Chris Howard signs!

[bulls96go]

great now fix the attitude!

[Guest HowieP1]

College basketball

USF signs 2; takes the court tonight

By GREG AUMAN, Times Staff Writer

Published November 12, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAMPA - The USF men's team signed two more players for next season, adding point guard Chris Howard of Fort Washington, Md., and guard-forward McHugh Mattis of St. Petersburg College.

Mattis, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound sophomore, could contribute as a shooting guard but said he'd like to put on weight and play small forward as well. He chose the Bulls over offers from Auburn and College of Charleston.

"I liked the environment, liked the coaches," said Mattis, who attended Coconut Creek High near Fort Lauderdale and has a brother, Mainsworth, who is a USF junior.

Howard, a 6-foot-2 point guard, led Friendly High to back-to-back state championships in Maryland the past two years. He enrolled Thursday at Florida Prep Academy in Lake Suzy, though he isn't eligible to play basketball there.

USF coach Robert McCullum said Howard is expected to compete for a starting position as a freshman, but as a fifth-year senior at his third school in six months, he may have academic hurdles to clear before he can be eligible to play.

EXHIBITION TONIGHT: The USF men play their lone preseason game tonight against Saint Leo at 7 at the Sun Dome. The Bulls will be without center Brandon Brigman, who fractured the orbital bone near his right eye in practice last week.

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/12/Sports/USF_signs_2_takes_the.shtml

[beastiebull]

5th year senior, 3rd school in 6 months?!  What's the problem?  And why are we recruiting a PG who isn't good enought to start in HS?

[Velcro]

The Bulls will be without center Brandon Brigman, who fractured the orbital bone near his right eye in practice last week.

Hope this doesn't keep him out too long.

[Bullpride08]

5th year senior, 3rd school in 6 months?!  What's the problem?  And why are we recruiting a PG who isn't good enought to start in HS?

He did start.....Oh never mind.

[beastiebull]

Then why does the coach from ND Prep in Mass. say he transferred because he wasn't happy with the prospect of not starting?

[Guest HowieP1]

Hoopscooponline ranks Howard #21 on its 5th year player list.

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/classof2005-5thyearfallrankings.html

It's a shame we couldn't have landed #7 Sam Young who went to Pitt. Sam and Chris were considered the dynamic duo on their championship teams:

Boys Varsity Basketball  

 News Article 8/18/2004

by Oliver Walker

08/18/2004  

 After winning back to back championships in 2003 and 2004 the Friendly Patriots has allot of holes to fill.  They have to fill in holes with a young team where one of the best one two punches in the country filled.  All Met Players Sam Young and Chris Howard filled those areas and dominated the DC area for 2 seasons.  Over the past 2 seasons Friendly has gone 41-3. Senior Wing Forward Justin Jack (ranked # 3 WF in the state for the class of 05 in the state) is the lone starter returning for the defending Maryland State Champions and will have to take on a leadership role this season. Friendly hopes to fill in the gaps with 6'-6 Junior Guard Hillary Hailey (ranked #2 WF in the state for the class of 06).  He also had a great Nike Camp and had a strong summer playing with the DC Blue Devils.  He was a Falconers League selection where he was the all-star game MVP.  Filling up the post will be 6'-8" Sophomore Augustus Gilchrist (ranked # 3 PF in the state for class of 07) who is an up and coming player who is expected to contribute this year.  He was on the JV team for most of the season and came in at 6’-3†when the season started, moved up to varsity for the rest at 6’-5†and by the season end he was 6’-7†(Friendly JV Team finished 19-3 last season).  Gilchrist also was the All-Star game MVP at the Eastern Invitational this summer with 17 points 9 rebounds in that game.  Picking in up the slack are Seniors 6'-5" Kenny Francis, 6-0 Chris Kyler, Junior 6'-4" Walter Scott and Junior guard Mike Wright who was last season strating point guard on jv who will battle Sophomore Joseph Haden (Who is also a second year starting Quaterback for the Varsity football team) who was Chris Howards Back up last season with the rest being young Sophomores and Juniors. Friendly making it back to the Championship depends on how long the youth will take to develope.  If it's a quick lesson learned, Friendly, should be back to it's Championship form and creating havoc all over the Metro Area.

