Recruit Lists v2.0

[madcityCY]

Had a few people asking about season stats thus far for our two high school signees.

Matt Thomas is averaging 29.8 points per game, second highest in Wisconsin at the moment. Other stats are unavailable at the moment. Onalaska (WI) is 7-2 on the year.

Monte Morris is averaging 22.6 points per game and is leading Flint Beecher to its 9-0 record on the season thus far. Morris is also averaging ~9 assists and ~5 steals per game as well.

It should be noted that Morris' team hasn't lost a game in something like 2 years. They were undefeated last year. They had a remarkable season when Monte was a sophomore. He's a winner, plain and simple. I'm really intrigued with him as a D1 player. Wondering to myself what I should expect next year...

 

[SvrWxCy]

Yes, Flint Beecher has a currently winning streak of 37 games. There last loss was an overtime loss on March 24, 2011 in the state semi-finals.

 

[LLCoolCY]

Article on Cheick Diallo 2015 Power Forward who has an ISU offer.

2015 Forward Cheick Diallo Piling Up Offers | ZagsBlog.com

Cheick Diallo - Yahoo! Sports

 

[Thompsonclone]

For 2015 I hope we can get one of the following: Jarvis Johnson, Henry Ellenson, Eric Davis or Diallo.

 

[peteypie]

Article on Cheick Diallo 2015 Power Forward who has an ISU offer.

2015 Forward Cheick Diallo Piling Up Offers | ZagsBlog.com

Cheick Diallo - Yahoo! Sports

Yes please!

 

[Goldfinger]

Yes please!

we are also recruiting his teammates Yakwe, and another big man(6-8) Michael Nzei also at Our Savior. Nzei was on the Nigerian team last summer (U18), so maybe Ejim has a connection?

 

[mjhavlo76]

Yeah, we need a big man that posesses some skills by way of HS recruit or transfer.
Frankly, I am not sold on the Indian Hills, and Edozie kids.

We might be late, but we also have Coach Corn.

Article on Cheick Diallo 2015 Power Forward who has an ISU offer.

2015 Forward Cheick Diallo Piling Up Offers | ZagsBlog.com

Cheick Diallo - Yahoo! Sports

 

[SvrWxCy]

If you haven't seen on Twitter or Facebook yet, here is a career night for Matt Thomas:

50 points, including 12 in the first 1:13 of the game, before taking a seat with 3 minutes to go in the Third quarter tonight. New school record...

 

[Guetterdone1]

Is it just me or is signing Endozie and giving him a scholarship a huge mistake. He's averaging less than average numbers in JUCO and didn't really have any other high offers. I know that we need to trust Fred and what he has in mind, but he's taking up a scholarship from a number of potentially high recruits in 2014.

 

[swarthmoreCY]

Is it just me or is signing Endozie and giving him a scholarship a huge mistake. He's averaging less than average numbers in JUCO and didn't really have any other high offers. I know that we need to trust Fred and what he has in mind, but he's taking up a scholarship from a number of potentially high recruits in 2014.

It is only a mistake if we have to pass on a better player for 2013. Fretting over one scholarship more than one year out is pointless in CBB today...likely we have 4 or 5 scholarships to give out for 2014.

 

[LLCoolCY]

Abdul Malik Abu early season Mixtape (NBA Danny Ainge watches) - Next Chris Webber

(the Webber note is the title of the video not my opinion. Abu looks to be improving on last year's performances I have seen and extending his game outside of the paint. He has some quick ups and would fit quite nicely in Fred's system IMO.)

Abdul Malik Abu early season Mixtape (NBA Danny Ainge watches) - Next Chris Webber ? - YouTube

 

[Guetterdone1]

Abdul Malik Abu early season Mixtape (NBA Danny Ainge watches) - Next Chris Webber

(the Webber note is the title of the video not my opinion. Abu looks to be improving on last year's performances I have seen and extending his game outside of the paint. He has some quick ups and would fit quite nicely in Fred's system IMO.)

Abdul Malik Abu early season Mixtape (NBA Danny Ainge watches) - Next Chris Webber ? - YouTube

Dude is starting to look legit. Unless your an ultra freak in order to succeed in college you need to develop some kine of shot and it looks like he's getting better. Still like Reid Travis better though. You won't hear me complaining if we get him instead of Travis though.

 

[LutherBlue]

Is it just me or is signing Endozie and giving him a scholarship a huge mistake. He's averaging less than average numbers in JUCO and didn't really have any other high offers. I know that we need to trust Fred and what he has in mind, but he's taking up a scholarship from a number of potentially high recruits in 2014.

What are his defensive numbers?

