2016 July Evaluation Period

[HoosierAloha 29,955]

Pap, I know you said NY recruits see what others are doing and stick together so how does that effect potential recruits from the Northeast?

If we were to land a Tremont Waters or Justin Tucker how would that effect our chances with a Mo Bamba, Richards, or Diallo?

[HoosierAloha 29,955]

Would we possibly take two bigs? If we were to land a Deng Gak initially and then Mo Bamba decided he wanted to don the candy stripes and play in front of the greatest home crowd at a newly renovated Assembly Hall would we do that?

I guess having three true bugs in DD, Bamba, and Gak could work if DD is hitting his threes and defending smaller stretch 4s.

Meds have been making me tired. I might wake up from fantasyland soon.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,423]

1 hour ago, hoosierpap said:

I do think some if not most of those teams were 18/19

True.  But this weekend is another big weekend for the '17 class.

Adidas Hoops Shootout at multiple locations in the Indy area.  http://usayouthhoops.com/65801/adidas-hoosier-shootout-pending-ncaa-certification

Adidas Summer Championships in Las Vegas.  http://adidasuprising.com/adidas-grassroots-mens-events/adidas-uprising-summer-championships/

Nike EYBL with 2 separate events in Las Vegas.  http://www.d1circuit.com/news_article/show/671554-eybl-invades-vegas-for-the8-and-lv-classic

 

One of last weekend's events for the 18/19 class was the NY2LA Sports Summer Jam held in Mequon, WI.  A couple of familiar names from this event and one not-so-familiar - just yet.

TYLER HERRO – 2018 – G – WISCONSIN PLAYGROUND WARRIORS
Herro (Whitnall High) has ascended up the rankings of the top players in the class of 2018 nationally, and appeared to show no signs of slowing down at the Summer Jam. The 6’4 athletic guard can score at all three levels on the court, including a deadly midrange pull-up. He already sports several high major offers, including a pair from in-state powers Wisconsin and Marquette, and should continue to attract more nationally as he continues to grow and get stronger over his final two high school seasons.

MUSA JALLOW – 2018 – G – TEAM BLAZE
The Bloomington North (IN) already holds an offer from the Hoosiers as well as Vanderbilt, but had just about every Big Ten program tracking him throughout the Summer Jam. Jallow is 6’5 and has elite athleticism and strength for his age. Not many opponents at the loaded Summer Jam could stop him from scoring when he had a full head of steam driving the ball, and he was also a monster in the paint blocking shots and grabbing rebounds. As he continues to polish his perimeter skills, he will only become more dangerous on the court as he projects out as a guard. He should have his pick of the litter in terms of high major programs by the time his high school career concludes in two years.

ARMAAN FRANKLIN – 2019 – G – INDIANA ELITE
It’s tricky to project a player who just finished their freshman year of high school, but the Fishers (IN) 6’3 guard was too good at the Summer Jam to overlook. The righty was absolute cash from three-point line off the catch, and also scored a ton driving and finishing both with his right and left hand. Franklin was one of the best scorers in the 15U division and is a name to remember for recruiting junkies.
 

[hoosierpap 14,300]

Pap, I know you said NY recruits see what others are doing and stick together so how does that effect potential recruits from the Northeast?

If we were to land a Tremont Waters or Justin Tucker how would that effect our chances with a Mo Bamba, Richards, or Diallo?

I think that may depend on individual relationships between the recruits. I don't know the specifics of Jordan Tucker's relationship with the PSA boys though.

Waters is his own situation, I don't see that recruitment impacting or overlapping the NY prospects.

[hoosierpap 14,300]

Would we possibly take two bigs? If we were to land a Deng Gak initially and then Mo Bamba decided he wanted to don the candy stripes and play in front of the greatest home crowd at a newly renovated Assembly Hall would we do that?

I guess having three true bugs in DD, Bamba, and Gak could work if DD is hitting his threes and defending smaller stretch 4s.

Meds have been making me tired. I might wake up from fantasyland soon.

IU would absolutely take Bamba even if they had another big

[Stuhoo 76,156]

IU would absolutely take Bamba even if they had another big

Every school would take Bamba anytime, anyplace, regardless of who they have. Top 5 player with A++++ character.

[AKHoosier 6,608]

Thanks for doing these run-downs.  I haven't been paying that much attention to recruiting this summer, so this has been helpful in getting brought up to speed.

From what I know about the 2017 out-of-state kids, Bamba is #1 on my wish list.  It sounds like he's going to put a ton of stock into how teams do this year, and in his own words, he'll watch college basketball with a microscopic lens this season.

