STLfan Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Saw this article posted on a Mizzou site. Future is bright for Henderson, Wilkins Willard stars have no college basketball home yet, though Wilkins will first serve mission. Allen Vaughan News-Leader Grab an abacus. That's three consecutive Blue and Gold championships, a stretch where until last week the Willard Tigers hadn't lost a regular-season game since 2004-05 and captured a second-place finish in state. So, where exactly are seniors Alex Henderson and Travis Wilkins playing their college basketball? Nowhere, yet. "I'm just waiting until the end of the year. I don't have a lot of options," said Henderson, who in a lot of eyes established himself as the top point guard in the area with this tournament run. Then there's Wilkins, who won't be playing anywhere next year if he can help it. "I'm going on a two-year mission after I graduate," said Wilkins, a devout Mormon who attends seminary at 6:10 a.m. every day before school. "I tell (college coaches) that. é They say they respect that," Wilkins said, adding he'd love to play college basketball when his mission is over. That's two of the most lethal basketball weapons in the Ozarks with no college basketball home. Sure, they're not the biggest, quickest players, but doesn't winning count for something? Wilkins had the crowd buzzing with his 25 points in the Gold Division championship Friday night and Henderson again played the role of the human jail cell, bottling Rogersville's Matt Powell to 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting, after he scored well over 20 the three previous games. And the Tigers' victims are adding up. It started with upsetting the Drew Richards-Tim Brown Rogersville team in 2004 for a district title and continued with Friday's 3-peat in the Blue and Gold Tournament. Only an overtime loss kept Willard from a Class 4 state championship in 2005, and Republic derailed another state run by shocking Willard after an undefeated regular season a year ago. This year, the Tigers have only lost once — to Blue Division champion Mount Vernon — and have had the bull's-eye on their backs for a long time. "I have a lot of pride in our town. I love game days where I go around Willard and five or six people tell me how excited they are for the game tonight," Henderson said. "That's what I think we've done. We've established pride in Willard." The 6-foot-1 Henderson is averaging 18.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game, while the 6-3 Wilkins is averaging 18.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Both shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range last season and are on pace to meet that this year. Need a shooter? They need a home. 18.1 Points, 6.3 Rebounds, 8.5 Assists per game and 40% from three sounds pretty good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billinikens Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Sounds like a pretty intriguing player for a school like ours. Nobody has any info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 We had alot of success w/ Varner after his mission maybe these guys will recognize that and come to SLU. Poplar Bluff is a small town and produced Hansbrough but Willard is even smaller and plays very small schools that aren't that good. I'm not sold on the ability of these kids but I don't really know anything about them besides what I just read. I went to high school out there in the Ozarks and have been to Willard I always thought their mascot was the Rats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.