Diamond Stone (Committed to Maryland) | Page 13 | The Boneyard

Diamond Stone (Committed to Maryland)

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mauconnfan said:
I like Andre a lot but this kid looks a lot more polished at this point. Andre was a athletic freak but needed a lot more coaching on the fundamentals when he entered. Just watching DS's post game and footwork he's prepared to hit the low blocks and be a threat, although not close athletically.
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I think he was just comparing the in state recruiting situation... not the actual players, with the exception that they are both bigs.
 
Drame said:
I think he was just comparing the in state recruiting situation... not the actual players, with the exception that they are both bigs.
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Luckily for us it's pretty clear that Diamond is not nearly as close to the Wisconsin program as Andre was to ours.
 
huskyniner said:
Because if you're a 5-star recruit, you could attend Central Connecticut and still be a first round pick. And in Diamond's case, still be a top 5 pick.
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I disagree wholeheartedly… why would you not want to be with the best program that can develop you? Regardless of how good you are in higschool or if your only going to spend 1 year in college… and it doesn't appear that Sone is a surefire top 5 pick 2 years from now. Clearly as good as Bo Ryan has been he has had some player development issues….. or Wisconsin would have players in the NBA??
 
Husky999 said:
I disagree wholeheartedly… why would you not want to be with the best program that can develop you? Regardless of how good you are in higschool or if your only going to spend 1 year in college… and it doesn't appear that Sone is a surefire top 5 pick 2 years from now. Clearly as good as Bo Ryan has been he has had some player development issues….. or Wisconsin would have players in the NBA??
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Just because Wisconsin doesn't have a lot of guys in the NBA doesn't mean Bo Ryan struggles with player development. The Badgers have historically been comprised of three and four star recruits under Ryan - guys who are good enough to play well at the college level fairly quickly but not good enough to seriously consider a jump. I don't buy the "he does less with more" narrative that the media loves to push because he does get recruits, but not many of those guys are NBA material upon entering campus.

I think the point that @huskyniner was trying to make was that the NBA pedigree of a school won't factor into his decision too much since he knows he can get there no matter where he goes. Andre Drummond, for example, literally would have been a top ten pick even if he decided to prep for another year. That's why a lot of people roll their eyes at the Calipari "I get guys to the NBA" sales pitch - there are literally hundreds of high school coaches good enough to get John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins to the NBA.
 
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tcf15 said:
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Thanks for posting that. That was an impressive interview. He flat out answered every question asked of him, off the fly, no B.S. or sugar coating. He seems quite intelligent & honest. Almost Okafor-esque! I actually like him more after seeing that. He's going places... hopefully UConn!
 
For what it's worth, on Wisconsin forums they seem to think he'll end up at UConn. For those comparing Stone's hometown recruitment to Drummond's, I don't think we ever really had a doubt that Andre was coming to UConn if he went to college at all.

He clearly has a strong relationship and connection with Ollie. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic that he'll end up at UConn.
 
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tcf15 said:
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Really thoughtful kid, but I thought it was interesting when they asked him about Maryland being an Under Armour school. He laughed in a seemingly uncomfortable way and went on to mutter something about Alex Len, almost like he was trained to say that. I feel like there's some smoke there with Stone and Maryland - some think they're a favorite, others don't. Regardless, I should probably take a couple days off from recruiting.

It made me laugh when he was asked about Duke - one of the first things out of his mouth was, "Coach K, USA basketball...that means a lot". This just days after Coach K and others downplaying the recruiting advantages gained from his gig with Team USA.
 
Decent interview. One thing I took away was that he really doesn't have a timetable for a decision; he could sign before Nov. 12, or after. He's going to pull the trigger when he feels right, and I'm confident that when he takes that OV to UConn, Ollie will pull out all the stops. I can't see this kid saying no to the connection with Ollie, Purvis's (our de facto tour guide, I guess) hospitality, and Brimah's goofiness.

He also seems very well spoken, as others have alluded to; it wouldn't surprise me if Stone is an honors student, as well. He also looks like he is in much better shape. His face, neck, and shoulders all looked skinnier than in videos from the past ~10 months. Is it the end of the world if we don't get him? Of course not. But damn it this kid belongs in National Flag blue.
 
