NIU Recruiting Update:

Scottie Ebube - 2021 recruit (HS Senior) - COMMITTED TO SIU - 6'8" - PF - 2* from Mundelein HS (Mundelein, IL) - I'll do some video research on him tomorrow or the next day however, I'd like to note that NIU has had an offer in on this guy for some time now so that may be a good indication that Montgomery has a good relationship with him and/or his head coach. Ebube has received additional offers from SIU, Miami, Toledo and Cleveland State.

Looks like NIU picked up another player a transfer from Middle Tennessee State:

https://twitter.com/AntCrump

Big Red, you know anything on him? I thought we were full on scholarships?

(07-03-2020 08:39 PM)golf4501 Wrote:  Looks like NIU picked up another player a transfer from Middle Tennessee State:

https://twitter.com/AntCrump

Big Red, you know anything on him? I thought we were full on scholarships?

Hey. I was out most of the day (don't worry....I was hiking and being very socially distant and responsible).

So, here's the new Husky Hooper:

(also, to answer your question. NIU was out of scholarships until Gairges Daow entered the transfer portal about a month ago. Hashing out the scholarships right now on the team is a tad confusing. Obviously, Hankerson is a walk-on but it appears Beane may be as well as it was pointed out that his dad [who is obviously an assistant coach on the team] is getting a discount on tuition for Darius and, since basketball cannot give partial scholarships, the only logical explanation is that Darius is also a walk-on even though you can't find that information anywhere. Hope that clears it up...or at least sheds a little light on it.)

Anthony Crump - Transferring from Middle Tennessee State - RS Freshman - 6'8" - SG - 2* recruit from Plymouth HS (Canton, MI) - So, this one snuck up on me. Obviously, as a D1 transfer, Crump is going to have to sit a season, but he should be someone to look forward to in 2021. That's my impression from watching his videos (which, admittedly are from HS and are a couple of years old). Where I draw some trepidation is in his college stat lines. As a freshman at MTSU, Crump played in 9 games (7 starts) and averaged 17.2 minutes and 2.2 ppg shooting 32% from the field (0% 3PT - 0-2) and 40% FT (4-10). He most likely was injured as he received a redshirt for a 2nd Freshman campaign. As a RS Freshman, Crump played in 26 games (0 starts) averaging 11.8 minutes and 2.0 ppg shooting 44.8% from the field (66.7% 3PT - 2 -3) and 52.5% from the line (21-40). Also, MTSU was some kind of terrible last year (they used to be a conference contender year-in, year-out, but has seen a complete cratering of the program the past few years. Now, in watching his video (from HS), I saw two Crumps. The younger version had fantastic floor vision and was a really good passer. Honestly, it was hard to get an idea on his shot because 75% of the plays were passes. Then, as a senior (it looked like he'd grown about 4 inches...maybe more). He's tall and wiry. He's built like Levi Bradley but more athletic. He rarely shot from the outside (and his college numbers probably tell the story on that) but he also still appeared to be playing PG and at his size and with his athleticism, he was a handful for HS players to deal with. I'm curious to see what this guy becomes in a year. He could be a tall, go to the basket guard, which is interesting. He also showed hustle and good instincts in the few defensive plays I saw. Coming out of HS, Crump received offers from MTSU, UNC Asheville, and University of Indianapolis (DII) so not a ton of interest in a 6'7ish guard.

Time will tell with Crump. He seems interesting but also seems like he was either in a bad situation at MTSU (very likely) or hasn't figured out the college game just yet (which, a year off from game action my actually allow him to work on technique at this level...plus that whole, "fresh start" stuff). Consider me intrigued. I watched his video before I looked up his stats and...to be honest...I was quite surprised to see the low output. I will say this, he appears to be a poor free throw shooter so hopefully he'll work on that over this next year and get to at least 65%.

