Offered
Emory Lanier a 6'3 175 PG from Knoxville (Dad is an Assistant at UT)
Demond Robinson 6'8 250 PF from Montgomery, AL
Jaden Bradley 6'1 PG from Concord, NC
He isn't listed on Verbal Commits, but 6'4" guard DaJuan Gordon from Chicago says ETSU is one of the schools recruiting him the hardest. He listed "... Tulsa, Colorado State, Murray State, UAB, Loyola, New Mexico and East Tennessee State as schools that are recruiting him the hardest."
More competition is incoming. Gordon picked up offers from Xavier, Mississippi, and Nebraska in the past two days.
Somebody alert Guinness. The "defense" being "played" in that video of Allen-Eikens has *got* to be a record of some sort.
Kinda like Corbitt - just not much to go on there.
They're (the new ones) all in that 6'7"-6'9" category.
This really belongs in a 2019-2020 class thread (meaning h.s. graduation class), buuuut…..last week we offered Andersson Garcia, of powerhouse Hamilton Heights, down the road in Chatt-town. That's a team I had a contact with, but I think he's moved on now. Last season's NACA national champs in BOTH boys and girls hoops. Always loaded.
Lucas N'Guessan, 7-0 215
Native of De Lier, Netherlands, speaks 4 languages fluently.
Roster photo and bio from Oklahoma State: https://okstate.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3420
Has 2 years of Big 12 experience under his belt. Still a project, but there are possibilities. Peter Jurkin improved to have a useful senior year. Similar length and thinness to Corley. Doesn't seem as fast or fluid, but much more experience against much better D1 competition. As a freshman he did post 7 boards and 6 points in a game against Maryland. With Corley and Mladen in practice there are plenty of real bigs to work against.
With Corley or N'Guessan in the game, Mladen becomes a 6-10 240 power forward (who has been working on his shot) and Jeromy a long armed 6-7 225 small forward who moves and passes well. Last year Forbes didn't go big with both Mladen and Peter in. But with Mladen developing he might find that useful this year (or next). Particularly if our new guards give us better perimeter scoring.
Respectfully......Mladen will not (imo) be a forward, either offensively or defensively. Maybe his shot is stronger than I suspect, but his DNA is that of a paint player in all respects. I think it much more likely either of the taller guys will be, in effect, a forward. But really...…...this is semantics, for the most part. Forbes will use them properly - we hope. Remember, he eventually, during last season, admitted that he should have used Jurkin more his penultimate year.
And yes, Forbes was ready because he knew this was coming, as I said in another post. He just couldn't admit it publicly.
Also, N'Guessan will be 21 in November, so he'll be 23 as a senior, should he hang around that long.
Mladen has indeed so far played a game limited to the paint, though I hear that he's working on expanding it. But so has N'Guessan in those video's that are available. Everything is short range with no 3's attempted, and not much touch shown from the free thrown line (around 50%). I don't think it likely that he will be used as a forward.
It’s all too early. The games must be played, roster and health managed. But if the players develop and team gels, this is a borderline major roster in the 19-20 season. A 5th year major transfer in the backcourt would probably be the tipping point. The post should be warlike. Our 7-footers will be listed 230-240 by then and still very athletic. Mladen will probably hit 250, and Jeromy possibly 240. Solid muscle.
(08-15-2018 09:10 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote: [ -> ]Mladen has indeed so far played a game limited to the paint, though I hear that he's working on expanding it. But so has N'Guessan in those video's that are available. Everything is short range with no 3's attempted, and not much touch shown from the free thrown line (around 50%). I don't think it likely that he will be used as a forward.
I agree on N'Guessan. I guess I was speaking more defensively, and that'll be considerably dependent on matchups. But I can easily see Corley being a 'forward' on both ends of the court. Offensively...…...while Forbes of course has set plays, so much just depends on the flow of the game, passing from guards, spacing, etc. Did it really matter whether A.J. was playing as a guard or forward - or Bo for that matter? Forbes will figure it out as need be. I suspect he learned from the 'mistake' he made of discounting Jurkin too much early on. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Jurkin's success last year was part of him desiring both Corley and N'Guessan. (As if agile 7-footers weren't desired ipso facto.)
And yes, *of course* it's too early. N'Guessan won't be playing a game for us for at least 15 months.
Some perspective on N’Guessan as a FR at OSU. Takeaways: learns fast, positive, by this point physicality is probably the big question. Probably not a major level physical presence, but hopefully will become a strong role player center for ETSU to backup Armus and Corley. Can’t coach height!
Me like. Will go for the flush when available instead of banking it. Nice hands, and nice touch on the baby hook. Good footwork on D and doesn't commit too early. Honestly looks like he should go higher than mid-major.
edit/addition:
View of a scout, Marshall Newman: 7’ 260 lb Emmanuel Ugboh downright DOMINANT in the semis of
@jerrydmullen
Top 100. 17 pts (8-10 & 3 dunks that shook the building), 8 rbs & 3 blks. Plays in the title game Sunday afternoon. HM for sure
Sure is a recruiting philosophy change from Forbes and Co compared to our last regime. Two 7 footers on campus plus the ripped 6-10 Armus along with offers to other 7 foot posts and 6-8 and 6-9 PF's with beef including i.e. Alabama recruit Desmond Robinson at 6-8 250 and Donald Fitzgerald from Nashville Stratford at 6-9 and I'm guessing 260-270 at least who plays left tackle for the football team. Size like this was unheard of with MuBar except for the occasional rarity i.e. Jurkin falling in our lap. Love the change.