and move on up the Rivals rankings....
Ohio's best
With Yancy Gates winning his matchup against B.J. Mullens, is Gates clearly the best big man in Ohio? Will his placement in the next set of rankings reflect that?
-- Dan from Cincinnati
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Gates did play very well against Mullens in Cincinnati Withrow's 58-57 win over Canal Winchester, but Mullens is clearly the best big man in Ohio - if not the entire country.
Yancy Gates has been impressive recently.
Gates played as well as I've ever seen him play, scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Mullens, on the other side, had 16 points and 19 rebounds.
Both players have tremendous size, athleticism and skill. Mullens, as was evident at times during this game, just doesn't always play with the highest energy level. Gates also has the tendency to play with less than the highest energy level, but that is not the primary reason he is ranked in the lower level of our four-star prospects. A lot of top prospects have difficulty maintaining a high level of effort.
Gates' suspect motor hasn't helped him in our rankings, but the problem has been more that he has only shown flashes of being a skilled basketball player. He has never put his talents together in any sort of cohesive and competitive way when we have scouted him in the spring and summer. In his televised matchup against Mullens, however, we saw a top-50 prospect in Gates. He showed a wide range of skills, played with some energy and competed.
So, yes ... Gates is going to move up in the rankings. We have confidence now that he is not just a physical freak, but a physical freak with a competitive streak and a game that can make a significant impact in the Big East.
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/c...CID=766179
but Mullens is clearly the best big man in Ohio - if not the entire country.
Mullens is not anywhere near that.
in case you were wondering about that 62 point Mullens night,,
OSU recruit scores 62 points in Flyin' finale
By Marc Pendleton
Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
KETTERING — All B.J. Mullens wanted was a rare jumbo-sized matchup. When that plug was pulled, the 7-foot-1 Canal Winchester senior did the next best thing.
"I was geeked," said Mullens after putting 62 points on Our Savior New American in the final game of the three-day Flyin' to the Hoop boys basketball event Monday at Fairmont High School's Trent Arena.
"When I heard there were players 7-5, 7-1, I thought, it's time to go. It's time to play against someone my size. I got the news (Monday) morning that ... all them guys weren't coming down. I was still amped. So I came out and still had that fire."
Our Savior, a New York City prep school that was gutted by illness and missing its celebrated 7-footers, never had a chance, falling 79-69.
Mullens had 20 points in the first quarter and whipped a pro-Ohio State crowd into a lather. He's coach Thad Matta's prize incoming recruit at OSU, and he delivered like never before.
Matched one-on-one with much shorter defenders, Mullens repeatedly took lobs, wheeled a nice drop-back step and slammed. By halftime, he had 36 of CW's 38 points.
He added 18 more in the third quarter and eight in the fourth, leaving for good with 1:31 left.
Mullens hit 28 of 34 field goals, a dozen dunks, 6 of 12 free throws, and added 21 rebounds, three blocks and a new believer.
Matta and Mullens are gods!
I'm gonna' go vomit now!
After seeing Yancy play in person twice, I've held the opinion that the reason he doesn't seem to go 100% all the time is that with the quality of opponent he normally plays against, he just doesn't need to. 50% for him is plenty. There just can't be 50 better players than him in the 2008 class. No way, no how.
rath, I completely agree. yancey is a BEAST!!! Rankings are complete BS, just remember that and try not to but into them alot...even thought it is tough not too.
BTW: I wouldn't be surprised to see Cash rises quite a bit in the final rankings either.
some people have that competitive motor some don't. yancy's just isn't that high.
please quit making excuses "he doesn't play hard because he doesn't have to" that is a terrible excuse. He has proven nothing. It's not like he has come off several state titles. If LeBron, after having won two straight titles, wanted to play at 50%, that would have bene one thing. Yancy hasn't done anything, besides been looked down upon by scouts as being lazy.
Your right, there definitely aren't 50 more talented players than yancy in america. Probably not 15 more talented players. But just face the facts that he has effort issues. MICK EVEN SAID SO HIMSELF. its going to be a growing pain for him, most people have accepted that, so stop making excuses for why he doesn't play hard.
You sound like you know his game pretty well. I'll accept your opinion if you have sat in the stands and watched him. Have you?
rath v2.0 Wrote:You sound like you know his game pretty well. I'll accept your opinion if you have sat in the stands and watched him. Have you?
I dont really think it matters whether you're watching in the stands or video taped games.
Anyone that doesnt think Gates has had issues when it comes to effort and such over the years is kidding themselves. He's got the potential to be a fantastic player, but he needs to be going hard all of the time. The "he doesnt have to" give 100% all the time is nothing but an excuse. If you arent giving it your all while on the floor, something is wrong with you.
Cronin will teach him what work ethic and effort are all about. If he listens, he'll have no problems being a very good Big East player early in his career. We all know he's got plenty of talent/potential.
Coopdaddy67 Wrote:rath v2.0 Wrote:You sound like you know his game pretty well. I'll accept your opinion if you have sat in the stands and watched him. Have you?
I dont really think it matters whether you're watching in the stands or video taped games.
Anyone that doesnt think Gates has had issues when it comes to effort and such over the years is kidding themselves. He's got the potential to be a fantastic player, but he needs to be going hard all of the time. The "he doesnt have to" give 100% all the time is nothing but an excuse. If you arent giving it your all while on the floor, something is wrong with you.
Cronin will teach him what work ethic and effort are all about. If he listens, he'll have no problems being a very good Big East player early in his career. We all know he's got plenty of talent/potential.
coop, i agree with you to a certain extent. you should always go hard when you're on the court, regardless of competition. however, even meyer said that mullens and most elite prospects have trouble motivating themselves. i don't think it's that big of an issue, because once he gets to college he'll have to play hard or he'll sit. i have a feeling gates will move back into the top 50 in the next rankings.
who really cares if he is ranked in the top 50 or top 85? everyone on this board knows the type of player he is. by now, almost all or most of us have seen him in person, on tv, or highlight reels. We know what we are getting. Why does it matter? So that next year espn + announcers that do our games can rave that he was a top 50 player in high school and not a top 85 player?
Rankings are interesting when it pertains to players we have never seen before. Most of us have not seen Cashmere yet. Maybe highlight reels, but no live games. Its interesting to see where he stacks up according to the scouts and experts. Same goes for any player who lives in other regions of the country who commit to the cats.
But we've seen yancy now. Who cares what he is ranked? We know what we are getting.
His motivation next year will be that if he doesn't play hard then he gets a seat on the bench right behind Kenny Belton.
My problem with guys like Jerry Meyer and Rivals who list Gates fairly low because of lack of effort doesn't jive with the philosophy they have of ranking on potential. If Gates is the physical freak or specimen they claim then on potential alone he should be higher based on their standards. That being said it's impossible to rank players in a top 100 or 150 type format with any kind of objectivity or accuracy. For example McClain and Wilks technically were the two highest ranked incoming recruits but the best frosh has been the lower ranked Rashad Bishop.
Take any rankings with a grain of salt and have faith that the coaches, who have been doing this a long time, can find talented kids who fit in and who will help the team continue to take more steps to success.
On a side note having seen Cashmere Wright play in person he brings an element Cincy doesn't have this year, a PG who can score from anywhere on the court and will take backcourt scoring pressure off Vaughn with his ability to hit the 3 and get to the rim.