Missouri Nabs Another 2012 Recruit In Big Man Aaron Scales

Frank Haith and Tim Fuller’s North Carolina (and CP3 All-Stars) connections keep popping up in the basketball recruiting loop as Missouri got another commitment to the 2012 recruiting class in the form of 6’9, 265 pound center Aaron Scales. Scout.com broke the story:

"“I just committed to Missouri today,” Scales confirmed to Scout.com.“I wanted to go to Missouri because I looked at coach Haith and I saw how he worked the system at Miami before he came to Missouri,” Scales said. “I saw how he gets his big men involved and runs his program.”Scales, a 6-foot-9, 265-pound big man, said he also considered Washington,Washington State, Cleveland State and ECU.According to the High Point (N.C.) Wesleyan standout, Tim Fuller, an assistant at Missouri, played a major role in his recruitment."

As always, friendship and a family atmosphere played into the commit as well; Scales is buddies with another Missouri basketball commit, Tyrek Croger.

Although only listed as a 2-star center on his Scout recruiting file, Scales will probably get playing time in the future based on size alone. Missouri was a fast team with a bit of a size disadvantage under Mike Anderson, and Haith will be looking for some bigger and bulkier guys to replace the likes of Laurence Bowers and Ricardo Ratliffe in the future.

Here’s some video of Scales in action. Just from this tiny sample size, it looks as though Scales can provide some low post presence and hustle off the bench (at least as a freshman, I won’t try and gauge how he’ll develop) early on.

Another big thing to note with this commit; considering that Scales has connections to North Carolina, the CP3 All-Stars and Tyrek Coger, it’s almost certain that he has interacted with Rodney Purvis. I won’t say it’s 100 percent certain, but this may be just as much a chess move in the race to land Rodney Purivs as it is a move to get a big guy to fill up space under the basket. We’ll find out soon enough, and I’ll continue to keep my fingers crossed.

That said, welcome to the team, Mr. Scales! You’re gonna love it here.