Anyone who follows the private school basketball scene in Texas knows that historically it has not been a very fertile recruiting ground for Division 1 coaches. In recent years things have begun to change, especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth & Houston areas. As in most basketball issues, the Austin & San Antonio areas have lagged even further behind.
That's set to change this year as San Antonio Central Catholic, San Antonio Antonian, & Austin St. Michael's will have several very nice prospects. Antonian's 2011 bookends 6'7" Jonathan Holmes (mulling between Texas, Texas A&M) and 6'8" Darrious Hamilton who transferred over from San Antonio Reagan are D-1 locks. Look for Central Cathloic's Cole Martinez to really light it up this coming season. He has as pretty a shot as anyone, and put up big numbers this summer with the Texas D-1 Ambassadors-Team Hargis.
Two of the private school stars who can get it done are SA Central Catholic's Cole Martinez (left) and SA Antonian's 6'7" Jonathan Holmes (right), a high major.
Make no mistake about it though, the PREMIER SCORER in the Austin-San Antonio area this year will be Austin St. Michael's 2011 WG Jake Kocher. The baby faced kid with the big smile called me last night at about 10PM to give me the heads up that he had received his first D1 offer, from the Southland Conference's Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. That marks the second Texas D1 Ambassador in less than a week that Coach Perry Clark and his staff have targeted. (Arizona transfer Garland Judkins committed to them last week).
Kocher can get to the hoop, going left or right
Last season, Kocher averaged 29 plus per game, easily outdistancing everyone in the area with the exception of super scorer 2010 Paul Garnica (they were summer backcourt mates with the D1 Ambassadors) who is now entering his freshman year at Northern Colorado. St. Michael's loaded up their schedule with 15 different 4A-5A public schools last season and Kocher scored at an even faster clip against the publics. It's likely that Kocher will have to redesign his shot at the college level with a higher release point but for the time being expect him to keep putting up points at a break neck pace. Not only can he flick it from the perimeter, but he has a knack for getting to the goal and scoring against much taller players with an assortment of moves and "dipsy doodles".
Kocher will take an official visit to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in September. He's also receiving interest from Texas State, Stephen F Austin, Bradley, VMI, Weber State & Lafayette. Expect more to follow, although once he visits the beautiful Corpus Christi campus it could be all over.
