Hail to Odessa

Ethan Conley has an informative read on a Louisiana Tech feeder program. This article not getting titled "The Odessa File" is a missed opportunity:

The Odessa Connection: Texas community college a hotspot for Tech basketball prospects
Ethan Conley
The News Star
March 4, 2010

RUSTON — Pull on to I-20 and head west. Drive. Keep driving. After some 600 miles you’ll arrive in Odessa, Texas, and after a few turns off the interstate there’s a junior college that is fast becoming a farm club for the Louisiana Tech men’s basketball team.

Odessa College has already sent one player to the Bulldogs in shooting guard Jamel Guyton. Two more Odessa players have signed letters of intent to transfer to Tech next season, and if the pipeline holds true, a fourth player will make the transition from Odessa to Ruston for the 2011-12 season.

In some instances, the junior college serves as an intermediary between Tech and its prep signees who aren’t academically qualified to play Division I basketball straight out of high school. In others, a long-standing relationship between the respective coaching staffs leads to Tech signing an Odessa product that went unnoticed in high school. Either way, Odessa has turned into one of the key programs feeding talent to the Bulldogs...

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