EDIT:

Okay, I had to get back in here because I ran across a tidbit. Crump's dad, Vernon Crump, Sr., played 3 seasons at Miami (his brother, Vernon, Jr. played at Jackson College). When I looked up the dad's stats, I first thought it was it was the brother because the years he played was from 1990 to 1993 and I said.....uh...that wasn't that long ago...that can't be his dad....uh....how old am I again?

Anyway, he didn't play much at Miami but transferred to North Dakota State where his numbers were better (but it looks like no on in the family can shoot a free throw...). Anyway, after NDSU, Crump went on to play overseas somewhere (I can't figure out where).

MAC Transfer Update:

Jalen King - Transferring from Eastern Michigan to Saint Leo (Saint Leo, FL) DII - Junior - 6’9” - C - 2* from Global Learning Village (Pasco, WA) - Played 20 games (0 starts) as a freshman averaging 4.5 mintues and 0 ppg. As a sophomore, played 19 games (1 start) averaging 6.3 minutes and 1.0 ppg. And as a junior, played 31 games (0 starts) averaging 11.9 minutes and 1.7 ppg. In HS, King also received an offer from Montana State.

Gavin Bizeau - Transferring from Toledo to Marian University (Indianapolis, IN - NAIA) - Sophomore - 6’11” - PF - 4* from Plainfield HS (Plainfield, OH) - Played freshman season at Duquesne where he played 20 games (0 starts) averaging 5.6 minutes and 1.3 ppg. Played sophomore season at Toldeo where he played in only 7 games (0 starts) averaging 9.6 minutes and 2.3 ppg. Coming out of HS, Bizeau had additional offers from Miami, Indiana State, Ball State, Akron, Boston University and IUPUI.

NEW INFO: So, this isn't actually new (it's from January) but it's new to me as I missed it when putting together the transfer list. Bizeau was actually dismissed from the team. I've not found a reason for the dismissal. Most of the info (which really wasn't much) I found on the CSN board for Toledo. Maybe someone from there who lurks here can or will fill in some info on him as to what led to his dismissal. Either way, he didn't really produce at Duquesne and barely played at Toledo but, anytime you have a dude who goes 6'11", it's a positive in a league like the MAC.

I also find it curious that, as a 6'11", 4* recruit out of HS, he was only getting offers from mid-majors. There had to be some baggage this guy was carrying around that came to a head at Toledo.

NIU Recruiting Update:

I'm not sure what to make of this one. I honestly wasn't aware of this one although, the name seems familiar.

Tariq Shepard - Committed to LeMoyne-Owen College (Memphis, TN - HBCU - DII) - 5'11" - PG - 2* recruit from SPIRE Institute - Attended East English Village HS (Detroit, MI) - I think NIU offered Shepard back when he was at EE and he chose the Prep School route at SPIRE. As far as I knew, the offer wasn't on the table but I can find tweets from just a couple of days ago saying that he was making a decision soon and it was down to NIU and LeMoyne-Owen. I can get into him as a player a little but it's probably pointless. He's a small, flea-type 2 guard who appears to be a go-to-the-basket type player. Honestly, at 5'11, I'm not overly sad we "lost out" on him being the role he plays. He may have been looked at as a German-type replacement and, while he's similar in height, he's not similar in body. German was always muscular. Shepard appears to be more small. Anyway, while it's not fair to speculate, I question his ability to make grade. Coming out of HS, he had offers from NIU and Detroit Mercy (because they offer scholarships to everyone and he's directly in their back yard). But he chose SPIRE. Now, seemingly with an offer still on the table from NIU (although, I can't imagine there's actually a scholarship available for him), he chose LeMoyne-Owen.

Now, to his credit, maybe he's actively choosing the HBCU route and, if so, that's his prerogative and good on him for making his own choice. But I'm also betting that the "offer" from NIU was a "walk-on" offer and nothing more. Clearly Detroit Mercy wasn't interested anymore as they weren't even listed in the tweet as an option.

So, there you have it. We "lost" a guy who I didn't even know we'd made an offer to even though (I think...) we don't have any scholarships to offer.

Whatever.

