Rating the Recruiting Classes

[lehigh90Participant]

Just thought I would start a new thread for the New Year, and see what people’s opinions are on this. Recruiting classes under the current Brett Reed regime. As a coach, you basically have 2 things to do, recruit and coach. I would put Reed in as an average game day coach. He is not going to dazzle you with his wizardry, in my opinion, but he has a fairly solid track record with wins and losses. At this level, a really good coach makes a big difference, and I think if Reed was "special" you might see some upset wins over the good OOC teams. He seems to stress the defensive end of the floor, which I like. But, he seems slow to adjust in game. We are often close, but never quite there. But, this thread is more about his recruiting prowess (or the ability of his assts).

I am not sure what his first "class" was, although his first year as coach was 07-08. So, I’m going to include all of the current classes in this analysis. If he didn’t recruit them as the head coach, he was the associate coach (lead assistant) or head for all classes. Before I lay it out, I am going to lay out my criteria for arguments sake.

In a typical 3 player class:

3 starters over their career, 1 star over 1000 points for career = A

2 starters + one solid contributor = B

1 starter + 2 contributors = C

3 contributors = D

Less than that = F

Plusses and minuses can be factored in when you look at when the player made their impact or became a starter.

Class of 2012 (Adams, Manieri, Hamilton) – This class has given you one starter late in his career (Hamilton), a spot starter at times during his career (Adams), and a bench role player in Manieri. Two bigs and a wing. Nobody will average double digits for their career or in a season.. I am going to grade it out at C-.

Class of 2013 (McCollum, Greiner, Knutson) – This class will go down as the greatest recruiting class in Lehigh history. 3 starters, 2 very early in career, and all 3 could score 1,000 points with GK and CM over 1,500. CM over 2,000. One big, 1 wing, 1 combo. I grade this at A+.

Class of 2014 (D’Orazio, McKnight, McCarthy) – I know it is early, but you have to project a bit as you move along. 1 big, 1 pg, 1 wing. You have MM, a starter from day one, AD who is becoming a key reserve, and KM, who would have played solid minutes, if healthy. MM projects to a 4 year starter, possible 1,000 point scorer. AD is probably a 4 year bench player. KM projects to be a starting center in his last 1 or 2 seasons. BB really wasn’t in this class, although recruited and now here. He could be a bonus, but at this point does not project to a starting role. I give this class a B.

Class of 2015 (Baltimore, Schaefer, Cvrkalj) – I am projecting this class as follows, CS being the starting pg in his senior year, CB starting 1 or 2 of his final seasons, and SC contributing as a 3 point specialist later in career, not a consistant starter. None will start this season, and none will likely start next season. I don’t see any averaging double figures. 1 pg, 1 wing, 1 big. Early grade B-/C+.

Class of 2016 (Chuku, Goldsborough, Carter) – Very early guess is that this will be Reed’s second best class at Lehigh.

In this, I project these starting lineups, with available pool of talent.

2011-12 – CM, MM, GK, JH, HG
2012-13 – CM, MM, GK, HG, Carter
2013-14 – MM, Carter, KM, Chuku, CB/Goldsborough
2014-15 – Carter, CS, Chuku, CB/Goldsborough, KM

I know by this point you realize this analysis is a stretch.

So, it is a mixed bag. After the ’12 class, I was very hopeful that the program was really going to pick it up on the recruiting trail, and in success. Now, we are left to wonder whether or not 2012 was a fluke.

