The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(03-24-2014 09:48 AM)gobaseline Wrote:  Major, you remember Mark Raynor? Cool Breeze. Great guy who bloomed later.

Has a son Adam who is too at Mona Shores or was. May be at college somewhere.

7' 280+.

Simply 7'. Nice kid. But not D1 talent apparently. Nothing wrong with that, just not what WMU needs or should be looking at.

Point taken.

And yes, I remember Rayner.

(03-23-2014 09:20 PM)WheresWaldo42 Wrote:  

(03-22-2014 10:06 PM)gobaseline Wrote:  How good can Seth Dugan can be if he was "beat out" by a football player?

Seth Dugan is the 4th best player on his own team. 90% of his buckets are from being 7ft and grabbing rebounds over 6'3" centers. AJ Atwater at the 2 guard and Mike Williams and Chris Pearl at the wings are all better than Dugan.

He has a lot of work to do if he is going to make an impact at the D-1 level.

I saw shayne play several times in high school and he was rarely the high scorer on his little class D team. Guards had wide open looks as opposing defenses were throwing the kitchen sink at denying Shayne the ball.

You can't tell much about high school centers, other than their body type, can they catch the ball, run the floor, and defend the paint. Defenses collapsed on Shaq at LSU and he often struggled. His game was suited for the next level, just as Dugan's is.

Please don't read my comments as dogging Dugan.

Just my opinion that he has a lot of work to do if he is going to become what everyone hopes at the next level. But like someone said earlier, you cant teach 7 feet.

I would say that Shane Whittington was a project when he got to WMU as well and the last couple seasons he really developed into a skilled big man. I see enough in Dugan to think that he might be able to make similar jumps in his ability over the next 4 or 5 years. Remember, he is only a junior.

If I were Hawk, I would be recruiting that entire team. The top 4 are all juniors. AJ Atwater will be a difference maker on the next level. Pearl and Williams IMO are long and athletic they will play at the next level, just not sure if at a D1 level. Dugan will get that shot simply because he is 7 feet tall and has some skills.

As for being the crown jewel of the '15 recruiting class, I would actually agree with that. If Hawk can bring in a 7 footer and get solid contribution out of him as a freshman and sophomore until he develops into a star junior and senior, then it would be all worth it. I see a similar path as Whittington for him.

Some flashback comments about Shayne Whittington.

A HS basketball ref I know asked "Why is Western recruiting that kid? He would be lucky to play for K."

When Shayne was a frosh Bakari Alexander said Shayne would be All-MAC before he graduated.

AND
Coach Hawkins recently mentioned that when Shayne was in HS, Cornell Mann thought SW might develop to an NBA player.

(03-24-2014 09:49 AM)gobaseline Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 09:41 AM)DrDavis Wrote:  GB, if I am a dope for calling you out for being derogatory to a high school kid then I wear the label like a badge of honor.

How was I derogatory? Be specific.

I didn't see it either GBL.

The only polished big man I ever saw in high school was Shawn Kemp. He was NBA ready. Saw Moses Malone on TV in high school and he was polished as well.

The Waters kid who played with Dave Kool was a 4 Star center who played at Arizona. He didn't look all that polished in HS.

As stated, you can't teach 7 feet. You also can't teach length. After that you look at their footwork, their potential to add muscle, do they have a shooting touch, and can they catch the ball. If they can there's a good chance they'll go higher than the MAC.

A typical MAC recruit at center is a 6'8" or 6 nine kid with reasonable skills and potential to grow, think Booth at UT, or Drake Lamont. They rarely have length like Dugan or Whittington have. If you score a 7 footer in the MAC he is likely able to walk and chew gum at the same time, and has the potential to develop some sort of game by his junior year.

I saw chris weber but he played like a small forward in high school one trip down he would dunk and the next he would take a 3. The big kid at Benton Harbor that lived with the coach and had a too young girlfriend was a beast in high school. It was the same time that Stoval played at KC must of been 99? I don't think he ever made it even to college.

Coached against Kaman in high school but you couldnt tell much because our center was 6 foot and it was class D ball.

Weber beat Isiah Thomas in one on one at his camp, he was just in high school.

(03-24-2014 07:27 PM)DesertBronco Wrote:  Weber beat Isiah Thomas in one on one at his camp, he was just in high school.

Weber and I are the same age. He played a team in our league in the finals. We skipped school to goto the game in A2. It was like watching a grown man play against 5 year olds. Albion had beaten us twice that year 1 point each time. Weber won by 11, literally by himself and it was never a game. I want to say he had another DI guy on his team but I can't remember.

