November signing period, visited last October, but put off his decision until after the early signing period. I heard last fall he was getting recruiting attention from Eastern Washington and Tulsa. Brad Huse is very high on the long term prospects for Swita who will have 3 years of eligibility for the Cats. Swita has been slowed by a bone bruise in his knee most of the season at North Idaho. The other signee should be Colt Idol a 6-3 guard from Whitefish Montana. Colt also committed last December, with a couple day’s of Swita. The Bobcat coaches really thought Colt a hidden gem in Montana and really tried to keep their recruitment of Colt under the radar until he committed. If they would have had there way, I do not think they would have had Colt announce his commit until April 15th. These are the players we know about.

The Cats are also looking to sign at least one more (possibly two) more athletes this fall. There initial needs would seem to be a point guard to replace James Hennessy; it seems they are looking at the best players possible right now. I think you will see a tiered approach to their recruiting, and they are taking their time. I believe they have only had 1 or two athletes in this spring so far and those athletes were high priority/ instant impact (high school) guy’s. I think they are going to see where they land with these players before bringing in the second tier if you will players. They also have a couple players who should just now be receiving ACT/SAT scores back. It could be a few weeks before thing shake out.


The Women: I believe the Women may sign two athletes this fall and get it done rather quickly. The one commit who we know is scheduled to sign in the first few day’s is Highwood’s 6-0 power forward Rachel Semansky who committed last January. Semansky is a big signee for Binford’s Bobcat’s because Semansky is another top notch Montana athlete to chose the Bobcat women’s team and help Binford chip away at the strangle hold the Lady Griz have had on recruiting Montana. Semansky is also important because she plays a position that the Cat’s will need help with and she has the talent to contribute next year. The second signee, if Binford does indeed fills up her 15 scholarships, should be a post player. I would have you check out Part 2 of these series for a possible signee.

The Midland Roundtable announced the rosters for the annual Montana / Wyoming All-Star game yesterday. The boy’s team lacks the star power, with only one D-1 basketball player on the roster, but should be one of the deeper teams in recent memory, and one the better perimeter shooting

Montana-Wyoming All-Star basketball rosters
(college choices)

Montana boys

Tanner Bleskin, 6-4, Great Falls CMR – (MSU football)
Michael Crandell, 6-2, Scobey
Derek Lear, 5-10, Fairfield
Ben Cutler, 5-11, Kalispell Glacier
Peter Stordahl, 6-2, Billings West
Colt Idol, 6-3, Whitefish - (MSU) pictured
Joel Barndt, 6-7, Billings Central - (Rocky Mountain)
Eric Halverson, 6-5, Billings West -
Bryce Carver, 6-1, Dillon
Gabe Rucker, 6-1, Bozeman

Coach: Bill Dreikosen, Rocky Mountain College.

Montana girls

The girls’ team should be one of the best teams that Montana has put together in recent memory. It is a team with great size, shooting ability, and a ton of star power with 5 (so far) D-1 basketball players on the roster including one of the top girls high school players in the country in Joslyn Tinkle. The other thing about this team is that a lot of them have played together in AAU ball over the past summer. I don’t know the Wyoming team yet but they better be ready this team is loaded.

Joslyn Tinkle, 6-3, Missoula Big Sky – (Stanford) pictured
Rachel Semansky, 6-0, Highwood – (Montana State)
Ashley Albert, 6-1, Hamilton - (Montana State)
Chelsea Banis, 6-4, Fairfield – (Montana State)
Megan Patterson, 5-11, Columbus – (Weber State)
Brianne Holland-Stergar, 6-2, Butte
Kalli McCloskey, 5-8, Butte
Kelsey Hildal, 5-8, Kalispell Flathead
Cassidy Wendell, 5-8, Whitehall
Monica Hollowell, 5-6, Huntley Project

Coach: Brian Henderson, Rocky Mountain College.

If you get the chance you should check these games out they are always a lot of fun. The games are June 12 at Sheridan College and June 13 at Rocky. The girls play at 6 p.m. and the boys at 8 p.m. both nights.

More info from the Billings Gazette

Jeff Budinich KentLake’s team finished the season 8-11, in possibly one of the toughest conference in the nation. Jeff averaged 16.5 points a game, 12 rbs, 2.1 blocks a game. He went against future D-1 big man almost every night including the #1 rated big man the 2010 class. Despite being 6-10, Jeff will not be a center in college, he is a very skilled forward who when he steps on the floor for the Cat’s may be the best three point shooter on the team. I had one of the coaches invoke the name of Domako when they talked about him. He is not a Domako but he is a similar. The big knock on Jeff coming into the season was his defense and willingness to play inside. Jeff put on some muscle over the summer, and developed some post moves and really made strides this winter. There are rumors of a monster dunk he had over Josh Smith (the above mentioned #1 rated big man) that I am trying to find a copy of video. Jeff has the offensive and passing skills to contribute as a true freshman, but, will need to continue his work in the weight room. He has the size 6-10 225lbs, he just needs to make the transition to the college game.

Michel Swita committed to the Bobcat’s in December. He is a 7-0 245 center, who is on the roster of North Idaho JC and originally hails from France. He will be a Sophomore next year when he joins the Cat’s. Michel started the season with a sore knee, 7 games into the season it was determined that his injury needed surgery, and has been out for the remainder of the season. There is talk about Swita applying to the NCAA for a medical hardship year in which case he enter MSU as a Freshman, but I am not optimistic that it would be granted. As I am told by multiple sources Swita is a very skilled big man. He can play the high or low post, and is a true center. He is very mobile, and has the size and strength to bang. Swita is a gamble, if he can recover from the injury bug that has haunted him the last 18 months he could be a big time pick up for the Cats. On the other hand, as you might expect if he can not recover he could be dead weight on the roster. I believe the coaches are watching his recovery very closely.

Colt Idol also committed to the Bobcats in late December. Colt is a 6-3 guard from Whitefish, who has been averaging 20 points, 6 rbs, 2.3 ast, 2 stls, 50% fg, 33% 3fg, and 81%ft. Whitefish is still in the class A title hunt. Colt scoring is down a little from last year but I hear he is but has been working much harder on defense. Colt is a pretty good athlete with great springs, and likes to post up smaller players. He has decent 3 point range but is not a pure shooter. I have been told he reminds some of former Bobcat Pete Conway. I would expect him to redshirt next year with depth the Cat’s have at the guard position next year. He could though make an impact on the 2010-11 team.

The following is a list on basketball prospects that I have heard that the Grizzlies may be looking at. This is not a complete list by any means. There are also most likely some names on this list who they are either not recruiting any more or who they were not recruiting at all. This list is culled from multiple sources, including published accounts and word of mouth. I will up date this list from time to time.