My hope is we get off a fast start and win at least 2 of 3 against Kansas, UNC, and Louisville, Thomas Bryant is averaging 16 and 10 while looking like a beast and shooting up draft boards, and we're ranked top 10 before the start of conference play.  That'll be huge for recruiting Bamba and the local guys.

[HoosierAloha 29,955]

I get they would take Bamba but would they go three bigs?

[hoosierpap 14,300]

I get they would take Bamba but would they go three bigs?

I guess probably at times they would but Gak and Garza probably wouldn't be worthy of heavy minutes year one. And I can't realistically see IU getting Richards and Bamba which would be the only situation you'd run into a (good) problem

[hoosierpap 14,300]

Thanks for doing these run-downs.  I haven't been paying that much attention to recruiting this summer, so this has been helpful in getting brought up to speed.

From what I know about the 2017 out-of-state kids, Bamba is #1 on my wish list.  It sounds like he's going to put a ton of stock into how teams do this year, and in his own words, he'll watch college basketball with a microscopic lens this season.

My hope is we get off a fast start and win at least 2 of 3 against Kansas, UNC, and Louisville, Thomas Bryant is averaging 16 and 10 while looking like a beast and shooting up draft boards, and we're ranked top 10 before the start of conference play.  That'll be huge for recruiting Bamba and the local guys.

Yeah man, figured w summer everyone is busy so a recap may help. I'll get to the wings soon enough there are just the most guys to touch on there

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,993]

Daniel Mading expected to find out mid-August if he gets a waiver to play at St. Anthony's in 2016-17.

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[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,423]

107 - 63 romp for the U.S. team. 

[hoosierpap 14,300]

 

Chip Miller @BLUEChip_Miller

WHERE ARE THEY: ORLANDO: - Rick Pitino

VEGAS FAB 48: - Tom Crean - John Calipari - Bill Self - Roy Williams - Sean Miller - Jay Wright

 

Jeff Borzello @jeffborzello

John Calipari, Jim Boeheim, Bill Self, Roy Williams, Tom Crean, Chris Mack, Steve Wojciechowski, Rick Barnes watching Expressions. #Fab48

 

Jeff Rabjohns @JeffRabjohns

Indiana two-deep with Tom Crean, Chuck Martin for Nick Richards and @XEliteBasketbal at the #Fab48 here in Vegas.

[hoosierpap 14,300]

Corey Evans @coreyevans_10

Kansas, UNC, Duke, Indiana, UCLA, Louisville, Georgia, Florida State, Georgia Tech all giving a look at five star 2018 Zion Williamson

[hoosierpap 14,300]

On 7/19/2016 at 5:30 PM, hoosierpap said:

July may be my favorite month for recruiting because the picture, typically, begins to become clearer and based on that some more educated guesses can be made as to what the class will look like. After July, I would expect many of IU's targets to begin scheduling officials. Obviously, those OV's can switch up any recruitment so any type of "leader" talk we have here can shift around between now and the early signing period in Nov, and certainly the late for those waiting until spring. I'm going to keep this to '17 recruits.

 

 

This could get a little lengthy so I think I'm going to just do it in sections. I'll do PG's (because it's the situation that is most interesting to me) before I go out and either tonight or tomorrow morning will do wings/bigs/guards.

 

Point Guards (1's)

IU is clearly looking for a PG in '17. Among those are Tremont Waters, Trevon Duval, Matt Coleman, Paul Scruggs and Isaiah Washington. David Beatty may be more of a combo but he recently came out and said he'd be visiting IU in August.Scruggs is another combo but claims to want to be a PG so i'm including him bc that's where IU is, at least telling him. 

This is the big "domino" position and IU has got themselves in a good spot with everyone above. I'm going to start with my favorite of them, Waters. Tremont Waters is from CT and UCONN had long been the rumored favorite (for literally years) but I think that has changed as his recruitment opened up with some big boys stepping in. This kid is good, and smart, and everything you want in a PG. He is short (5'9-5'10 ish) but UK and Duke have offered recently so that tells you about the skills he has on both ends despite his size. Waters certainly has interest in those schools but common narrative around Philly is Duke prefers Quade Green (from Neumann Goretti in Philly), UK prefers Trae Young (who is also seriously considering Oklahoma, Texas-where he recently visited and is currently being coached by Shaka on the USA team, fwiw), Kansas is going to press for Collin Sexton and Waters has cooled on UCONN. This puts IU near the drivers seat for Waters, if not in it. Another possibility is Young chooses Texas, UK goes all out for Waters, and Matt Coleman, whose perceived leader is Texas, is now the one left. I know this seems like IU is left with the scraps, but these are some really, really good scraps. Waters and Coleman are both really, really good PG's that I don't think a single coach would be upset with having on the roster.