So you missed one. No big deal, considering how many you got. Best recruit tracking I've seen in a long time. Appreciated.

MAC Transfer Update:


Axel Okongo - Transferred to Eastern Michigan from Missouri - Junior - 7'0" - C - 2* recruit from Thetford Academy (Thetford, VT) born in Saacy-sur-Marne, France - Last season, as a junior for the Tigers, Okongo played 8 games (0 starts) averaging 3.8 minutes and 0.6 ppg/0.3 rpg shooting 100% from the field (2-2) and 50% FT (1-2). It doesn't actually appear that Okongo was injured, from what I've found, Cuonzo Martin had an extra scholarship and a full roster so he grabbed Okongo out of JUCO to be a 7 footer they could practice against. Which, knowing he was going to barely see the floor in his senior campaign, is why he's chosen to move on to Eastern Michigan. Before Mizzou, Okongo played at Northwest College (JUCO - Powell, WY) and, as a sophomore he played in 24 games (0 starts) averaging 6.4 minutes and 2.5 ppg/1.5 rpg shooting 48.3% from the field (29-60) and 60% FT (3-5). He was injured mostly his freshman year.

Other than being huge, there doesn't seem to be much else about Okongo. In a league like the MAC, it's always nice to have someone over 6'8", let alone 7'0" but just being that big isn't everything if he is useless and his JUCO stats lead a person long that pathway. Nevertheless, he'll sit this year and presumably suit up in 2021-22. While in HS, Okongo received one offer and it was from Valparaiso. When he transferred to Missouri, no one there who plays attention to things even knew he had visited. So, this guy is not at all sought after and seems to be getting basketball gigs because he's 7 feet tall. But....we shall see.

Edit: Okay, so I got curious and watched the only video I could find on him (I didn't look too hard) and he's....okay. He looks like what I'd say a kid who is doing EXACTLY how's he's coached to play to post would look like although I do question if referees call traveling in whatever league he was playing in because I counted about 4 walks that were left alone...but I digress. Defensively though, I'd say that's his bread and butter. He gets after the shot block and seems to really enjoy doing it. Now, can he repeat it at the mid-major level? (we know he didn't at the major level). Again, I guess we'll see.

MAC Transfer Updates:

Gabe O'Neal - Transfered from Mineral Area College (Park Hills, MO) to Kent State - 6'7" - PF - 2* recruit from Princeton HS (Cincinnati, OH) - O'Neal played 2 years at Mineral Area CC before his transfer. As a freshman, O'Neal played in 32 games (17 starts) averaging 10.2 ppg/6.8 rpg shooting 60.3% from the field (12.5% 3PT - 2-16) and 59.1% FT (55-93). As a sophomore, O'Neal played in and started 32 games averaging 9.4 ppg/5.7 rpg shooting 61.3% from from the field (33.3% 3PT - 2-6) and 72.3% FT (60-83). Coming out of HS, O'Neal did not receive any 4-year offers however, coming out of MACC, he also received an offer from SE Missouri State.

James Jordan- Transferred from Triton College (River Grove, IL) to Kent State - 6'6" - PG - 2* recruit from Experience Academy (I think is in Johnson City, TN) born in Detroit, MI where he attended Westside Christian Academy - At Triton, Jordan played in 20 games (5 starts) averaging 16.1 minutes and 8.3 ppg/3.5 rpg/3.6 apg shooting 50% from the field (39.7% 3PT - 27-68) and 81.8% FT (18-22). Coming out of HS, Jordan received no 4-year offers. Coming out of TCC, Jordan received additional offers from East Tennessee State, SE Missouri State, Kentucky State, Montevallo, Mississippi Valley State, and CSU Bakersfield.

Bizeau is from Plainfield,IN. He is surprisingly an outside shooter although in college it has not shown. Main reason he got no big school offers was he is thin & didn't play underneath.

(07-30-2020 11:00 AM)Tom D Wrote:  Bizeau is from Plainfield,IN. He is surprisingly an outside shooter although in college it has not shown. Main reason he got no big school offers was he is thin & didn't play underneath.