[LUHoops00Participant]

90 – Can’t disagree with much below, good/fair post. You know i’m high on carter, and I see you’re the same, so I too am hopeful that next year’s class can be an impact group. This current frosh class is hard to predict, obviously, as its early. However, using your scoring/scale, you might have been a bit kind/generous to them, as I would have had them at a C/C- right now. However, if you slide in McCarthy, and you had him in right recruiting class, but sliding him into the CS, SC, CB class in terms of when he will graduate since he has 3 years of eligibility left will help that class out, as KM could have the biggest impact on the program of the four. I like CS, but he figures to be a 3-year backup due to MM. SC, I like his offensive potential/upside, but in honesty where are his minutes coming from next year with MM, CJ, AD, CS all returning and Carter who we think could jump AD and SC as first guard off the bench. CB, shows really really limited offensive potential right now, and is a def/reb guy who is despite long wingspan legit legit undersized 4 at 6’6. If Baltimore were 6’9/6’10 he’d have biggest impact of this class, but we’ve been through this before……

Speaking of KM, what do folks think his upside is for LU? I really liked him last year in what limited action I saw him in. He showed a nice feel/touch down low on offense, some nice traditional back to the basket post moves, and is certainly a big body who can take up space down low. I hope he comes back next year fully healthy and in phenomenal shape after having missed a year, because he could be huge missing link to next year’s team. As I outlined in rebounding for next year vs this year, you have KM, JC, and JG replacing the rebounding of the 3J senior class. Can KM be a 15-20 minute guy next year, and 25+ in final 2 years of eligibility? Can he be a 12-6 guy?

Also, not to change topics, but this JR class deserves a nickname for their final 50+ games in an LU uniform. I’ve been working on it, but not come to any great conclusion other then the fact that I’m sick of hearing of the big 3 because I’m a Knicks fan living in Boston. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Maybe something to do with the midwest cause all 3 hail from the midwest?

LUHoops00

[norcalfanParticipant]

Well since I am up:). I sure hope the players are not reading this board. You know how I feel about class of 12. I think there are a combination of factors here: Reed did not recruit Hamilton and Adams, Logie did. I am not sure who recruited Maneri and if I recall, he played football and that was more his focus. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Reed was in transition from associate to head coach and did not develop the three recruits. Most head coaches like to pick their own recruits, similar to what Paulsen did at Bucknell. I pick on Paulsen because I follow Andoh at BU. Reed picked the class of 13 and it is clear he gave them a chance, confidence was there from day one with CJ and GK.

On the other hand, I like the analysis overall. I have a few questions. How sure are we that McCarthy will play next year? How serious is his injury? How would the class be rated if he is not part of the team?

[norcalfanParticipant]

"LUHoops00" wrote: 90 –
Also, not to change topics, but this JR class deserves a nickname for their final 50+ games in an LU uniform. I’ve been working on it, but not come to any great conclusion other then the fact that I’m sick of hearing of the big 3 because I’m a Knicks fan living in Boston. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Maybe something to do with the midwest cause all 3 hail from the midwest?

LUHoops00

It does not make sense, but I like the word CRISPY as it refers to their style of play. It’s late, I will try again when my brain is less tired

[norcalfanParticipant]

I think Carrington and Hall’s class should get rated. I thought this was really good class. Reed was the lead recruiter at that time. Thoughts?

[lehigh90Participant]

Few thoughts on the development of this thread.

norcal, you make a good point about the last graduated class. I should have included them in my analysis in all fairness. If my recollection is accurate that class would have been Zahir Carrington, Marquis Hall and Dave Buchberger. 1 pg, 1 big, 1 wing. That class had 3 starters, Hall as a freshmen, Carrington later on, and Buchberger as a senior. Carrington was a great player (over 1,000 points), same can be said of Hall (one of their best, if not best, PGs of all time), and by his senior campaign Buchberger was a legit 3 point weapon. I think both Hall and Carrington were first team all PL at one time. Buchberger, I would call him a Jordan Hamilton type. Solid player who contributed nicely at times. You would have to rate this class an A. Close behind the GK, CM and HG class.

LuHoops00, on your question about KM, I really liked the little I saw last season from him. The game that sticks out to me is the Lafayette road game where he played 10-15 minutes and scored about 8 points on the low block, posting up against Mintz, who was a star for Lafayette. His presence in that game really affected the outcome. There is no doubt that he is a big body, space eater in the low block and paint. Plus, he looks to have some developed post up moves and looks to be a good positional rebounder. The question mark on him is going to be athleticism and foot speed/quickness. Fortunately, players his size can be effective in the PL, without great athleticism based on shear size. Let’s face it, if they were bordering on 7 feet and athletic, they wouldn’t be playing in the PL. So, I think he could be a nice player for Lehigh going forward assuming his health is OK. I think he clearly would be the first big of the bench this season, if healthy.