They played BC Central at the Kellogg center that year. If Central could have made free throws they would have won. I grew up playing with a couple kids from Central that went DI, Kenyon Murray went to Iowa. Taj Franklin and JoJo Bogan? both went some place but I played with those two from 7th grade on. Summer leagues at Claude Evans park downtown was a TON of fun.

That big kid from Benton Harbor played in the NBA for awhile. Robert Whaley...

Big Benton Harbor kid was Robert Whaley if I remember correctly. As for Kaman, saw his Class D team play the Regionals or Quarters at Portage Northern HS. He got schooled by a much smaller kid. Didn't think he was D1. 3 years later he's an NBA Lottery pick. Can't teach size is right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Whaley

(03-24-2014 07:31 PM)Kimbosucks Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 07:27 PM)DesertBronco Wrote:  Weber beat Isiah Thomas in one on one at his camp, he was just in high school.

Weber and I are the same age. He played a team in our league in the finals. We skipped school to goto the game in A2. It was like watching a grown man play against 5 year olds. Albion had beaten us twice that year 1 point each time. Weber won by 11, literally by himself and it was never a game. I want to say he had another DI guy on his team but I can't remember.

As I recall, Weber was playing on a sprained ankle that game as well. He was dominant.

Wikipedia:
Robert Antawon Whaley (born April 16, 1982) is an American former professional basketball center.

College[edit]Whaley graduated from Benton Harbor High School in 2001 with great athletic honors. He was a leading contender for Mr. Basketball of Michigan, but Benton Harbor came up just short of winning the championship. He attended Barton County Community College for two years, then transferred to the University of Cincinnati in 2003 and Walsh University in 2004.[1]

Professional career[edit]He was selected by the Utah Jazz with 51st pick in the 2005 NBA Draft out of Walsh, an NAIA school. With the Jazz, Whaley played 23 games and played an average 9.2 minutes each game, also scoring on average 2.1 points, making 1.9 rebounds, and shooting 40.4% of attempted field goals. He scored a career-high 11 points on December 23, 2005 against the New York Knicks and 7 rebounds against the Sacramento Kings on November 15, 2005.[2] After sporadic playing time during the 2005-06 season, he suffered a season-ending cartilage-tear to his right knee.[3]

On early Sunday morning, December 11, 2005, Whaley and Jazz teammate Deron Williams were involved in a brawl with Denver Nuggets fans at a bar in the resort town of Park City, Utah. The fight began inside a bar when some Nuggets fans who recognised the two players and approached them and said they did not like the Jazz.[4] The fight, which involved eight to 10 people, then spilled outside.[4] Both provided false names to police officers investigating the incident, with Whaley giving his as "Bobby Williams".[4] It was the same night that Whaley cut his hand on broken glass, a fact which he acknowledged, but denied it was from the fight.[4] He later told Utah Jazz officials he cut it while confiscating a sharp kitchen knife away from his 2-year-old son.[5] He later confessed he had made the story up,[4] and subsequently as a result faced disciplinary action by the team for lying.[5]

On June 8, 2006, Whaley and Jazz teammate Kris Humphries were traded to the Toronto Raptors for Rafael Araújo.[6][7] He was waived by the Raptors on June 21.[8]

In the summer of 2006, Whaley joined the Dominican Republic team Los Metros de Santiago then in the fall the Twin City Ballers of the ABA.[9] He then played for Petrochimi Bandar Imam BC of the Iranian Basketball Super League.[10]

Whaley played 22 games with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the NBA Development League team of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, in the 2007-2008 season.[11]

Post-NBA life[edit]Serving probation for a 2008 conviction for running a drug house, Whaley was arrested for marijuana possession on March 11, 2010. Salt Lake County, Utah police reported that he was carrying the product in his buttocks.[12] At a parking lot near an apartment complex known for gang crime, police investigated a parked, occupied vehicle with its lights off. Whaley, not wearing a seat belt, identified himself to gang detectives as Kareem Johnson, but the detectives recognized him as a former Utah Jazz player.[13] As Michigan listed Whaley as a parole violator on January 2009, Utah extradited Whaley to Michigan on July 5, 2010.[14] On September 27, 2010, Whaley returned to the Berrien County, Michigan jail to begin serving a two-year sentence for probation violation. He was released on February 12, 2012.[15]

So he's doing well?

He has really lead a fairly tale life.