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Ricardo Gathers Commits To St. John's Basketball, Not Returning To Bay Area

Another basketball recruit with ties to the Bay Area is headed elsewhere. Ricardo Gathers, who recently had been playing at Riverside Academy in Louisiana but has family ties in the Bay Area, committed to Steve Lavin and the St. John's Red Storm.

"I picked St. John's because of the coaching staff and I liked the way (St. John's) Coach (Steve) Lavin communicated with me throughout the process," Gathers told ESPN New York. "A year ago he was recruiting me and I didn't think much of it, until I saw how they played on television and how much success they were having.

Gathers had high interest early in the process in Cal and had an offer extended early to him, but St. John's quickly emerged as a big leader for Gathers as time went by and Lavin turned his attention to his recruitment. The offer to play in New York City was too tempting for Gathers to resist, and apparently he was influenced by Spike Lee, Denzel Washington and Ray Allen in his decision.

"I can't wait to play in New York. Watching the movie 'He Got Game' got me really excited about playing there."

Good stuff, huh? Makes you think that every major college basketball program needs to have a Hollywood program. But doesn't Cal have Coach Carter to rely on? Teenagers can be fun to deal with.

Check out Ricardo's dunking ability!

(via courtcred)

For more on Cal basketball recruiting, California Golden Blogs is your place to be.