Both Abu and Govan claimed to love Ollie above other coaches that were recruiting them but we got neither. Hope this time is different. I really like Stone. I think he can accomplish a lot here.
 
Many of the top kids answer with a couple words when interviewed by these guys, he took his time, smiled and looked at the interviewer often. Real good kid it would seem and would be a perfect fit if course. Fingers crossed.

I do like "still thinking November 12th not sure, maybe earlier......"
 
UConnRock said:
Other Factors-

Bo Ryan will be 67 at the end of the 2015 season. Wisconsin will be relying heavily on a group of seniors this year with Kaminsky, Gasser and Jackson. Wisconsin makes another nice run in the tournament and Ryan may look at retirement as an option. That recruiting card was played against UConn and Calhoun for years.
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There's very little indication of Bo Ryan slowing down. He's always said that as long as the kids are still listening, he'll keep coaching. Most Wisconsin fans think we probably have at least five more years. His health is good, the fire's still there, and his roster, even after he loses possibly four of his starting five after this season, is still among the more talented he's ever had.

Ryan is actually a year younger than Coach K, and you don't hear much talk of Coach K hanging it up anytime soon.
 
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champs99and04 said:
Just because Wisconsin doesn't have a lot of guys in the NBA doesn't mean Bo Ryan struggles with player development. The Badgers have historically been comprised of three and four star recruits under Ryan - guys who are good enough to play well at the college level fairly quickly but not good enough to seriously consider a jump. I don't buy the "he does less with more" narrative that the media loves to push because he does get recruits, but not many of those guys are NBA material upon entering campus.

I think the point that @huskyniner was trying to make was that the NBA pedigree of a school won't factor into his decision too much since he knows he can get there no matter where he goes. Andre Drummond, for example, literally would have been a top ten pick even if he decided to prep for another year. That's why a lot of people roll their eyes at the Calipari "I get guys to the NBA" sales pitch - there are literally hundreds of high school coaches good enough to get John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins to the NBA.
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Good post about Bo Ryan and player development. The media always seems to group coaches into a Venn diagram -- great Xs and Os guys, and great recruiters (saw Gary Parrish wrote a big story about Leonard Hamilton, full of praise about how he's one of the best recruiters in the game. That's great. What has Leonard Hamilton ever won other than recruiting battles?) . The best coaches are the piece in the diagram that overlap, according to the media.

Such an oversimplification. Bo Ryan doesn't really fit into either one of those categories. He's only a good recruiter in the sense that he recruits the right guys for the mentality and skillset he wants. But when it comes to recruiting battles for the top guys, like Stone, he usually loses. And he's not a tremendous Xs and Os guy, even though the media always pigeonholes him that way. His keeps thing pretty simple on the court and always stresses "do the ordinary well, and extraordinary things will happen." He doesn't even belong on that Venn diagram.

But what he excels at, and frankly, what I think he does as well or better than any coach in the country, is develop his players. He doesn't have a lot of guys in the NBA because he rarely gets NBA talent into his program. If you watched the Final Four game against UK last year, you saw a guy named Duje Dukan get 15 minutes off the bench, score 8 points and help get Wisconsin back into the game in the second half. Duje Dukan is a guy that Wisconsin fans had totally written off. Not a D-1 talent. Not a guy who will ever contribute. Slow feet, clueless on defense, can't rebound, can't get a shot off. And suddenly he's contributing as a junior and should play a key role his senior year. We see guys like that at Wisconsin all the time. Hell, Frank Kaminsky is a guy like that. He got a few minutes his frosh and soph years, you could see he had some skills, but his footwork was terrible, he got abused on defense, and he looked overwhelmed. The improvement is absolutely remarkable.

I don't know if Bo Ryan has ever had a recruiting class in the top four of the Big Ten. And yet he's never finished outside the top four. That says something for player development. It wouldn't be any different with NBA lottery-caliber players.

My opinion, as I mentioned on this thread before, is that Stone will wind up at UConn. I don't think he can go wrong with either program, though. The Maryland and Ok State noise just irritates me. I think there's plenty wrong with both those programs (what did they have, a combined 9 transfers out after last season?), and I'm sure the Stones will see it.
 