Last point, on norcal’s point about hoping the players don’t read this blog. That is an interesting issue. Some, like myself, try to give critical analysis of the players and coaching staff on this blog. It is really the only place to do it. I hope it doesn’t offend readers, players or coaches, but realize it might. Others tend to support only and don’t criticize. I think we all try to give honest assessments. If these players were professional athletes, certainly nobody would worry about being critical, and that is probably true of the major basketball programs in the country, as those players are quasi-professional. For Lehigh level athletes, it is OK to be critical of true student-athletes, who are going to be productive members of society first, and perhaps athletes second? I’m sure we all have our opinion on this. On the one hand, the coaches are professionals paid to perform a service, and the athletes are getting a valued scholarship worth in excess of probably $200K by the time they graduate. The best 1-2 players on the team will play professional basketball at some point, most likely in Europe, which can be quite lucrative. On the other hand, they are still fairly young players, playing more for a love of the game, than a future in it, and who are we to criticize their abilities. I don’t know the answer. As athletes age and their abilities increase, they have to develop a tougher skin to criticism. Not sure, when that time starts based on age or ability.

[StablerBumParticipant]

Few thoughts to add:

I know we are all high on Devon Carter based on the video clip he has online and his ESPN rating, and you can’t count me among those very excited about his potential. However, I am intrigued by the possibility of "going big" next year and moving Holden to the 3 with KM or CB starting alongside Gabe. Gabe has said that he feels he is more a 4 than 5, and against bigger teams, I like this lineup a lot. Against small quick teams (which there are a lot of at the mid-major level) Holden may struggle on D a little and slide to the 4. But I think that KM’s return will open up some very interesting possibilities.

On that note, I would also like to say that I am high on Conroy Baltimore. I realize that he has not played a ton, and is undersized for the 4 spot. But the man can rebound, and that is a skill that is ALWAYS in demand. He has also shown some flashes of post moves and an ability to finish around the basket. I would like to see him slide into John Adams role next year. Bring energy off the bench, rebound like crazy, try to get some deflections and create some havoc on defense, maybe get a putback or two, and a job well done.

As for KM’s potential, I think it is huge for this team. A true space eater and back to the basket scorer is something this team lacks. The thing about the kind of size that KM has, is that he doesn’t need to grab every rebound. By simply being near the basket, he carves out space and our quicker guys like CJ, HG, and CB can swoop in for the rebound. Also, he seems to be a patient and smart offensive player. While Maneri is big, he doesn’t really ever look very comfortable on the court. KM looked comfortable last year and I expect him to grow more comfortable as he continues his career. I think that 12-6 and maybe even 14-7 is within the realm of possibility for him as an upperclassmen. And I think he will be the key to next year’s team.

On the subject of critiquing the players – I think that all posters stay respectful. I recently finished a college basketball career at the D3 level, and though we were true student athletes – no fan could have critiqued our performance more harshly than we did our own. I would be shocked if players reading this board are hearing criticisms of their game that they aren’t aware of on their own or have never heard before. It would be a different story if we were harassing players on their facebook accounts or heckling them at games, but on the whole this board is very supportive and only wishes the best for the team. The occasional discussion of roles and strengths and weaknesses of individuals and the team is really the only way to have educated and engaging discussion about the team.

Whew that was a long one!

[lehigh90Participant]

I love the idea of going "big", particularly against the quality OOC opponents, where we have had difficulty in matching their size on the glass. Next year’s team also should have the ability to go to a small, quick lineup with GK, CM, HG, MM, CS and/or Carter, which should give them nice flexibility. Hopefully, if you adjust with the different style lineups, the coaching staff realizes that you can play different defenses to mix and match your talent. Go small, and go to a 1-3-1 full court pressing style, or go big and pack in a zone to protect players and foul trouble. Or, go against a big time scorer and run a box and one. It doesn’t have to be all man to man.