Thanks for filling in the gaps. I knew it had to be something and, from his stat lines and the little bit of video I saw, you're assessment sure jives pretty well with what I saw.

So does Anthony Crump transferring here and he has to sit out a year does that mean Monty has been extended beyond this year? Otherwise why would he get a guy that can’t play right away?

Tallahassee Community College transfer update:

Well, they're still at it. They've added another D1 transfer and that brings them up to 7 D1s on their roster for next season. It's also the 6th guy they've brought in who's either 6'5" or 6'6" (the other is 6'11").

Here's the latest. He's a "hometown" fella:

Amir Gholizadeh - Freshman from Chicago State - 6'6" - SF - 2* recruit from Toronto Basketball Academy (Toronto, CA) - as a freshman at Chicago State, Gholizadeh played 29 games (11 starts) averaging 22.7 minutes and 6.8 ppg/2.7 rpg shooting 39.4% from the field (31.4% 3PT - 33-105) and 70.5% FT (31-44). This is probably quite the loss for the Cougars. I mean, they're terrible and I'm assuming that's why he left, but you'd have to figure with numbers like that, he'd be in prime position to be a full time starter as a sophomore. Interestingly, he received an offer from Howard to transfer but.....he chose Tallahassee CC. He's probably got his sights set higher than Howard but, how much higher is realistic? Probably not much. Coming out of HS, Gholizadeh received additional offers from High Point and Canisius. He probably picked Chicago State because it was the only one he could locate on a map.

MAC Transfer Update:

Anyeuri Castillo - Transferring from Kent State to USC Aiken (Aiken, SC - DII) - Junior - 6’7” - SF - 2* from Meadowcreek HS, born in Dominican Republic, transferred to KSU from Central Georgia Tech - played 1 season at Kent State logging 12 games (1 start) averaging 5.2 mpg and 1.8 ppg.

MAC Update:

Notice I didn't say anything about recruiting or trasnfers?

I found this interesting, so I'm sharing.

Eastern Michigan has awarded a scholarship to FORMER (I bet that feels good to hear) walk-on Derek Ballard, Jr.

Derek Ballard, Jr. - FORMER Walk-On - RS Junior - 6'8" - PF - 2* recruit from Southfield-Lathrup HS (Southfield, MI) - Ballard, Jr. spent two years as a walk-on at Eastern Michigan. As a walk-on Freshman, Ballard, Jr. played in 9 games (0 starts) averaging 3.3 minutes and 0.6 ppg/1 rpg shooting 12.5% from the field (1 of 4 - 0% from 3PT- 0 of 4) and 75% from FT (3 of 4). As a walk-on Sophomore, Ballard, Jr played in 18 games (0 starts) averaging 4 minutes and 1.1 ppg/0.9 rpg shooting 38.9% from the field (7 of 18 - 27.3% 3PT - 3 of 11) and 66.7% FT (2 of 3).

I believe Ballard is the sone of Derek Ballard who played at Green Bay back in '91-'92 (for just 1 season - only played in 6 games).

Coming out of HS, Ballard received 0 scholarship offers.

Either way, congratulations on that shiny new scholarship Derek! You earned it!

MAC Transfer Update:

Danny Kolp - Transferring to Western Michigan from Northwood University (Midland, MI) - Walk-on Junior - 6'8" - PF - 2* recruit from Petoskey HS (Petoskey, MI) - I've never been to Petoskey but I hear it's beautiful and if you're ever up around the Traverse City area, it's a nice hour or so drive northeast to Petoskey. Anyway, Kolp is going to walk-on at WMU so there's no need to count scholarships. He's obviously a big body but I'm not going to waste too much time scouting video of him being a walk-on. With that said, as a sophomore at Northwood, Kolp played in 31 games (starting 18) and averaged 21.5 minutes and 6.9 ppg/4.5 rpg shooting 53.2% from the field (31.6 3PT - 18-57) and 34.3% FT (12-35). How a guy makes 18 of 57 from behind the arc and only 12 of 35 from the free throw line is a mystery to me. 35 isn't a huge number of free throws, but it's a big enough sample that I'd expect a little normalization in it. So, I guess if Kolp is on the floor...feel free to foul him. But he probably won't be on the floor and if you foul a player who's currently not in the game it'd probably be considered an act of aggression or something and would lead to more trouble than it'd be worth. Anyway...Danny Kolp from Northern Michigan.