Duval is really just getting started but there is some UCLA buzz. Schools have been waiting for him to figure out his academics a bit and I was surprised to hear him say IU was even still involved.

UCONN offered Scruggs today, but that isn't happening. A speculating mind would say they see Waters slipping away and that may be a "payback" type of offer. "You came to our backyard, we're coming to yours" type of deal. The recent buzz has been Scruggs to Xavier, but some still say it's 50/50. We saw Xavier really prioritize Scruggs but IU went out of their way on more than one occasion this July to see the Indiana boys, Scruggs included. Scruggs does see immediate playing time at PG at Xavier, and that may prevail. Not much IU can do about that. 

I just threw Washington in there because IU is recruiting him and Chuck has the ties. Honestly, mainly threw him in because someone on this board said he was close to an offer. I have not heard that but that certainly doesn't mean it isn't true. He did mention in an article on zagsblog today that Texas A&M, Minnesota, New Mexico, Seton Hall were the schools recruiting him hardest. 

 

I'll get around to the other targets shortly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22 hours ago, hoosierpap said:

Continuing on yesterday...

 

 

Bigs (4/5)

Obviously, the big catch here is Mo Bamba, the freakish athlete and consensus top 5 player in the 2017 class. IU is doing work and didn't miss a PSA Cardinal game this April or July, by my account. Now IU is also recruiting Deng Gak from PSA and Brandon Randolph but the focus there is Bamba. Bamba can go anywhere with Duke and UK being the blind leaders, but that's just a lazy assumption, imo. If you dig deeper, you're looking into serious connections Chuck Martin has fostered with Munch Williams. Not to mention how impressed Munch and others are with Thomas Bryant's improvement. These NY guys stick together, it's hard to explain and I'm not really going to try but there is a certain attitude. Just don't close the book on IU. Spring decision, most likely so a long way to go but TB and IU's season could play a role here.

Next is Nick Richards, who is also would make an immediate impact player. At 6'11, the defense and rebounding is there and he seems to be ever improving on the offensive end. Richards, I believe, grew up in Queens or at least in the area so credit Chuck again here. NY is quite the hotbed and seems akin to KJ DMV presence but that's another topic for another day. UK offered and is apparently pursuing but IU didn't miss a game in July and I would expect them to get an official if he announced a list today. Not a ton of intel to support that, but I'm told IU is in it. This could be another domino situation, but a team can take more wings and bigs than the PG situation I described earlier where these elite guards are going to go different places. Keep an eye on that.

Luka Garza is stepping down to the next tier. I'm not a fan, and that description that I refuted in his thread, I still refute. His lack of athleticism hinders him on both ends. I saw a full game where the screen and role was used time and time again against him because if he gets switched it's over. Enough bashing the kid, he does provide a presence and can step out and shoot it some. I think he could evolve into a good player in the right system, but I don't necessarily see IU as that system. IU did make a point to watch him in July and I'd say they get an official if they push so possibly plan C? (I accidently deleted a portion of this and sorta forget what all I said so...sorry)

Deng Gak brings us back to the PSA Cardinals. I don't know a ton about his recruitment and was surprised to learn how long IU has been involved. I do think you see his recruitment continue to blossom as the more astute staffs have taken notice despite his limited role on his PSA AAU team. Duke and Oklahoma offered in the spring and IU has been there, as I mention before. He is thin and needs to put on some weight but definitely can impact the game on both sides. I'd expect IU to go full bore as I mentioned the connections with Munch Williams/TB/PSA/Chuck above.

 

 

Gotta run, I'll do wings later today!

 

 

 

 

For this, I'm including 2's and 3's. In most systems they're essentially the same thing. Crean asks his 2 to handle a little more, but whatever, everyone handles the ball these days.

 

Wings (2/3)

Committed: Al Durham

IU's top targets here everyone is pretty familiar with in Kris Wilkes and Malik Williams. The storyline has been pretty well known on both of them but we can summarize it now. Wilkes is open to going away from home for college as evident by his scheduled trips to UCLA and Washington. UCLA may actually be a player, and who knows about Washington but Wilkes has connections that run deep with Michael Porter and his family. Outside of that, Wilkes said he will drop schools here in about a week who have not offered. I'm hearing the UK offer isn't coming. I know there was some random crystal ball projection for UM but...anyways. Truth is, there is a long way to go here but IU is giving it the full effort and will continue. I'd expect them to max out visits during his upcoming HS season and be in a good spot come decision time next spring. IU may not get an official but I wouldn't look too much into that as he already knows IU with 10+ visits.