I worry a bit about KM’s ability to stay on the floor a lot of minutes and not be in foul trouble. I don’t know about him in particular, but a lot of big guys with slower feet, are often burdened with foul trouble. When you are that size and don’t move well, you make a lot of contact, and draw a lot of fouls.

I don’t have a ton to go on, but I get the feeling that Devon Carter’s talent level is going to be so high, you won’t be able to keep him on the bench. He looks like a real player.

[LUHoops00Participant]

Couple quick follow-up points to some posts since I last tackled this thread.(edited after re-reading post, certainly not quick!!!)

1.) Hall/Carrington/Buchberger class gets an A. Two studs, one starter/role player, and championship results.

2.) I think Norcal/90 missed the Ojo/Keefer/Small/Safstrom class, which was last years graduating class. Using below criteria, that class gets a C+, Ojo as starter with keefer/small in back-up roles. Bump up to a C+ cause Keefer was ROY and played a lot until CJ came.

3.) CRISP as nickname, oy vey norcal, think needs to be somewhat related to their names/initials/team name/fact that there is 3 of them. Not complaining, but that isn’t doing it for me(note I haven’t thought of better one!)

4.) Sbum/90 – Glad to see your also high on KM, I agree, great write-ups and upside I’m agreeing with. I’m a big KM fan, think he is first big off bench, and so helps balance line-up versus a big conference school when he is in line-up at the 5. Sliding Gabe to the natural 4 with Greiner at the 3, CJ at 2 and MM at the 1 is a great well rounded/big line-up vs big schools. And we obviously still have ability to go small with the large staple of guards. I am praying we don’t end up missing KM this year, cause I think he would have made this team much more well rounded by helping front court.

5.) Sbum – on Baltimore, I’ve truly not seen enough of him to fully commit to an opinion. Having said that, from what I have seen, my take which I’ll reiterate is that he is limited offensively right now and is undersized for the 4. He doesn’t give you enough offense to play the 3, so he is kind of in between spots right now. I saw a nice little lefty jump hook vs bryant, but saw 2/3 others he threw up missed entirely from close range. I guess I’ve not seen some of the moves you’ve referenced below. I agree, as posted prior, he has knack for rebounds, but in my opinion the big question for him, which could hurt your upside opinion of him, is did he just get recruited over? Realistically, we have 3 newcomers to next years team that are taller and bigger then CB, in JC, JG, and KM returning from medical red shirt season. So, minutes in front court next year that are up for grabs are coming from the Maneri/Adams graduating minutes, which right now are totaling 21.6 combined. You’d think that a nice clip of those would go to KM, if healthy, say he gets 15 of those. Then the remaining 6 plus CB’s 7 from this year are all that is left and realistically being fought for by CB, JC, and JG. Now, JG appears to be a legit 4 and JC it seems as more of a 3. JG I’ve seen listed at solid 6’8 via most sources, while JC I’ve seen about half the time at 6’7 and half at 6’8. So if JC is truly a 3, perhaps CB is fighting over maybe 11-13 minutes with JG, but a JC at the 4 in PL play with Reed prowess for small line-ups isn’t unlikely. I hope to see JC in Boston in mid-February, so I will know more when I get to see him live, with regards to what he projects to be. If anyone has any good info on JG, please post it, as there is really limited information out there on the kid in terms of articles and videos. I know his AAU team, DC Assault, is highly thought of though.

6.) 65- you know of KM Health status? From what I remember you telling me at St Johns, was that injury happened last spring, not in summer or late summer pre-classes. So if injury happened in say April/May 2011, we’re talking 1.5 years of recovery time pre-November opener next year….any updates would be appreciated.

7.) Regarding commenting on skills of coaching staff and players, my quick 2 cents are, the more of us there are floating around the better for the program, because it means more people are paying attention. We all comment cause at the end of the day we want LU to go undefeated and win the NCAA tourney, bottom line, we bleed brown and white….offering true feelings, whether critical or not, are fair game in my opinion.