If not the Future still looks great for the Patriots.

In the past seven seasons Friendly has won 3 state Championships, 3 Regional Championships, 1 Inaugural County championship (2004) and 4 county league championships.  In the Washington Post they finished second to Montrose Christian (2003) in the top 20 rankings and in 2004 Friendly finished #1

http://sportscombine.com/scripts/p_org_summary.asp?l=9081

[Guest HowieP1]

Here is an article I posted in a previous thread:

Getting back to Chris Howard, here is another article for those interested:

 

FEATURED ARTICLE:

Friendly High School has best season ever

by Denise Jones

03/25/2004    

Friendly High School has best season ever.

Winning one Championship is a great accomplishment but back to back championships are a dream come true. That dream came true for the Washington DC area most dominant tandem and the Friendly basketball program. The dynamic duo dominated the DC area precise passing from true all around point guard Chris Howard who has court vision like a hawk (had 8 triple doubles this season) and Sam Young who stands at 6-6 and displayed his athleticism with a combination of flips, after wining the state champion game, that I gave a perfect ten.

The Friendly Patriots, of Fort Washington, MD, has come full circle in more than one way. Winning the state championship in 2003 and repeating in 2004. They started the season ranked # 1, loss early and fell in the rankings went on a 19 game win streak and still finished ranked # 1 in the Washington Post.

Friendly dropped from the 3A class to the 2A classification and had to prove too many that they were still the team to beat. They did this by beating 2003 4AState champion/2004 4A league champion Oxon Hill, and the 2003 State 2A Champion during the season. Some people would say the higher the class the best ball is being played. Not in the eyes of many Patriots fans who used the Hoosier Movie as reason. In the past 2 years Friendly has managed 2 State Championships (3A and 2A class), 2 Regional titles, 2 County League Championships, 1 Inaugural PG County Championship and a 51-3 (1 forfeit) record.

Though many think Friendly is done bullying the area and will miss the Chris Howard and the high flying acrobats of Sam Young show. They could be wrong. They had a good jv team that finished 18-3 and a group of young talent like lone returning starter 6’-5" Junior WF Justin Jack (brother of Georgia Tech standout Jaren Jack), 6’-4 Kenny Francis, Sophomores Mike Wright, Walter Scott, 6’-7" Freshman Augustus Gilchrist and Freshman Rakeem Vick who all will be returning to this PG County power.

  http://sportscombine.com/scripts/p_tm_news.asp?t=180954

 

Here is the link to that thread in case anybody is interested:

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1097236271;start=33#33

[Markeymark]

Then why does the coach from ND Prep in Mass. say he transferred because he wasn't happy with the prospect of not starting?

The guy he played behind is probably playing for Duke or something...

Another possibility is that the coach was a disciplinarian and there might have been some reason why he didn't have the privilege of starting.

[Bullpride08]

Thanks Howie!  You see beastie Chris started for four year's at one of the most powerful basketball schools on the east coast of the United states.  He led them to two state championships.

Due to eligibility issues he had to either go JUCO or Prep.  He obviously transfered to ND, and I am betting the coach promised starting spot.  He gets there and finds out they have another kid that came in, and frankly Chris should be concentrating on academics anyway.  He decides to leave versus splitting time on a prep team, and why should he stay.  He's just signed a D1-A letter of intent to a Big East Program, and his grades are the only issue.  He doesn't need to play and prove anything to anyone, he just needs to get eligible, and get on campus.   I would bet any money that Howard would have supplanted ND's started by January, but why try.  He's got to get that test score and grades up.

That's what he's doing!  Maybe it will appease you to know that another website has him ranked as a three star, and he was offered by UMass, BC, and Illini were preparing to offer.  He has yet to take his SAT, and is a bit of a risk, the word on the street is once Chris Howard became completely eligible the flood gates would have absolutely opened up for this kid.  USF grabbing him early was a coup.  My bet is coach Mac realizes that Howard has a good chance of becoming eligible, and with Waters already in the fold PG isn't a dire need, but if he can grab an explosive talent like Howard now, do it, because if he becomes eligible, or if he goes JC and graduates he would be too hot a commodity to consider USF!