Malik Williams has been trending UL this July per twitter and all that. I'm not sure if that's simply a result of beat writers observing the full court press UL's staff has put on him this July or something people in Ft. Wayne are actually saying. Someone may have more info on that but I was told "not a lot has changed." With Williams playing on the independent circuit, he typically requires special trips to see him which are inefficient for staffs and Pitino being all over him shows their priorities. IU has certainly been there but more with Chuck and MSU with Dane Fife. I think those are pretty well known as the top 3, maybe in that order. Received an offer from UCONN this week which is out of left field given what he's said forever about proximity to home.

Jordan Tucker out of White Plains, NY is someone IU has been all over for the better part of a year and a half. Tucker has been to Bloomington and the interest is mutual. I know some have concerns that he may be a bit overrated but this could be the best shooter in the class. Combine that with his smarts, body, athleticism,and I believe he impacts the game at the HM level from day one. There are a few holes in his game but they're fixable. If you're only looking at a box score I think that has some to do with his role on his AAU team. I'm told that Syracuse is going to be tough to beat out here, as with most kids from his neck of the woods, but I heard the same about Thomas Bryant. Regardless, common thought is it's Syracuse and also important to note he recently said (in some interview?) he is looking for Duke and UNC offers. IU will get an official and things can go a number of directions at that point.

Justin Smith is an interesting prospect out of Illinois. Pretty clear in my eyes that he is underrated in the rankings. Parents both went to Illinois but they haven't made him a priority, in part, because he made it known early on that wouldn't be a factor and he plans to do his own thing. Very, very smart kid and he's going to explore the academic schools and Stanford is a real player. I don't think he's been there but if the official goes well I think it's a real possibility. This may sound like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth, but I think when it's all said and done he ends up in a better basketball situation where there is a focus on academics. Oddly, despite all this academic talk (and it's real, I don't mean top percentile among just athletes) I can't get an answer on major or anything so hard to guess schools based on that. Crean loves this guy and I'd expect the full push and probably a Nov signing as he recently said he'd cut his list after July. Look for IU to get an official and be right in the mix.

Brandon Randolph is tough to figure out. He's been hurt the past two years so his recruitment is just getting off the ground. IU likes him, and how could you not, but hard to say who is in there and who is not especially because his AAU team is stacked. IU is recruiting Gak and Bamba from his PSA team. Off the top of my head I only remember him visiting UL last month sometime. Stay tuned on this one, I'm just not sure.

Chaundee Brown is an interesting prospect. Really has the tools to be something special and seems to be an exceptional kid, as well. He's out of Florida but I'm told distance is not an issue and may even be preferred. Along with the recent IU offer came a Kansas offer and I think he has more coming. It's going to be a fight but it seems the staff is really into him. Expect IU to really push for this OV which could work out well for IU.

Other guys include Jermaine Samuels who has really come on this summer. He plays with Nick Richards and Tremont Waters on that Expressions team so IU has indirectly done their homework and like him enough to give him the offer. People have been raving about his skill set and recent play so I'm on board but can't provide a ton of insight into his recruitment. Hamidou Diallo is an elite level player who IU has put in some work with but not sure that's gotten off the ground. I think IU will still try but not sure I see them w an official right now. 

There may be some others I'm missing, just ask!

 

 

[Stuhoo 76,156]

 

Many reasons for optimism throughout.

For those who worry that we are somehow "behind" other high-majors in 2017, note that the other high majors also have not had many (if any) major signings yet. This is primarily a product of top 50 recruits realizing that if they wait, their top options will still largely be open and the same.

IUBB's mission to all but insure a very, very good 2017 class?

1. Win this year, especially against KU, UNC, and UL on national television.
2. Continue to function without team chemistry issues and incidents.

That's it! These reachable accomplishments will all but insure a '17 class in which we "re-load", not "re-build".

 

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,993]

Thanks Pap. Has the sound of a solid recruiting class. Might not be one that makes the analysts pee their pants but it looks like it could be the type where Crean gets the type of kids he wants.

I truly realize the potential of chemistry and I love that Crean seems to be focusing on good kids with good families/parent(s).

Durham appears to be an example. McSwain seems like an example. Many others too.

The hard thing about some of these kids (lower rated) is they realize they aren't as good as some of these other Alphas on the AAU circuit and you have to convince them that they can beat them.

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[WayneFleekHoosier 46,993]

On the other hand some of those lower rated kids have a fire because they think they are just as good but aren't getting any attention. I like the ones with fire and confidence.

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[hoosierpap 14,300]

Stu Jackson @Stuart_Jackson1

Indiana head coach Tom Crean, assistant coaches Chuck Martin and Rob Judson here watching Kris Wilkes and Paul Scruggs. #iubb

 

3 deep...

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,993]

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