8.) Norcal – are you same norcalfan on bucknell bisons board? If so, I saw you mentioned Andoh, are you LU fan or BU fan? Or just fan of Cali kids? sorry if we covered this already my friend.

LUHoops00

[norcalfanParticipant]

"lehigh90" wrote: Few thoughts on the development of this thread.

Last point, on norcal’s point about hoping the players don’t read this blog. That is an interesting issue. Some, like myself, try to give critical analysis of the players and coaching staff on this blog. It is really the only place to do it. I hope it doesn’t offend readers, players or coaches, but realize it might. Others tend to support only and don’t criticize. I think we all try to give honest assessments. If these players were professional athletes, certainly nobody would worry about being critical, and that is probably true of the major basketball programs in the country, as those players are quasi-professional. For Lehigh level athletes, it is OK to be critical of true student-athletes, who are going to be productive members of society first, and perhaps athletes second? I’m sure we all have our opinion on this. On the one hand, the coaches are professionals paid to perform a service, and the athletes are getting a valued scholarship worth in excess of probably $200K by the time they graduate. The best 1-2 players on the team will play professional basketball at some point, most likely in Europe, which can be quite lucrative. On the other hand, they are still fairly young players, playing more for a love of the game, than a future in it, and who are we to criticize their abilities. I don’t know the answer. As athletes age and their abilities increase, they have to develop a tougher skin to criticism. Not sure, when that time starts based on age or ability.

Lehigh 90,
Thank you for your very professional response to my post. I knew it would draw some comments, but yours are well received. You are corect in they are getting a great education and expensive one at the that. They are student athletes, working a full time job, in and out of season, while managing the rigors of school. I wish them all great futures.

[norcalfanParticipant]

"LUHoops00" wrote: Couple quick follow-up points to some posts since I last tackled this thread.(edited after re-reading post, certainly not quick!!!)

1.) Hall/Carrington/Buchberger class gets an A. Two studs, one starter/role player, and championship results.

2.) I think Norcal/90 missed the Ojo/Keefer/Small/Safstrom class, which was last years graduating class. Using below criteria, that class gets a C+, Ojo as starter with keefer/small in back-up roles. Bump up to a C+ cause Keefer was ROY and played a lot until CJ came.

3.) CRISP as nickname, oy vey norcal, think needs to be somewhat related to their names/initials/team name/fact that there is 3 of them. Not complaining, but that isn’t doing it for me(note I haven’t thought of better one!)

4.) Sbum/90 – Glad to see your also high on KM, I agree, great write-ups and upside I’m agreeing with. I’m a big KM fan, think he is first big off bench, and so helps balance line-up versus a big conference school when he is in line-up at the 5. Sliding Gabe to the natural 4 with Greiner at the 3, CJ at 2 and MM at the 1 is a great well rounded/big line-up vs big schools. And we obviously still have ability to go small with the large staple of guards. I am praying we don’t end up missing KM this year, cause I think he would have made this team much more well rounded by helping front court.

5.) Sbum – on Baltimore, I’ve truly not seen enough of him to fully commit to an opinion. Having said that, from what I have seen, my take which I’ll reiterate is that he is limited offensively right now and is undersized for the 4. He doesn’t give you enough offense to play the 3, so he is kind of in between spots right now. I saw a nice little lefty jump hook vs bryant, but saw 2/3 others he threw up missed entirely from close range. I guess I’ve not seen some of the moves you’ve referenced below. I agree, as posted prior, he has knack for rebounds, but in my opinion the big question for him, which could hurt your upside opinion of him, is did he just get recruited over? Realistically, we have 3 newcomers to next years team that are taller and bigger then CB, in JC, JG, and KM returning from medical red shirt season. So, minutes in front court next year that are up for grabs are coming from the Maneri/Adams graduating minutes, which right now are totaling 21.6 combined. You’d think that a nice clip of those would go to KM, if healthy, say he gets 15 of those. Then the remaining 6 plus CB’s 7 from this year are all that is left and realistically being fought for by CB, JC, and JG. Now, JG appears to be a legit 4 and JC it seems as more of a 3. JG I’ve seen listed at solid 6’8 via most sources, while JC I’ve seen about half the time at 6’7 and half at 6’8. So if JC is truly a 3, perhaps CB is fighting over maybe 11-13 minutes with JG, but a JC at the 4 in PL play with Reed prowess for small line-ups isn’t unlikely. I hope to see JC in Boston in mid-February, so I will know more when I get to see him live, with regards to what he projects to be. If anyone has any good info on JG, please post it, as there is really limited information out there on the kid in terms of articles and videos. I know his AAU team, DC Assault, is highly thought of though.

