(11-18-2020 04:15 PM)eastisbest Wrote: Under the radar could be literal in Iceland.
Hmmm...is that last name there Icelandic for "Epperson"?
I mean, it's close enough, right?...if he can play like Kenny did, that would be fine with me...
Could Epperson sing?
Quote:Hobbies outside of basketball:
I like to play the guitar and go fishing
Favorite pro sports teams:
New Orleans Pelicans
Favorite music and movies:
I listen to everything but mostly old country music, old blues and rap, lil kleine and slav Favorite movie is cars 1
3 interesting facts about you:
I have won 2 singing contests playing the guitar, I had a accident in 2017 where I broke my back, i’m probably stevie wonders biggest fan
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2020 08:52 PM by eastisbest.)
Can't seem to find any highlights from Wilson. I see UT just offered him last week. He had an offer from Mississippi State, but not many others that I can see.
well, throw the suitcases on the bed and unpack. lots to surmise here.
pretty good pull on the elijah wilson signing. late bloomer from Atlanta who was getting a lot of late ACC and SEC interest but not many offers. there's a long interview with him out there on video. i like how he comes off. seems like he'll be a good teammate and provide some leadership. lotta upside with his shot length and versatility on the perimeter. kid has a nice stroke and already has good range. as he continues to fill in his lanky 6-5 frame he'll be a real long ball threat and able to play some forward as well. not certain on his age but he strikes me as kid who won't come in as a "young freshman". he'll be physically and competitively prepared to compete.
it's always good when there's an icelander in the story. this one will be a 20 year old freshman. who has been playing with 18 and 19 year olds in European and FIBA tournaments as well as playing in the Icelandic pro basketball league (which isn't all that pro to be honest, but means he's playing with a mostly grown men). He hasn't played ball in America but he won't be a "young freshman". I'll wait for continental confirmation of his height. if a true 6-7, then, there's a lot of potential here. good shooter. deep range. looks like he wants to be a player. might need a couple years to evolve, but he acts like he wants to score points and has pretty good tools for 6-7?
rockets are the only mac program to close the early signing period with a bang. no other publically announced mac signees during the final few days of the period. akron did also sign 3 guys early, including a 6-10 guy who had high major interest as an undergrad, but not a lot of current offers, a sg w solid mid major offers, and a lightly recruited pg who was mostly getting D2 interest. so, i suppose they rank as comparable, but the rockets group looks a bit better to me if the Icelander adjusts and rises to the competitive level and speed of the game.
While will have to wait until these 3 early commitments get on the court, I like the different skill sets each brings to the table. I also think it was important to get players signed early for the 2021 Class as COVID is preventing in home and on campus recruiting from taking place through April, 2021. The Coaching Staff must have felt comfortable enough with these 3 players to have pulled the trigger early and not wait until the late signing period begins in April.
I'm wondering how they evaluated the kid from Iceland. I'm sure they had some first hand observations of Jacobi and Wilson but what's the connection to Iceland? It should be fun to see how this group works out.
yeah, i imagine they got some intel on him from youth FIBA tournaments as he was on the Icelandic jr national team. i doubt it was random. not like justin ingram or walter offutt are taking scouting trips to reykjavik to see what's out there.
(11-19-2020 04:59 AM)pono Wrote: well, throw the suitcases on the bed and unpack. lots to surmise here.
pretty good pull on the elijah wilson signing. late bloomer from Atlanta who was getting a lot of late ACC and SEC interest but not many offers. there's a long interview with him out there on video. i like how he comes off. seems like he'll be a good teammate and provide some leadership. lotta upside with his shot length and versatility on the perimeter. kid has a nice stroke and already has good range. as he continues to fill in his lanky 6-5 frame he'll be a real long ball threat and able to play some forward as well. not certain on his age but he strikes me as kid who won't come in as a "young freshman". he'll be physically and competitively prepared to compete.
it's always good when there's an icelander in the story. this one will be a 20 year old freshman. who has been playing with 18 and 19 year olds in European and FIBA tournaments as well as playing in the Icelandic pro basketball league (which isn't all that pro to be honest, but means he's playing with a mostly grown men). He hasn't played ball in America but he won't be a "young freshman". I'll wait for continental confirmation of his height. if a true 6-7, then, there's a lot of potential here. good shooter. deep range. looks like he wants to be a player. might need a couple years to evolve, but he acts like he wants to score points and has pretty good tools for 6-7?
rockets are the only mac program to close the early signing period with a bang. no other publically announced mac signees during the final few days of the period. akron did also sign 3 guys early, including a 6-10 guy who had high major interest as an undergrad, but not a lot of current offers, a sg w solid mid major offers, and a lightly recruited pg who was mostly getting D2 interest. so, i suppose they rank as comparable, but the rockets group looks a bit better to me if the Icelander adjusts and rises to the competitive level and speed of the game.