I think a majority of fans in this forum are not so sure Stone is coming to UConn and most of us would tip our hats to Bo Ryan if he got Stone. Certainly we'd be disappointed but we know how often other programs recruited over JC.

I don't know about the best but certainly one of the best at getting the most out of his players. Felt that way about JC. Although he did have some top players he often ended up with third and fourth choices that he developed into players who sometimes went head to head on his misses and outplayed them. Of course there is the Ryan Gomes story!:cool:

Really liked Al Skinner at BCU and how he got the most out of lower ranked recruits.

And I like KO who will definitely develop players to their maximum.
 
Let out an audible gasp when he mentioned OKSU and their academic prowess...especially relative to other schools on his list.
 
Funkhouser said:
Good post about Bo Ryan and player development. The media always seems to group coaches into a Venn diagram -- great Xs and Os guys, and great recruiters (saw Gary Parrish wrote a big story about Leonard Hamilton, full of praise about how he's one of the best recruiters in the game. That's great. What has Leonard Hamilton ever won other than recruiting battles?) . The best coaches are the piece in the diagram that overlap, according to the media.

Such an oversimplification. Bo Ryan doesn't really fit into either one of those categories. He's only a good recruiter in the sense that he recruits the right guys for the mentality and skillset he wants. But when it comes to recruiting battles for the top guys, like Stone, he usually loses. And he's not a tremendous Xs and Os guy, even though the media always pigeonholes him that way. His keeps thing pretty simple on the court and always stresses "do the ordinary well, and extraordinary things will happen." He doesn't even belong on that Venn diagram.

But what he excels at, and frankly, what I think he does as well or better than any coach in the country, is develop his players. He doesn't have a lot of guys in the NBA because he rarely gets NBA talent into his program. If you watched the Final Four game against UK last year, you saw a guy named Duje Dukan get 15 minutes off the bench, score 8 points and help get Wisconsin back into the game in the second half. Duje Dukan is a guy that Wisconsin fans had totally written off. Not a D-1 talent. Not a guy who will ever contribute. Slow feet, clueless on defense, can't rebound, can't get a shot off. And suddenly he's contributing as a junior and should play a key role his senior year. We see guys like that at Wisconsin all the time. Hell, Frank Kaminsky is a guy like that. He got a few minutes his frosh and soph years, you could see he had some skills, but his footwork was terrible, he got abused on defense, and he looked overwhelmed. The improvement is absolutely remarkable.

I don't know if Bo Ryan has ever had a recruiting class in the top four of the Big Ten. And yet he's never finished outside the top four. That says something for player development. It wouldn't be any different with NBA lottery-caliber players.

My opinion, as I mentioned on this thread before, is that Stone will wind up at UConn. I don't think he can go wrong with either program, though. The Maryland and Ok State noise just irritates me. I think there's plenty wrong with both those programs (what did they have, a combined 9 transfers out after last season?), and I'm sure the Stones will see it.
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Interesting stuff. Good post.

I don't think anyone here feels Stone is definitely coming to UCONN. It's a very interesting recruitment with Stone, and I have to say, I kind of like it.
 
jfuchs91 said:
For what it's worth, on Wisconsin forums they seem to think he'll end up at UConn. For those comparing Stone's hometown recruitment to Drummond's, I don't think we ever really had a doubt that Andre was coming to UConn if he went to college at all.

He clearly has a strong relationship and connection with Ollie. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic that he'll end up at UConn.
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I hope those Wisconsin posters know their stuff. The Wisconsin campus is nice and they are in Madison which is a great town. Now that attempts to ignore Stone recruiting news have failed I'll be disappointed if he doesn't come to UConn.
 
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I'm "Stoned" after seeing that. He's looking quicker. He's got skinny legs compared to his upper body. I like his mobility in this video & his international footage from August.
 
looks great! praying we land him.
 
The competition was somewhere between chairs and a Sunday pickup game in Torrington.

I want UConn to land him more than any other recruit on our list, but WTF is wrong with these "recruiting services". The headline is "
Diamond Stone NEW Mixtape (Goes CRAZY In Fall League)"

...gainst some guys that will be luck to play division 2 basketball.
 
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