6.) 65- you know of KM Health status? From what I remember you telling me at St Johns, was that injury happened last spring, not in summer or late summer pre-classes. So if injury happened in say April/May 2011, we’re talking 1.5 years of recovery time pre-November opener next year….any updates would be appreciated.

7.) Regarding commenting on skills of coaching staff and players, my quick 2 cents are, the more of us there are floating around the better for the program, because it means more people are paying attention. We all comment cause at the end of the day we want LU to go undefeated and win the NCAA tourney, bottom line, we bleed brown and white….offering true feelings, whether critical or not, are fair game in my opinion.

8.) Norcal – are you same norcalfan on bucknell bisons board? If so, I saw you mentioned Andoh, are you LU fan or BU fan? Or just fan of Cali kids? sorry if we covered this already my friend.

LUHoops00

"LUHoops00" wrote: Couple quick follow-up points to some posts since I last tackled this thread.(edited after re-reading post, certainly not quick!!!)

1.) Hall/Carrington/Buchberger class gets an A. Two studs, one starter/role player, and championship results.

2.) I think Norcal/90 missed the Ojo/Keefer/Small/Safstrom class, which was last years graduating class. Using below criteria, that class gets a C+, Ojo as starter with keefer/small in back-up roles. Bump up to a C+ cause Keefer was ROY and played a lot until CJ came.

3.) CRISP as nickname, oy vey norcal, think needs to be somewhat related to their names/initials/team name/fact that there is 3 of them. Not complaining, but that isn’t doing it for me(note I haven’t thought of better one!)

4.) Sbum/90 – Glad to see your also high on KM, I agree, great write-ups and upside I’m agreeing with. I’m a big KM fan, think he is first big off bench, and so helps balance line-up versus a big conference school when he is in line-up at the 5. Sliding Gabe to the natural 4 with Greiner at the 3, CJ at 2 and MM at the 1 is a great well rounded/big line-up vs big schools. And we obviously still have ability to go small with the large staple of guards. I am praying we don’t end up missing KM this year, cause I think he would have made this team much more well rounded by helping front court.

5.) Sbum – on Baltimore, I’ve truly not seen enough of him to fully commit to an opinion. Having said that, from what I have seen, my take which I’ll reiterate is that he is limited offensively right now and is undersized for the 4. He doesn’t give you enough offense to play the 3, so he is kind of in between spots right now. I saw a nice little lefty jump hook vs bryant, but saw 2/3 others he threw up missed entirely from close range. I guess I’ve not seen some of the moves you’ve referenced below. I agree, as posted prior, he has knack for rebounds, but in my opinion the big question for him, which could hurt your upside opinion of him, is did he just get recruited over? Realistically, we have 3 newcomers to next years team that are taller and bigger then CB, in JC, JG, and KM returning from medical red shirt season. So, minutes in front court next year that are up for grabs are coming from the Maneri/Adams graduating minutes, which right now are totaling 21.6 combined. You’d think that a nice clip of those would go to KM, if healthy, say he gets 15 of those. Then the remaining 6 plus CB’s 7 from this year are all that is left and realistically being fought for by CB, JC, and JG. Now, JG appears to be a legit 4 and JC it seems as more of a 3. JG I’ve seen listed at solid 6’8 via most sources, while JC I’ve seen about half the time at 6’7 and half at 6’8. So if JC is truly a 3, perhaps CB is fighting over maybe 11-13 minutes with JG, but a JC at the 4 in PL play with Reed prowess for small line-ups isn’t unlikely. I hope to see JC in Boston in mid-February, so I will know more when I get to see him live, with regards to what he projects to be. If anyone has any good info on JG, please post it, as there is really limited information out there on the kid in terms of articles and videos. I know his AAU team, DC Assault, is highly thought of though.

