Matrim55
Why is it so hard To make it in America
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**sigh** I biffed the title – should be 2017 Recruiting not 2018. If a mod could fix that it'd be swell.
Here's our updated scholarship grid for next year:
You can see there's one left for next season, and – if everybody comes back – for 2018. Given how hard we're recruiting a number of 2018 targets and how clear it became this season that you can never have too much depth, I think it's pretty likely that we'll use the final open scholarship on a postgrad.
Why postgrad? Because that means there'll be at least one open for our 2018 class. And also because we need one more guy in the back court that we know can play college ball because as highly rated as Alterique and MAL are, we really can't be sure they're good to go at this level until they've done it.
I think we'll specifically focus on finding a pure sniper of a SG or swingman. Here's the current list:
Egor Koulechov, Rice: 6-foot-5, 210 lb SG who is averaging 19/9/2 on 48/47/80 shooting splits. He's been in a slump for the past month (his shooting numbers were ungodly to start the year), but he's responded by becoming a rebounding machine and posting double doubles in four of his last five games, and his defensive rebound rate is DHam-esque. Started his career at Arizona State, and is Russia-born but raised in Israel.
The one downside is that he really is more of a SF than a SG, but I don't care. If this kid is available KO should have Doron and Nadav make a few calls and pull out all the stops.
Do we want him? So, so bad. He'd be our starting SG with Jalen at PG and Alterique off the bench.
Matt Mobley, St. Bonaventure: 6-foot-3, 210 lb SG from Worcester who's averaging 19/6/3 on 43/39/86 shooting splits. Played two years at CCSU before transferring to the Bonnies. He's had huge games against the likes of Florida & UMass, and started off the year on fire but has seen his efficiency come down a bit as he's been worn out by playing nearly 40 MPG.
St. Bonaventure are probably going to be an NIT team this year, but return their core for a run at the NCAAs next year. I could see him transferring but I think he'll return for his final season. Also worth noting, their PG is named Jaylen Adams.
The Bonnies play UMass tomorrow in their tourney. Big game for them, and obviously a big game for Mobley against his hometown team.
Do we want him? I think we do. But he'd have to be comfortable with a MUCH smaller role for us than he's had this season with the Bonnies – he's gotten to be a chucker with them, but probably would be a sniper off the bench for us.
Henry Caruso, Princeton: 6-foot-4 210 lb SG who played 8 games this year, got injured, and will certainly be granted another year of eligibility. Averaged 15/6/2 last year on 52/45/72 shooting splits. Kid is lights out when he gets an inch of space and has done it against good comp.
He'll have to transfer because of Ivy League rules, just like Shonn Miller did. He's from San Mateo so my guess is both Stanford and Cal come hard, as will any team that needs a wing shooter.
His upside won't be as high as the guys above him on this list, and there are times he'd struggle against real athletes.
Do we want him? Yes. He'd be a role player for us -- shooting, some rebounding & energy. But in terms of fit, he'd be damn near perfect as a bigger SG who can get his shot off, help on the boards and match up against some more physical back courts.
Kahlil Dukes, Niagara: 6-foot-0, 170 lb SG from Hartford who spent his first two years at USC but barely played. Averaged 16/3/4 on 41/42/92 shooting splits this season for a very bad Niagara team whose season is over.
Dukes is a specialist: He stands behind the line and rains fire. He can't finish at the rim against elite competition and struggles to guard anybody with "Big East athleticism." And as you can see, he's very undersized for a SG even in the college game, so for us he would have a limited role and limited minutes. He also wouldn't help our rebounding issues at all, while the other guys would.
Do we want him? If he wants to come to us, I'd take him in a heartbeat. He shoots the lights out and doesn't turn it over much, and is a good fit as a role player given our needs.
***************
There are other possible postgrad out there, but I think these are the four best for our needs. Obviously if a high 4-star SG becomes available as a late decommit or something, I'd hope Ollie would go in that direction. But barring that I really do expect us to be active in the postgrad market this spring.
