College Basketball Recruiting: JuCo Center Quantel Denson Picks Mississippi St.

Quantel Denson, a 6'8" center from Mineral Area Community College, committed to Mississippi State Friday according to Eric Bossi of Rivals.com. Denson made his decision after taking an unofficial visit to Starkville last week.

Denson chose MSU over Missouri, Western Kentucky, Marquette and Oklahoma State. He is considered a three-star prospect by Rivals.com.

The JuCo transfer was originally apart of Missouri's 2012 recruiting class, but was dropped after he was arrested for being involved with a robbery of his coach's dorm room at Hutchinson Community College. Denson transferred to Mineral Area Community College in Park Hills, Missouri after his release.

Denson averaged 6.5 points and four rebounds as a freshman at Hutchinson.

This is Mississippi State's second junior college transfer commitment of the week. Tuesday 6'8 wing Travis Daniels from Shelton State Community College picked the MSU Bulldogs.

Last year Daniels averaged 6.5 points and 5.6 rebounds a game as a freshman at Shelton State.

Brad Winton of JuCoRecruiting.com told The Clarion-Ledger about Daniels, “He is very skilled around the rim and jumps well for his size. He has great hands and moves very well in transition. He is at his best when he has the ball 15 feet and in. He has the ability to take bigger defenders off the dribble and score in traffic.

The Bulldogs also have a commitment from three-star point guard I.J. Ready from Little Rock, Arkansas. Ready is considered the 48th-best point guard and the 189th-best player in the 2013 class by 247Sports.Com.

Coach Rick Ray has only been at Mississippi State for five months, but he has already done a lot to change the culture of the program. Including kicking junior's Shaun Smith and Kristers Zeidaks off the team for repeated violations of team rules.

It will be hard for Ray to compete for recruits like John Calipari does at Kentucky or Billy Donovan does at Florida, but getting experienced junior college transfers is a very smart way to go.