Men's Hoops Adds Two Players, Loses Simmons
1/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2004
WACO, Texas - Two new student-athletes have joined Baylor's men's basketball program and football letterman Joe Simmons has ended his stint on the hardwood, head coach Scott Drew announced Monday.
Nino Etienne, a freshman walk-on from Army Prep, and Tim Bush, a mid-year transfer from LSU, have enrolled at Baylor for the spring semester and are practicing with the Bears. Etienne is eligible to play immediately; Bush can practice with the team and will be eligible to play at the conclusion of the fall 2004 semester.
Simmons, a football letterman who earned his undergraduate degree in December, has left the team after playing in five games in order to prepare for a potential pro football career.
Etienne played 10 games for the United States Military Academy Preparatory School in Fort Monmouth, N.J., last semester. He averaged 33 points and 11 rebounds as a guard/forward for Army Prep.
The Killeen, Texas, native played his junior and senior years at Seoul American High School in Seoul, Korea due to his father's military commitments. The elder Etienne, Luis, is currently serving in Iraq.
Etienne, a 6-1 guard, averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as a senior in 2003 while leading Seoul American head coach Steve Boyd's Falcons to the Class AA Far East championship. Etienne was named the all-conference MVP, All-Korea MVP and Far-East MVP.
Etienne played for Harker Heights (Texas) High School as a sophomore in 2001. He averaged 11 points and four assists for head coach Celneque Bobbit's squad.
Bush, a 6-5 forward, will be eligible to play after the fall 2004 semester as a sophomore with three years of eligibility. As a true freshman last season at LSU, Bush appeared in 10 games, averaging 0.7 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest.
Coming out of high school, Bush was ranked the No. 137 prospect in the class of 2003 by HoopScoop. Bush averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per game as a junior at Shaw High School in New Orleans. Bush won MVP honors at the 2001 Michael Jordan camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was also a top-10 prospect at the 2001 Great American Shootout in Denton, Texas.
Baylor signed two high school players during the early signing period: Aaron Bruce, a 6-2 guard from Australia, and Mamadou Diene, a 7-0 center from Senegal. HoopScoop has rated Baylor's 2004 signing class No. 14 nationally.
