SPRINGFIELD Missouri State University has received a National Letter of Intent from one of the top junior college basketball players in the nation with Thursday morning’s commitment from 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard Nafis (nah-FEESE) Ricks from Johnson County (Kan.) Community College.
On April 10, Ricks was named as the 2009 NJCAA Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
“It is exciting to receive a commitment of this caliber, and Nafis only adds another degree of quality to our 2009 recruiting class,” said head coach Cuonzo Martin. “He is a proven winner who can run the point, rebound and score the ball. We welcome him to the Missouri State basketball family and look forward to having him and our other newcomers on campus this fall.”
A first-team NJCAA Division II All-American for the second-straight season, Ricks led Johnson County Community College to a national title and 26-9 record this season. He is one of just three players in NJCAA Division II history to earn First-Team All-American honors in back-to-back seasons. At the NJCAA DII Men's Basketball Tournament in Danville, Ill., Ricks earned Tournament MVP honors by leading the Cavaliers with 21 points in the 63-49 victory over Kirkwood (Iowa) in the title game.
This season, he averaged 17.2 points, 5.8 assists and 2.3 steals per game and scored in double figures in 32 of 33 games for coach Mike Jeffers. He recorded a rare triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a home victory over Highland (Kan.) on February 18 and ranked 46th nationally in scoring, 21st in assists, and 48th in steals.
He also earned All-East Kansas Jayhawk Conference and All-Region 6 first-team honors in 2009. As a freshman in 2007-08, he averaged a team-best 15.4 points, with 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
He is a product of Robert Lamberton High in Philadelphia, Pa., where he averaged 34.6 points per game in 2006-07. He was the state's top scorer as a senior for coach Robert Kurtz and was all-city and all-Public League.
Ricks joins four incoming freshmen -- Lane Adams (6-4, 195, G, Red Oak, Okla., Red Oak High), Jerome Jones (6-5, 201, F, St. Louis, Mo., Miller Career Academy), Keith Pickens (6-4, 190, G, St. Louis, Mo., Oakville High), and Michael Porter (6-6, 205, F, Sikeston, Mo., Sikeston High) -- in the Bears' 2009 recruiting class.
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