Just home from the kid's thriller. Final score 12-8. An Army intersquad scrimmage you ask? Nope, junior high girls. I could hear almost hear old Charlie Woollum screaming, "Make them be still on those picks" as my kid was called twice, and her teammates at least five other times for moving screens.

Most were closer to pass blocking than picks. The game ain't pretty at this age. At least not for a team that, at last count sometime in the second half, was 0-for-15 at the foul line.

I do not envy her coach. I had three of them on a fifth grade rec team a few years back and helped coach their summer league team this year. There's much potential on that roster, but not much ready to play talent.

But enough of that. Let's switch gears to a little from the recruiting desk.

If you buy that "recruiting desk" stuff, we have a horsebarn in Maryland that would be just perfect for your league tournament.

We have no recuiting desk. Never will. Not into it. We are not recruitniks at Hoop Time.

Two recuiting stories tell you all you need know about the unpredictability of recuiting, especially at the Patriot League level.

Back in December of '93, in what was just the third issue ever published of the old print Hoop Time, we did a piece about a kid who was Bucknell's second-ever early commitment recruit.

The kid's name was Mike Anders. If you ever heard of him, you probably follow Patriot League baseball. From what I recall, Anders became a decent ballplayer, but not on the hardwoods.

Even though Anders was the 1998 Patriot League pitcher of the year, there is nothing worth linking to when you google his name. Good thing we have this old rag to remind us how we wrote:

Christmas came a few weeks early for the Breakin' Bison, as Maryland-state prep-hoops standout Mike Anders makes and early commitment.

That was just the subhead.

Suffice to say Anders had nice credentials. He was billed as a sniper from 3-point range. Played in a strong program on a team that went 21-3 and played in the state playoffs his junior year. It was the same high school that sent Phil "Big House" Williams to Penn State. People said this kid was better.

On the other hand Patrick King, the Patriot League's player of the year in 1992, was the ultimate in unrecruited kids; a walk on at a non-scholarship (at the time) school,

King's Bucknell career started as one of the kids Charlie Woollum used to pull together to throw the ball to the recruited freshmen who were not ready to see varsity minutes.

Handicapping recruiting is like betting on which garden will grow the most vegetables. Good seed do not always produce great plants. Even with scholarships, the kids who seem to shine in the Patriot are the ones who were overlooked out of high school. Late Bloomers R Us.

So don't expect us to satisfy any serious recruiting news jones. We are among those who judge recruiting classes when they graduate. But between the break in games and our desire to appear earnest, it seemed O.K. to just look for some info on kids committed to the Patriot for next year.

We offer no endorsements or critiques. Talk to us in four years.

Already mentioned the two kids from Archbishop Spalding headed to Bucknell (Justin Castleberry) and Holy Cross (Larry Dixon).

Here's some a few other early signees. Don't fire off angry e-mail is your boy is not listed. This is not a complete list, just a check on a few. We might look at other recruits in another post. No promises, though.

Gary Garris, 6-5 F, Hun School (N.J.), signed with American:

Garris recently made the all tournament team as his school won the Peddie School invitational.

Garris is rumored to be quite the dunk artist.

Josh Linthicum, 6-11 C, Virginia Episcopal School (Va.), signed with Bucknell:

Check out Linthicum's hoops resume.

Linthicum told the Farmington Daily Times he chose Bucknell over William and Mary and Penn.

John Gourlay, 7-0 C, Subiaco Academy (Ark.), signed with Lehigh:

Here's a story about him when he was the 6-11 junior savior of Subiaco hoops.

We also commented on Gourley the second day on the job.

By the way, we found Neil Fingleton, or at least we thought we had. Fingleton surfaced this fall with the Boston Frenzy of a some league calling itself the ABA. Fingleton is no longer listed on the Frenzy's roster. Scanning the team's box scores. Fingleton's last game appears to have been Dec. 5, when he finished with 1 point, 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 0 blocks in a 118-94 loss to the Maryland Nighthawks.

Neil, of course, was a McDonald's All-America before siging first with North Carolina before he transferred to Holy Cross. Funny how these things go sometimes.

Those Maryland Nighthawks, by the way, make their home in that beautiful horse barn filled with Patriot League championship tradition known as the Show Place Arena.

Small world, eh?

The search continues . . .

(Please report Neil Fingleton sitings to Hoop Time)