Josh Ritchart commits to...

A friend just notified us that 6-foot-7 Forest Lake Christian senior forward Josh Ritchart just gave a verbal to UC Davis. Coach Gary Stewart is loading up, having landed 6-foot-11 Mike Kunz earlier this week and southern California forward 6-foot-7 Alex Tiffin prior to that. Add in Ryan Sypkens and Julian Welch already manning the backcourt and the Big West is soon going to have to deal with Aggie fever.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder?

Hat tip to Chris Murray: northern California prep frontcourter Josh Ritchart is on a visit to Air Force. He's 6-foot-7 and probably still growing -- so how big are those cockpits?

Check in on Josh's Twitter account here.

We think Ritchart ought to consider SMU -- imagine the JR and Dallas headline for that one.

Josh Ritchart gets a home visit from Nevada

On August 20, Auburn (CA) senior forward Josh Ritchart visited UC Davis.

He officially tripped to Pacific on September 3. His older brother, Andrew, is now there after being at Cal State East Bay (Hayward, CA) last year. Andrew is a 6-foot-3 guard.

Nevada Coach David Carter did a home visit with the 6-foot-7 Ritchart Thursday night.

All of the above courtesy of his Twitter account here.

The Pack crosses the border

Chris Murray, who apparently never sleeps, has three posts up today. We've detailed the other two and the third is on Auburn CA frontcourter Josh Ritchart.

Pack hoops staff to take a look at Ritchart on Wednesday
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
9/8/2009

The Nevada coaching staff is one of three teams scheduled to be in Auburn on Wednesday to check out Forest Lake Christian small forward Josh Ritchart. Richart's coach, Dave Thomas, said coaches from Nevada, Air Force and UC Davis will be in town to watch him work out. Pacific, St. Mary's, Washington State and a few other Pac-10 teams also have shown interest in the 6-foot-7, 210-pounder who averaged 26.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 6 blocks per game last season. He hit 61 percent of his shots and 41 percent from beyond the 3-point arc...

Go here for the remainder.

We saw Ritchart play two Sundays ago in the Nor Cal Clash at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo. He certainly is the type of kid you pull for and want to succeed. What's intriguing is his best asset is outside shooting but some coaches are viewing him as a four. But he doesn't yet have the body for a power forward and positioning him at the four would also negate -- at least to some degree -- his top skill. It would more than likely also move him to redshirt status as a freshman while he hits the weights. The article indicates Ritchart wants to and should play the three in college and that seems the most likely route. If we had to guess, not even attempting calling it an educated one, is Pacific is Ritchart's destination.

Trickery? Changing minds? One final yes-or-no look?

One other element that is brazenly on display this week in Las Vegas is the element of trickery. Not all coaches do it -- some don't have to. Actually, it's near impossible to tell when a coaching staff is modeling such behavior because obviously only they truly know.

How it works is a coach shows up at a game featuring a kid who isn't connected to the recruiting plans of that school. Fellow coaches begin to wonder. Why is Coach X here to see? Is he serious about Player Y?

Or is this a jab step -- a feint -- when the coach and his staff are really going in another direction but want to throw off would-be competitors? Maybe they have a sleeper in mind who plays the same position and want to give the impression that Player Y is their #1 target.

Hey, possibly they are there looking at a different player on display.

Now St. Mary's, Pacific, San Jose State and UC Davis have offered CA forward Josh Ritchart. A handful of PAC-10 schools are sniffing around. Rivals also lists Nevada. SCOUT has everyone already mentioned plus San Francisco and Santa Clara in the mix. Ritchart is painfully thin (something that can generally be remedied) but nicely skilled. He could break as a big-time player if and when he achieves physical maturity.

At one of the games featuring Team Superstar (Ritchart's club squad), David Carter was in the stands. This per SCOUT's Dave Telep.

So was Carter evaluating or re-evaluating Ritchart? Could it have been a make-or-break final look this week? (Ritchart scored two points and grabbed four boards) Was Carter actually checking out someone else on Team Superstar or from the opposing team? Or was he, to mix sports metaphors, throwing a curveball?

You can bet the other coaches in the gym would love to know. Of course, what were the reasons they were there? Yes, there are coaches who are friends but college basketball is a business and our sense if every single coach likes to pull a fast one if it is do-able.

All in all, it's a fascinating process.