2012 star emerges in the Show-Me State

The state of Missouri has plenty of talent in the 2011 basketball class. But there's a national target emerging in 2012 as well. Cardinal Ritter swingman Cameron Biedscheid has the attention of some of the top college basketball programs in the country.

"SLU, Mizzou, Notre Dame, Indiana, Illinois, Cincinnati, UNLV, UCLA, Butler, Kansas, Duke, Miami, Oregon State and Minnesota. MInnesota's recruiting me real hard, and Detroit, Iowa," Biedscheid rattles off. "I don't have official offers. A lot of them have been telling me they're planning to offer me. I'll go to Peach Jam in a week and a lot of schools have seen me play, that's why they're recruiting me, but they're trying to see me play again. I guess they just want to make sure."

Biedscheid says he's nowhere near narrowing down his list.

"I have some schools that I like the way they play," he said. "But I don't know too much about the schools that I haven't visited yet. I'm supposed to be visiting some of these schools. Don't really have a top school or a favorite because I just don't know enough about them yet."

Biedscheid says he hopes to visit Detroit, Notre Dame and Iowa later this summer and that his mother is trying to solidify those trips. He was in Columbia at Missouri's Advanced Skills Camp a couple of weeks ago, where he had a chance to speak to a couple of the Tiger coaches.

"(They're recruiting me) pretty hard, I would say," Biedscheid said. "I talked to coach Watkins a lot and he's the person that invited me to the camp. I talked to Mike Anderson a lot while I was at the camp and got a chance to sit down with him. They're recruiting me pretty hard."

It's easy to see why. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Biedscheid grew four inches and made the jump to the varsity team at Cardinal Ritter. He averaged 18.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 steals a game as Ritter went 27-4 and won the Class 3A state title. This summer, he is playing with the St. Louis Eagles 16U team and has been selected to the all-tournament team at both the Jayhawk Invitational and the Sabes Invitational. In one game in the Minnesota tournament, Biedscheid scored his team's first 18 points.

"I'm a scorer," he said. "The strongest part of my game is my offensive game. I don't just settle for jump shots, I get the ball all the way to the basket. I'm a good defensive player too, but offense is my strongest point."

Biedscheid says he is working on his strength and agility, while trying to improve his ballhandling this summer. But as much as anything he does on the court, he says college coaches like his motor.

"I hustle. I just play hard," he said. "I play every game like it's my last game whether we're playing somebody that's number one or number 1001."

His performance this year has assured Biedscheid will have plenty of games in his future.

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