Ed Daniels WGNO Sports

11:00 a.m. CST, February 8, 2012

Louisiana's Mr. Basketball will play out-of-state in college. Riverside's Ricardo Gathers chose Baylor over LSU - a choice that has caused a hoops tremor in Baton Rouge.

The 6'8" Gathers is the two time class 2A player of the year. He's led Riverside Academy to back-to-back state 2A championships.

Gathers said LSU was definitely on his mind, but that the Tigers didn't show enough interest, and that was disappointing, "Because I really did see myself LSU."

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Gathers said he de-committed from St. John's to give LSU a fair chance, but in the end he said Baylor should the most interest.

Gathers said the fact that Baylor head coach Scott Drew would come to New Orleans to see Gathers play before a big game in his season made quite an impression.

"It is big on the occasion that he did it," said Gathers. "He had a big game to go to. They were playing up in Lawrence, Kansas the next day, so that showed me that he was very interested in me becoming a Baylor Bear."

Gathers is the second of coach Tim Byrd's top players to choose Baylor. While at Reserve Christian, Byrd sent guard Tweety Carter to Baylor.

"Selfishly, I wanted to see him go to LSU because I wanted to see him play," says Byrd. "I thought Brent Scott did a good job recruiting him. I wanted Ricardo to go where it is a good fit, and he and his brother and his family feel good. And this the perfect fit for him."

Gathers will sign with Baylor in April.

Riverside hosts John Curtis in a district showdown Friday night.