Mike Gesell 4 star PG from S. Sioux City

[Jays26]

So what has the kid been saying? What do you put the chances at that will get him?

[Turner]

So what has the kid been saying? What do you put the chances at that will get him?

Rumor is he wants to play close to home and Iowa and Nebraska are certainly in the picture. The hope from a CU standpoint is that Creighton is a basketball school first whereas hoops is a relative afterthought to football at both of the other schools. Big fish, small pond? or vice versa? His recruitment will be interesting to watch.

For those interested, he will be playing at Bellevue East on Tuesday 1-25 at 5:30pm. There are several games in Omaha for SSC coming up:

http://www.highschoolsports.net/team/So ... sity/Boys/

[Turner]

There was an article today in the Omaha newspaper about Geselle. Here are a couple of tidbits and a link.

Gesell, a 4.1 student when honors classes are factored in, has seven Division I offers. East coach Jeff Vanderloo said Iowa, Nebraska, Creighton, Stanford, Utah, Marquette and Minnesota are expected to have coaches at Monday's game.

Since Kirk Hinrich led Sioux City West to a state title in 1999 and went on to stardom at Kansas and in the NBA, the Sioux City metro area has seen a seemingly endless stream of talent find its way to Division I schools. In the mid-2000s, former Sioux City rivals Nate Funk of Heelan (Creighton) and Ben Jacobson of East (Northern Iowa) had some memorable battles in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Vanderloo said Gesell compares favorably with all of them.

“I enjoy his style of play as much as anybody I've ever watched, and that includes back in the Kirk Hinrich or the Nate Funk days,'' he said. “He's got a complete game, and I guess the thing that I admire about him is that he brings it every night. He absolutely plays as hard as you can go every night.''

“Let's not kid ourselves. I think if he went and played in the Missouri Valley, he's an all-conference player,'' Vanderloo said. “If he goes and tries to play in the Big 12 or the Big Ten, he might have to wait for a little bit. But if you can put guys like Mike Gesell on the floor, you're winning basketball games.''

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110130/H ... -siouxland

[Turner]

Gesell is the best player in the state and should win another state title today.

Junior guard Mike Gesell scored a game-high 24 points as the top-ranked Cardinals defeated the second-ranked Thunderbolts 50-47 in front of a packed house at the Devaney Center. South Sioux City (23-2) advances to Saturday's 6:30 p.m. championship game in hopes of nailing down its second consecutive crown under head coach Terry Comstock.

He shoots a smooth midrange jumper. He drives with body control. He sees the floor. He has major-conference speed, strength and quickness. And he does all of the little things that help his team win.

He reminds me of a smaller Kirk Hinrich.

“Mike is about as productive as you can get as a point guard,” Markowski said.

[Jet915]

Sounds like it's down to Creighton, Stanford and UNL for Gesell.

[bluejayfan00]

Sounds like it's down to Creighton, Stanford and UNL for Gesell.

Where did you here this?

[Pinkie]

Gesell has Stanford and Boston College offers now too. He is a 4.0 student. Boy this kid could be a star in the MVC.

[cu8493]

Watched Gessell at the state basketball tournament. He has a lot of Nate Funk in him. Very similar pull up jumper in and around the lane, and decent range though not scorching - shooting a 40% clip from three at the closer high-school 3 pt. line. But, I'm not sure if he has BCS level quickness and athleticism. Playing against class B players - good ones, but Class B none the less- he did not outclass opposing players in terms of quickness and athleticism. He also enjoyed the benefit of having an outstanding athlete and spot up shooter on one wing and a 7 footer (who normally is 8 inches taller than anyone on the other team) at center to keep opposing defenses honest. Again, just watched one game and I'm certainly not questioning the scouting abilities of college coaches. On the other hand, the kid from Fremont Bergan (Class C) a few years ago, who averaged about the same scoring per game as Gessell this year and was heavily pursued by the same coaches before accepting an Iowa State scholarship, lasted one year before deciding he couldn't compete with Big XII guards in quickness and athleticism and transfered. Casey Harriman was the Iowa scoring leader, I believe, but he was a border line Division I caliber athlete even before his injuries. He didn't have the quickness to get himself open consistently at the DI level. I think Gessell would be a very good MVC player. I don't think he will find as much success in a BCS conference. Just an armchair scout's assessment.

[Turner]

All indications are that Gesell wants to go BCS which is too bad. He could be an elite MVC player or an average one at a bad program like Nebraska or Stanford.

[SubGod22]

All indications are that Gesell wants to go BCS which is too bad. He could be an elite MVC player or an average one at a bad program like Nebraska or Stanford.

Is the Valley really so bad that he'd be elite here and only average at Nebraska? Or has Nebraska become that good and I missed the memo.