Here's our updated scholarship grid for next year:
You can see there's one left for next season, and – if everybody comes back – for 2018. Given how hard we're recruiting a number of 2018 targets and how clear it became this season that you can never have too much depth, I think it's pretty likely that we'll use the final open scholarship on a postgrad.
Why postgrad? Because that means there'll be at least one open for our 2018 class. And also because we need one more guy in the back court that we know can play college ball because as highly rated as Alterique and MAL are, we really can't be sure they're good to go at this level until they've done it.
I think we'll specifically focus on finding a pure sniper of a SG or swingman. Here's the current list:
Egor Koulechov, Rice: 6-foot-5, 210 lb SG who is averaging 19/9/2 on 48/47/80 shooting splits. He's been in a slump for the past month (his shooting numbers were ungodly to start the year), but he's responded by becoming a rebounding machine and posting double doubles in four of his last five games, and his defensive rebound rate is DHam-esque. Started his career at Arizona State, and is Russia-born but raised in Israel.
The one downside is that he really is more of a SF than a SG, but I don't care. If this kid is available KO should have Doron and Nadav make a few calls and pull out all the stops.
Do we want him? So, so bad. He'd be our starting SG with Jalen at PG and Alterique off the bench.
Matt Mobley, St. Bonaventure: 6-foot-3, 210 lb SG from Worcester who's averaging 19/6/3 on 43/39/86 shooting splits. Played two years at CCSU before transferring to the Bonnies. He's had huge games against the likes of Florida & UMass, and started off the year on fire but has seen his efficiency come down a bit as he's been worn out by playing nearly 40 MPG.
St. Bonaventure are probably going to be an NIT team this year, but return their core for a run at the NCAAs next year. I could see him transferring but I think he'll return for his final season. Also worth noting, their PG is named Jaylen Adams.
The Bonnies play UMass tomorrow in their tourney. Big game for them, and obviously a big game for Mobley against his hometown team.
Do we want him? I think we do. But he'd have to be comfortable with a MUCH smaller role for us than he's had this season with the Bonnies – he's gotten to be a chucker with them, but probably would be a sniper off the bench for us.
Henry Caruso, Princeton: 6-foot-4 210 lb SG who played 8 games this year, got injured, and will certainly be granted another year of eligibility. Averaged 15/6/2 last year on 52/45/72 shooting splits. Kid is lights out when he gets an inch of space and has done it against good comp.
He'll have to transfer because of Ivy League rules, just like Shonn Miller did. He's from San Mateo so my guess is both Stanford and Cal come hard, as will any team that needs a wing shooter.
His upside won't be as high as the guys above him on this list, and there are times he'd struggle against real athletes.
Do we want him? Yes. He'd be a role player for us -- shooting, some rebounding & energy. But in terms of fit, he'd be damn near perfect as a bigger SG who can get his shot off, help on the boards and match up against some more physical back courts.
Kahlil Dukes, Niagara: 6-foot-0, 170 lb SG from Hartford who spent his first two years at USC but barely played. Averaged 16/3/4 on 41/42/92 shooting splits this season for a very bad Niagara team whose season is over.
Dukes is a specialist: He stands behind the line and rains fire. He can't finish at the rim against elite competition and struggles to guard anybody with "Big East athleticism." And as you can see, he's very undersized for a SG even in the college game, so for us he would have a limited role and limited minutes. He also wouldn't help our rebounding issues at all, while the other guys would.
Do we want him? If he wants to come to us, I'd take him in a heartbeat. He shoots the lights out and doesn't turn it over much, and is a good fit as a role player given our needs.
***************
There are other possible postgrad out there, but I think these are the four best for our needs. Obviously if a high 4-star SG becomes available as a late decommit or something, I'd hope Ollie would go in that direction. But barring that I really do expect us to be active in the postgrad market this spring.