MAC Transfer Update #2 for today:

Jacob Washington - Transferred to Bowling Green from Cerritos College (Norwalk, CA) - RS Junior - 6'8" - PF - 2* recruit from George Washington Prep HS (Los Angeles, CA) - As a RS Sophomore at Cerritos, Washington played in 30 games (28 starts) and averaged 21.6 minutes and 10 ppg/6.6 rpg shooting 46% from the field (20.7% 3PT - 6-29) and 76.7% FT (66-86). I gave it a better than lazy effort to find some video of Washington but there isn't much that's recent. There's some video of him from 2016 and from HS (I'm not doing to math to figure out if he was in high school in 2016 but he probably was so, whatever) but for a guy who's spent 3 years outside of HS, I wasn't too inclined to watch it. He's big. Strong. Seems like he can put the ball through the hoop. Grabs some boards. Might actually be pretty useful for the Falcons. Interestingly, if he tattooed his college mascot on his arm a couple of years ago...he won't have to change it as Cerritos is also the Falcons, but they ripped off the Atlanta Falcons logo. That always bugs me. I know that thing is copywrited and it's not hard for someone to find. I've seen high schools get letters from lawyers about copywrite infringements regarding logos. Anyway...I'm rambling.

NIU Recruiting Update (2021 Recruit):

Keon Thompson - 6'2ish" - PG - 2* from Merrillville HS (Merrillville, IN) - I have no idea, but this name sounds so familiar to me like I've written him up before but apparently I haven't. So...here goes. Thompson hails from Merrillville HS which is the stuff of folklore around NIU fandom as we all know that is the HS alma mater of NIU superstar TJ Lux. It also happens to be the same high school that TJ called home for eight years as the head basketball coach before hanging up his whistle two seasons ago citing that he wanted to spend more time with his three sons.

Anyway, enough about TJ, this is about Keon. I've seen Keon listed as 6'1", 6'2", AND 6'3". Just judging from video I've seen of him, he's bigger than 6'1". So...6'2" or 3"... He's strongly built and is a heck of an athlete. His highlight videos focus almost entirely on him dunking. Everything from fastbreak dunks to beat the guy off the dribble and drive the lane dunks to alley-oop dunks. Once, and this one was most impressive to me, a teammate offered up an alley-oop that was interrupted in some way. Thompson collected the ball and was standing flat footed under the basket. He proceeded to jump straight up and dunk the ball. He can jump. He's also built a bit like a running back. He's not as thick as Tyler Cochran but he's bigger than German and Beane. He also appears to be short limbed which is what gives me the running back vibe. But don't get me wrong, the dude is athletic. Is he a point guard at the college level? I don't think so. He appears to be a scorer. I've dug around and can't come up with a stat line for his junior year so he'll be one to keep an eye on if they ever play basketball in 2020-21 (although, he's probably got a better shot at it being in Indiana). His outside shot is featured a bit but not enough for me to make any speculation. It doesn't look funky or anything.

As it stands, in addition to NIU, Thompson has received offers from Valparaiso, Miami, New Orleans, Ball State, Cleveland State, Drake, Indiana State, and Robert Morris. So, lots of in-state attention he's getting but, if he wants to stay in the Chicago "area", NIU looks to be it (although...I supposed you could make a case for Valpo).

NIU offered 4 freshman/ sophomores all out of St. Rita. Hopefully it works out!

They should have offered the top 3 at Notee Dame High School. They are all top players in state. ND has gotten a lot better in Basketball recently