Powell signing a nice start for Nutt era

The kind of a job new Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt does probably won't be determined for at least a few years.

But Nutt's first recruiting class got a nice boost with Wednesday's signing of touted junior college forward Leon Powell.

The 6-foot-7, 210-pound Powell earned all-region second team honors the past two seasons at perennial national juco power Indian Hills in Iowa.

Powell averaged 11.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore for a 30-3 team that was ranked second nationally. He shot 61.8 percent from the field.

I was told that Powell turned down scholarship offers from Houston, Ohio and Murray State. In addition, Southern Illinois-Carbondale reportedly made a late push for Powell.

If Southeast beat out those types of programs for Powell -- a former standout at tradition-rich Vashon High School in St. Louis -- then I'd say that's a strong signing.

As I reported a few weeks ago, Powell was planning to sign with Southeast, but he appeared to be wavering in recent days.

Much of the groundwork in recruiting Powell had been done before Nutt took over the program.

Powell was originally recruited by former Southeast assistant Ronnie Dean, who placed Powell at Indian Hills after he did not qualify academically. And Southeast's coaching staff this past season continued to pursue Powell.

Those former coaches deserve credit for Powell winding up at Southeast, but Nutt still had to close the deal. If Powell wasn't at least a little bit impressed by Nutt, he likely would have gone elsewhere.

Powell was one of four players to sign Wednesday, with Nutt expected to land several more in the coming weeks.

I've heard good things about 5-11 all-region juco point guard Anthony Allison from Missouri State-West Plains, while the two high school signees -- 6-5 wing LaQuentin Miles from Jacksonville, Ark., and 6-2 guard Marland Smith from Little Rock, Ark. -- appear to have potential.

Considering that Nutt was hired barely a month ago and got a late start on recruiting, what he landed Wednesday looks fairly solid.

And Nutt's inaugural recruiting class at Southeast really could get a boost if he signs Stephon Weaver, a guard at Connors State College in Warner, Okla.

Weaver was a third-team juco All-American this year after leading the Cowboys to a fourth-place finish at the national tournament.

Weaver originally signed with Arkansas State -- then coached by Nutt -- out of Forrest City (Ark.) High School, but never played at ASU before heading off to Connors State.

People say Weaver can really play, and I've been told he has Southeast in the mix of schools he's considering.

Stay tuned on that one.

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Junior point guard Bijon Jones posted on his Facebook page last week that he is no longer a member of the team. Nutt confirmed that to me.

I've also heard that some of Southeast's other players who have eligibility remaining won't return.

Nutt told me that's a possibility, although nothing is official at this point.

My guess is that maybe three or four of the current players will be back, and Nutt will sign a total of about six or seven. That will leave him a few extra scholarships for next year when he'll have a full year to recruit.

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For people wondering what happened to Mark Caviness -- a former juco standout who signed to play at Southeast prior to last season, but didn't qualify academically and spent the first semester of 2008-09 at Southeast -- he will be competing at the Division II level.

Florida Tech University recently announced that the 6-5 Caviness had joined its program.

Although Caviness is from the Washington, D.C., area, he played two seasons at Indian River Community College in Florida before signing with Southeast.

Southeast's other touted recruit who signed in the early period prior to last season could be headed to a big-time program.

According to insidemizzou.com, Martino Brock, who didn't qualify academically at Southeast, has an upcoming official visit to Missouri.

Unlike Caviness, Brock never attended Southeast. He played the past year at Maine Central Institute to try to raise his test scores.

Several major programs had been recruiting Brock before he signed with Southeast, but most of those backed off because of academic issues. That allowed former Redhawks coach Scott Edgar to land Brock.

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There likely won't be many younger college basketball teams in the country next season than Southeast's women.

The Redhawks signed two more high school seniors Wednesday, to go along with the seven prep seniors they landed in November.

Southeast's tentative roster for next season will include the nine incoming freshmen, along with two sophomores, a junior and a senior.

The only returning players next year will be Lesley Adams -- the lone senior -- along with wing Lauren Sharpe (she will be a junior), point guard Bianca Beck and center Amber Holmes, who both will be sophomores.

Four players with eligibility remaining won't be returning after they didn't finish out the season with the Redhawks. That group consists of Trevonna Cannon, Daumonique Lenhardt, Tore Fite and Rochelle Ikeni, who all saw limited action.

Coach John Ishee didn't seem too concerned about all the youth, telling me he believes the 2009-10 Redhawks will be as talented as any Southeast squad he's had.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.