This Guidry Will Play Basketball

Texas-Arlington is slowly loading up on talented in-state athletes. The Mavericks staff recently locked up Miles Guidry, an athletic 6-foot-4, 200-pound small forward from Elsik High School in Alief. An official visit to Arlington the weekend of September 5-7 sealed the deal.

"I went up there and was shocked how well I fit in with everybody, all the players," said Guidry. "I liked how everyone was really open. I love the coaches too, they're really nice."

Guidry chose UTA over offers from other schools such as Arkansas-Little Rock, Howard, Elon, and Texas State (which Guidry had made an official visit to the weekend of August 22-24). In some ways, UTA's persistence in keeping in close contact with Guidry paid off in his commitment.

"They've been recruiting me since I was a sophomore, sending me letters every day and stuff," said Guidry. "They had a really good relationship with me and my family."

A powerful and athletic, yet pure small forward, Guidry is a player that equally does his damage inside or out, effectively utilizing his body around the basket while maintaining the ability to hit the mid-range jumper and creating off the dribble.

"He's got a college body," said Elsik head coach Jerrel Hartfiel. "He shoots it pretty well, and can go off the dribble pretty well. He's a slasher - a very aggressive, physical type of player."

According to Hartfiel, he feels that Guidry does need to improve his ball-handling and movement in transition. But while Guidry is shorter than your normal small forward, his height will not be as much an issue at the Southland Conference level, especially considering his physical maturity and athleticism.

Guidry is predicting plenty of team success for Elsik this season.

"We should be really good," said Guidry. "We have three returning seniors and a busload of returning juniors. We're going to make it to the state championship."

Guidry is fully qualified with a 3.2 GPA and a 17 ACT score, although he still plans on taking the ACT again.

Jed Tai is a senior writer with Hoopville.com