BATON ROUGE – Brian Bridgewater, the MVP in the Top 28 state playoffs for Scotlandville High School, signed National Letter of Intent papers with the LSU men’s basketball team on Wednesday, the first day of the spring signing period.
The signed papers were received and verified by the compliance personnel of the LSU Athletics Department.
Bridgewater, a 6-5 forward whose brother Brad was a four-year letterman for LSU in 1998-2000 and 2001-03, took Scotlandville to an 80-71 win in overtime over Ouachita when he was named the Top 28 overall MVP after scoring 24 points and 13 rebounds in the state Class 5A championship game.
He was named first team All-State in Class 5A as selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association as he averaged 15.1 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game. He transferred to Scotlandville after three-years as a starter at Episcopal High in Baton Rouge where he was a three-time first team Class 2A All-State selection there.
Bridgewater averaged 23.5 points and 10.1 rebounds during his junior season. While at Episcopal, he started and played on the school’s state quarterfinal football team at tight end and wide receiver.
“We are excited about the addition of Brian Bridgewater to the LSU basketball program,” said LSU men’s basketball head coach Johnny Jones. “With his versatility because of his size and strength, his ability to play inside and out will be an added dimension that will allow us flexibility on both ends of the floor offensively and defensively. It is always great to get student-athletes from championship caliber programs. He is part of a wonderful family, including his Mom (Debra) and his older brother (Brad) who had a very good career at LSU.”
Brad Bridgewater played in 116 career games with his best numbers in 2002 when he averaged 6.7 points and 3.9 rebounds, starting 31-of-34 games that season. He played on teams that went to two NCAA Tournaments (Sweet 16 2000, 2003) and one NIT team (second round, 2002).
Brian Bridgewater joins LSU’s four signees and its class ranked nationally in the top 10 in most major recruiting polls from the 2012 fall signing period – Jarell Martin of Madison Prep in Baton Rouge, Tim Quarterman of Johnson High in Savannah, Ga.; Jordan Mickey of Prime Prep in Arlington, High and John Odo of Nigeria and Hill College in Texas. Martin, Quarterman and Mickey signed NLI’s in the fall period, while Odo signed SEC papers and came to LSU in December after graduating from junior college. He practiced with the team during the spring semester.