 

[MJ271]

Dude is starting to look legit. Unless your an ultra freak in order to succeed in college you need to develop some kine of shot and it looks like he's getting better. Still like Reid Travis better though. You won't hear me complaining if we get him instead of Travis though.

I personally would rather have Abu, because Travis seems more like a 3/4 combination, while Abu seems more like a 4/5 combo

 

[Cy$]

ISU could use both Travis and Abu. In 3 years ISU will have Morris, Thomas, SDW, Naz, and Custer. Posts look iffy.

 

[Guetterdone1]

What are his defensive numbers?

Nothing worth bragging back home about. You can't really put stats on defense unless your a shot blocker though.

 

[swarthmoreCY]

ISU could use both Travis and Abu. In 3 years ISU will have Morris, Thomas, SDW, Naz, and Custer. Posts look iffy.

Everything is iffy for everyone 3 years out.

 

[LutherBlue]

Nothing worth bragging back home about. You can't really put stats on defense unless your a shot blocker though.

I guess that's my point. If he's playing good defense, that's what we need him to do.

I don't mean to disagree with you, I've never seen the guy play. I'm just saying that we don't really need much offense from Edozie and Amardi next year.

 

[LLCoolCY]

Eric Bossi's Mailbag for this week... a lot of ISU interests mentioned.


What is your take on 2014 Abdul-Malik Abu? Is he a small forward or a power forward-hybrid? Who do you think is on the top of his list?
-- Dr. 01 (via message board)

Abdul-Malik Abu is more of a traditional power forward.

Given that we have him ranked No. 54 in the 2014 Rivals150, I think it is easy to tell that we like Abu. He's a rugged 6-foot-7, 235-pound four man who plays with physicality, has good athleticism and doesn't give up on plays.
At this time, I do think he's more of a traditional power forward and I don't yet see him as a small or hybrid forward. He's got great length, super instincts and has proven that he can go toe-to-toe with bigger guys without giving up much.
I checked in with Tyron Boswell, who coaches Abu in the summer with New England-based Xpressions Elite, and he made it clear that Abu is currently wide open.
Maryland made an early impression on Abu when he took a visit there but he's also been to many other places, including Connecticut as well as dropping by Boston College to watch a game against Providence. Others such as Kansas, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Michigan State, Temple, Seton Hall, Rutgers and many more have either offered or expressed interest and he'll have to cut things down before he can focus in on favorites.



Have you gotten a chance to see the young trio at Centereach (N.Y.) Our Savior?
-- Wayne, the Bronx (via email) I'm guessing that you are referring to 6-foot-7 junior Michael Nzei, 6-foot-9 sophomore Cheick Diallo and 6-foot-7 freshman Kassoum Yakwe. If that's the case, then yes I have seen them and I've been very impressed with them.
So let's take a deeper look at them from oldest to youngest.
Currently rated as a three-star prospect, Nzei is a long-limbed and athletic combo forward. He's a good transition finisher, has a nose for the ball and plays extremely hard on both ends. He's a high-level effort guy who is starting to get quality mid-major offers from Iona and Old Dominion while high majors sniff around.

Diallo is already one of a select few four-star prospects in the class of 2015 and is a monster on the glass and as shot-blocker. He's not quite the shot-blocker that current St. John's freshman and former Our Savior star Chris Obekpa is, but he's more advanced offensively at the same stage and he's already getting plenty of high major offers from places such as Arizona, Iowa State, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's and Washington, with several others looking.
Yakwe is the baby of the group but he's got a grown-up game. Depending on how he grows and develops his skills, he could end up either a scoring four man or a big wing who can slash. The bottom line is that he's already pretty skilled, a high-level athlete and plays with some competitive spirit. Look for him to be a high-major target.

Moving Matt?

Do you see Matt Thomas moving up the rankings when you next update them?
-- @AlexBerngard (via Twitter)

Matt Thomas erupted for 50 points over the weekend.

I've been getting asked a lot about the Iowa State signee from Onalaska (Wisc.) lately and I suspect a lot of it has to do with him scoring 50 points in less than three quarters over the weekend.
The answer is that I don't yet know what will happen with the 6-foot-4 sharpshooter in the rankings. A 50-point game is impressive, but we see a lot of scoring outbursts from highly ranked players, and generally when somebody goes off for that many points that quick it can be fairly assumed that the competition was awful. Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anything away from him. Thomas is as good a jump-shooter as there is in the class of 2013 and he went from complete unknown to No. 58 nationally with his performance. Could he go up? Sure. But that's something that we'll take a look at once we have a chance to review film from him and others. I would say this, he certainly seems to be backing up what he accomplished over the summer as a senior.




Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting - Bossi's Mailbag: Where does Abu fit?

 

[gocubs2118]

Oh, hey, that's me.