(Get) A Sporting Life

I missed this a couple of days ago. From the PD : Tanner Lancona, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Southern California, has made an oral commitment to St. Louis U. Lancona had originally committed to Washington State, but was released by what was described as a mutual agreement. He chose SLU over Kansas State, Colorado State and BYU. He averaged 16.6 points and eight rebounds at Tesoro High in Las Flores, Calif., in southern Orange County, and can, with a game reminiscent of Cody Ellis, can[sic] shoot 3-pointers, run the floor and rebound. This is interesting for a couple of reasons. For starters it is nice to see SLU be able to recruit a kid outside of our "normal" areas of influence. It is particularly nice when SLU can compete against and best bigger name programs from bigger name conferences. (Though the potential to add the Big East name to our recruiting efforts may be helping already.) Encouraging.

From The Southern: Vienna's Thompson to play for Majerus at SLU It just made perfect sense: a big man playing for a big man. Vienna's Brett Thompson ended a four-team recruiting battle Tuesday by verbally committing to Saint Louis University and new men's basketball coach Rick Majerus. The 6-foot-11, 255-pound center averaged 16 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks a game for the Eagles last year as a junior. He is ranked No. 108 in the country by Rivals.com and as the 16th best center in the nation. He will play for one of the largest coaches on the planet, as Majerus begins a six-year deal with the Billikens this winter. Saint Louis finished 20-13 last season, 8-8 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, and could return four of five starters this season. Thompson, 17, said Majerus' reputation for developing big men was one of the biggest reasons he chose to join the more than 7,000 undergraduates in the fall of 2008. "He's known as developing big men, with (Michael...