6.) 65- you know of KM Health status? From what I remember you telling me at St Johns, was that injury happened last spring, not in summer or late summer pre-classes. So if injury happened in say April/May 2011, we’re talking 1.5 years of recovery time pre-November opener next year….any updates would be appreciated.

7.) Regarding commenting on skills of coaching staff and players, my quick 2 cents are, the more of us there are floating around the better for the program, because it means more people are paying attention. We all comment cause at the end of the day we want LU to go undefeated and win the NCAA tourney, bottom line, we bleed brown and white….offering true feelings, whether critical or not, are fair game in my opinion.

8.) Norcal – are you same norcalfan on bucknell bisons board? If so, I saw you mentioned Andoh, are you LU fan or BU fan? Or just fan of Cali kids? sorry if we covered this already my friend.

LUHoops00

No problem. All three . I was a fan of Lumpkins too. Andoh is not on the floor as much as I would like, but I keep track, plus nobody can win an argument with Bison137. Tony Johnson from Lafayette is also from Cali. I just enjoy reading the boards of LU And BU. AU’s board was more of a challenge when I first started the boards. I watched Adams, Lumpkins and Andoh in high school and continue to attend the games at their high schools. I am waiting for Johnson to get healthy and then I will support him. I know it is not popular to support Lafayette. I will only post on their board ok?

[norcalfanParticipant]

[quote="StablerBum"]Few thoughts to add:

Stablebum,

You too are correct in that the critiques are not harsh and they probably do hear it. I am in the process of a neice starting this game at the competitive level and may be a little sentimental as I am protective of her. Yes, I am sure the players know their weakness and what others think of them. At the end of the day, LU can be proud they graduate student athletes. No scandals is a huge deal in this error of sports. My only regret is that we don’t have more posters who can comment on our lively discussions.

[StablerBumParticipant]

"LUHoops00" wrote: 5.) Sbum – on Baltimore, I’ve truly not seen enough of him to fully commit to an opinion. Having said that, from what I have seen, my take which I’ll reiterate is that he is limited offensively right now and is undersized for the 4. He doesn’t give you enough offense to play the 3, so he is kind of in between spots right now. I saw a nice little lefty jump hook vs bryant, but saw 2/3 others he threw up missed entirely from close range. I guess I’ve not seen some of the moves you’ve referenced below. I agree, as posted prior, he has knack for rebounds, but in my opinion the big question for him, which could hurt your upside opinion of him, is did he just get recruited over? Realistically, we have 3 newcomers to next years team that are taller and bigger then CB, in JC, JG, and KM returning from medical red shirt season. So, minutes in front court next year that are up for grabs are coming from the Maneri/Adams graduating minutes, which right now are totaling 21.6 combined. You’d think that a nice clip of those would go to KM, if healthy, say he gets 15 of those. Then the remaining 6 plus CB’s 7 from this year are all that is left and realistically being fought for by CB, JC, and JG. Now, JG appears to be a legit 4 and JC it seems as more of a 3. JG I’ve seen listed at solid 6’8 via most sources, while JC I’ve seen about half the time at 6’7 and half at 6’8. So if JC is truly a 3, perhaps CB is fighting over maybe 11-13 minutes with JG, but a JC at the 4 in PL play with Reed prowess for small line-ups isn’t unlikely. I hope to see JC in Boston in mid-February, so I will know more when I get to see him live, with regards to what he projects to be. If anyone has any good info on JG, please post it, as there is really limited information out there on the kid in terms of articles and videos. I know his AAU team, DC Assault, is highly thought of though.

