No denying he really wanted to be a Tiger. Only took one official visit, South Carolina backed off 2 weeks ago because they thought they were out of it, he cut the home school out after visiting LSU, and gave Trent his pledge while on his official visit. Looking forward to seeing him in the purple and gold.
You got to love some of the insight on Hickey as a player from the coach... “We are happy to have Anthony Hickey, Jr. become a part of our LSU basketball family,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson. “He is someone who has the ability to defend and pick up full court and put a lot of pressure on the ball. From an offensive standpoint, he is someone who can really push the ball in transition. We are very fortunate to be able to obtain a player of this caliber late in the recruiting period. He definitely helps us become a much better basketball team. He’s a winner and very competitive.” I think sometimes we underestimate the value of toughness. Sure, there were some games where we just looked bad this year. But, there were quite a few games where close losses came down to certain possessions, certain stops or certain scores. Getting our team to play smarter and with more competitiveness in key situations might be something that Hickey can help with. “With the addition of these players, it has really improved the overall athleticism of our basketball team,” said Johnson. An observation frankly is that our backcourt added some athleticism. Isaac and Hickey both played football this year for their teams. Isaac is a kid that gives us a rugged SG to guard more effectively and push Turner and Derenbecker in practice. Hickey is a guy to help Stringer in practice by giving him a more athletic PG to get around. I like these two guards quite a bit. It'll probably go down as an underrated class--Isaac not getting a lot of fanfare b/c he committed to LSU so early, and Hickey because he got hot late... a lot of offers but not going to be graded high on boards b/c they hadn't been following him (also because he was playing football).
More news on Hickey. Front page of the ESPN BB recruiting page is a picture of Mr. Trent Johnson... Anthony Hickey, Kentucky's Mr. Basketball, signs with LSU. - ESPN
Anthony Hickey Football Photos - Christian County 10-11 - MaxPreps "Anthony Hickey (senior) accounted for 328 total yards Friday night in an overtime win over Warren Central. Hickey was 7-of-15 passing for 146 yards and he rushed 22 times for 182 yards and a touchdown." Scout.com: Stars of the South Looks like he was a decent little dual threat qb also!
Since I know it's coming, I want to be the first to start the negative comments about CTJ's 2011 class... Let me see what I can find...Oh I really hope JOB and Hickey cut there hair...I just hate to see floppy hair on the basketball court!!!
Hilarious. Funny, b/c I think that Andre Stringer also had a little longer hair when he was in high school and then he cut if off when he got to college. Maybe it's like Sampson, and the long hair should be kept? Seriously though, I think a lot of folks are talking about whether Hickey starts. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but clearly, if he can grasp Trent's system he is going to get a lot of PT. Often we get so wrapped up in recruiting and seeing kids starting right away. Obviously we saw Turner, Stringer not taking long to get into starting roles. I don't want to write off Stringer improving over the offseason--I still think folks were a little too hard on the kid. He's a better shooter than Hickey and if he can figure out how to get a little quicker and stronger, and be smarter with his passing and shot choice, he's going to be the clear starter. I see Hickey coming in to spell him, especially if Bass doesn't really develop his shot over the off season, and coming in certain packages or certain assignments where more defense is needed on the perimeter or more up tempo play. I think that Hickey probably is a better defender right now than Stringer, but not quite the defender that Bass is. All in all, though, we needed another PG to fill in the gaps and the bridge for the future. Hickey definitely fills that--and I think that his intangibles will also show up.
