By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com PublisherFollow Chris on Twitter @ChrisMWilliams
In my Monday Musings column earlier this week, I wrote that I thought Iowa State was on the verge of a wild basketball recruiting week. It turns out I was right….Kind of.
I had no idea that it would be this crazy. I saw the Nkereuwem Okoro commitment story coming from a mile away. But the rest of this "news," not so much. Here are some quick hitters to get you caught up on all of the recent happenings. I will attempt to make sense of it all as well.
– First of all, here’s a reminder to what I reported late Monday night. Onalaska, Wis. shooting guard (2013) Matt Thomas is on campus today for an unofficial visit. I’ll try to get in touch with him tomorrow to see how it went. For those of you who like to put a picture in your head, Thomas is a young Scott Christopherson. The kid can shoot.
– Know this about Iowa State’s 2013 recruiting efforts. It is way too early even attempt to begin to piece this together. If the 2013 recruiting class was a game, it just tipped and there’s 18:33 left to go in the first half. Get it?
– Right now (and as you know, this can always change), Iowa State is scheduled to have five open scholarships for its class of 2013.
– If you didn’t catch THIS STORY last week, Fred Hoiberg offered two teammates, Terrence Samuel and Shamiek Sheppard of Brooklyn South Shore. Both prospects told me that they want to eventually play college ball together. Right now, Iowa State is the only school to have offered them both. Both prospects also told me that they’d like to unofficially visit Iowa State sometime this summer. Matt Abdelmassih is Iowa State’s primary recruiter for these prospects.
Terrence Samuel could eventually be a top 100 talent, if he isn’t already.
– Another prospect to keep an eye on is Deonte Burton of the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H. Sound familiar? That’s the same school that Craig Brackins and Melvin Ejim attended. Rivals.com currently ranks Burton as the nation’s 28th best prospect in 2013. Iowa State isn’t the only Big 12 school with a connection to the Brewster Academy. Kansas could potentially be a factor here. T.J. Otzelberger is heading up Burton’s recruitment for Iowa State.
– Here’s another Melvin Ejim connection. On Monday, Newark St. Benedict’s point guardTyler Ennis claimed an Iowa State offer. Ennis plays AAU ball for the CIA Bounce, the same AAU program that produced Ejim. That can’t hurt Iowa State’s chances. Ennis currently claims offers from Iowa State, Santa Clara and Oregon State. He’s currently ranked as America’s 52nd best prospect for 2013 by Rivals.com.
– One can only imagine that it was new assistant coachCornell Mann who handed out a scholarship offer to Lansing, Mich. guard Steve Haney on Monday.
Other nuggets
– Despite what some rumors might indicate, Iowa State is not recruiting Arkansas transfer Roteni Clark.
– As of now, Iowa State has one scholarship available for its class of 2012. The only high school target that I know of other than West Des Moines Valley guard Kale Abrahamson is Sherron Dorsey-Walker, a four-star Detroit shooting guard. According to his Rivals.com profile, Dorsey-Walker has offers from Iowa State, Baylor, Florida State, Michigan, and Indiana, among some other mid-majors.