I guess I just like what I have seen in CB’s limited minutes, and also the numbers that he put up against very solid prep competition in NYC. I have seen glimpses of touch and finishing ability aroudn the basket that make me think he will be able to contribute on the offensive end over time. As for JG, I have never seen him play and have had very trouble getting info on him. From the reports we are receiving, it seems he will bring more height to the position than CB.

The best stats I could find on JG are here: http://wiki.allmetsports.com/all-met/pl … all/42466/ and he seems to have turned it on a bit of late after a slow start. For comparisons sake, Taylor Abt, now a freshman PF at Holy Cross was playing the same position int he same league last year, and I believe putting up superior numbers.

The point im making is that without having seen JG play, I am not going to say that he was recruited "over" CB. There will always be new recruits coming in at the same positions as older ones, but we just have such limited info on Goldsborough that it is hard to come to any conclusions. From the LU press release it is clear that Reed is pretty enamored with JG’s size and athleticism, and that is really all we have to go one for now. DC Assualt is a big time AAU program however. Someone said earlier on the board that Goldsborough had received as many as 10 D1 offers, but offered no specifics on schools and I haven’t found any reports about other offers.

[lehigh90Participant]

Thanks for updating with the last graduating class Ojo, Keefer, Small, Safstrom. Can’t believe I forgot that one, as they start to run together. That class disappointed. It took Ojo until his senior season to be a real factor, although he was good as a senior. Keefer started with a bang, PL Freshman of the Year, I believe, but when better talent arrived in the program, he wasn’t much of a factor. For a shooter, he had an ugly looking jump shot. Small was an OK change of pace PG, and Safstrom gave a little as a senior. I think a C plus/minus grade is fair, probably a C- overall.

Also on Justin Goldsborough, I have been trying to find out something on this guy. There is virtually nothing out there. Usually you can find video on Youtube, but nothing on him. All of the DC Assault video does not mention him. The only thing I could find was his senior year stats on the Washington Post site. So far this season, through the end of 2011 in 6 games he scored 80 points, or 15 per game. He has shot, so far, 10-26, or an anemic 38.5% from the FT line. In his last 2 games, he was like 19 and 10 and 17 and 10. 19 was his high point game of the season. He had two games where he didn’t score in double figures. All of his FG’s have been 2 pointers. His team is pretty bad, 1-5, through end of December, and he wasn’t the leading scorer in some games. I would like to see some video on him. Also not sure of his competition level. I am not as high on him as the other 2 in this incoming class, but my view is incomplete.

An update on Jesse Chuku, through 10 games, Kimball Union is 8-2, and he is the leading scorer on the team at 14.2 ppg. I would like to see that higher. The surprising thing about him is he leads the team in made 3 point FGs at 24, or 2.4 per game. After seeing this and his video it is pretty clear that this guy is a 6’8" perimeter player. So, a 6’8" guy that plays 6’3". Not thrilled about that either. I was hoping for a big body, who was athletic and could run the floor and bang down low. He doesn’t appear to be our hope for a talented big.

Devon Carter is having the best senior season on the incomers. The statistics on him are spotty. His team has played 9 games, and is 5-4. In the first 7 games of the season he scored 132 points or about 19 per game. He had games of 18, 27, 6, 7, 30, 24 and 20. His two bad games were low scoring affairs. In one he had no made FGs and in the other just 1 made FG. There are two games which have no stats listed. I only have assist totals for three of the games, and he had 8, 8 and 12. he is the leading scorer in virtually every game, often by a wide margin. Competition level in suburban Cleveland seems pretty high. With those scoring and assist totals, he is factoring in a lot of the scoring for his team. I think he is going to be a very good player as a freshman.

[lehigh90Participant]

Follow up to my prior post regarding Justin Goldsborough. I found another site which gives his averages for rebounds per game at 9.5 and his average for blocks per game at 5.3. Maybe he is our athletic banger in the post. 15/10/5 is pretty good.

Another interesting note on him. The leader scorer on his team, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes, at a point or two higher than JG, is a player named Phil Guglielmo. He is also signed for next season for a Patriot League team, Navy.

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