ZIPS loading up on African bigs as they signed one late in 2020 from NBA-Africa, a 7-footer. Since practices are closed everywhere there has been no word on how good he is ... Ball State signed a big kid who was getting a lot of mid-major offers so suspect he's decent. ... Kent signed a 6-10, 245 big as well out of Toledo, but does not appear UT, BG, EMU, Det, Oak or Ft. Wayne - the closest D-1s to him - made him an offer so that is a ???. Buff signed an undersized (6-7) 3-star big who should be a solid MAC player.
well, i bet we sign him. if you are gonna offer a kid a week before the signing date and you just so happen to have a frontcourt built around most of the top inside talent to come out of that, relatively, basketball poor country, it's hard to see him say, "nah, i think i'll go to montana state". or however they say it in england. meets the eye test. tall, strong, long, likes to dunk very hard (those dinky english gym backboards are the real star of his highlight reel). i mean, he plays with and against kids who are more like the jv in america. so, i think the approach is get him on the court and around these other more polished and experienced hard working bigs in our program and see what he can be. i like that he's lefthanded. i loved the play in his reel where he flat-flooted swats a mid-range shot to about half court. of all the kids 6-8 or bigger we have officially offered he's the most intriguing.
[/quote
From the Video it looks like he has "good hands" as that is what TK always says about evaluating post player recruits. TK says you can't teach good hands -- either you have them or you don't. I agree Pono, we'll need to get in on campus playing with our Bigs to really determine his skill level and potential. But I think its worth the risk as recruiting post players is always a crap shoot!
truth. insightful post. and to be fair nichols or mcdonald and the old greats would say pretty much the same thing as TK-good hands and accept that it's a crap shoot. look, there's only so many 6-10 humans. the athletic ones have great opportunities with basketball, but the motivation is different. to be a good 6-2 college basketball player you have to have a high level of skill and motivation and are probably highly competitive. meanwhile, big guys who are skilled but not super competitive will still get recruited. big guys who aren't very skilled but compete hard will have a place to play. this guy looks to me like he's initially a finisher and rim protector with good potential as a rebounder and maybe some feel for using the backboard with left handed left block post moves.
Coach K has a good record of developing 6-10 post players.
Pretty impressive video. Giovanni moves well for a big guy. He has nice touch on both sides of the hoop. He has incredible wing span. He does a nice job with his control blocking shots. He also does a nice job adjusting his shot around the hoop. There’s a lot to work with here.
(11-06-2020 04:31 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote: well, i bet we sign him. if you are gonna offer a kid a week before the signing date and you just so happen to have a frontcourt built around most of the top inside talent to come out of that, relatively, basketball poor country, it's hard to see him say, "nah, i think i'll go to montana state". or however they say it in england. meets the eye test. tall, strong, long, likes to dunk very hard (those dinky english gym backboards are the real star of his highlight reel). i mean, he plays with and against kids who are more like the jv in america. so, i think the approach is get him on the court and around these other more polished and experienced hard working bigs in our program and see what he can be. i like that he's lefthanded. i loved the play in his reel where he flat-flooted swats a mid-range shot to about half court. of all the kids 6-8 or bigger we have officially offered he's the most intriguing.
[/quote
From the Video it looks like he has "good hands" as that is what TK always says about evaluating post player recruits. TK says you can't teach good hands -- either you have them or you don't. I agree Pono, we'll need to get in on campus playing with our Bigs to really determine his skill level and potential. But I think its worth the risk as recruiting post players is always a crap shoot!
truth. insightful post. and to be fair nichols or mcdonald and the old greats would say pretty much the same thing as TK-good hands and accept that it's a crap shoot. look, there's only so many 6-10 humans. the athletic ones have great opportunities with basketball, but the motivation is different. to be a good 6-2 college basketball player you have to have a high level of skill and motivation and are probably highly competitive. meanwhile, big guys who are skilled but not super competitive will still get recruited. big guys who aren't very skilled but compete hard will have a place to play. this guy looks to me like he's initially a finisher and rim protector with good potential as a rebounder and maybe some feel for using the backboard with left handed left block post moves.
Coach K has a good record of developing 6-10 post players.
Pretty impressive video. Giovanni moves well for a big guy. He has nice touch on both sides of the hoop. He has incredible wing span. He does a nice job with his control blocking shots. He also does a nice job adjusting his shot around the hoop. There’s a lot to work with here.
but we didn't sign him in the early signing period.
yeah, if you dig on twitter there's a lot of video clips and interview w him (can't find much elsewhere). I got a hunch about the kid. seems like a great fit for the program, pretty grounded, always in the gym, efficient player who can score but isn't a ballhog, has some versatility and size to play a few different roles, lots of good comments about his defense-although none of that is in his highlight clips. sure looks the part too.
(This post was last modified: 11-20-2020 11:19 PM by pono.)
saw a few nuggets on this kid online. sounds like he's originally from italy and has only been playing organized bball for 3 years. is not playing in the BBL, britain's top pro league or the NBLD1 which is the top pro-am league and includes 20-25 of the top HS and college age national players. He's at the NBL D2 level which is where most of the good HS age players are but it doesn't look like that level is playing games during covid. says he's now 6-11 and the dude is ripped, but looks like he will be a D1 project if he makes it over the pond. the farmer commit probably eliminates any shot at us making room for him on the roster, but these days you never know.
Coach TK has offered Toledo Central Catholic sophomore point guard, Chico Johnson. Standing at 6'2", he certainly looks the part of a D1 recruit. Versatile player and is powerful driving to the rim.
(04-19-2021 09:28 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote: For the 2023 class:
Coach TK has offered Toledo Central Catholic sophomore point guard, Chico Johnson. Standing at 6'2", he certainly looks the part of a D1 recruit. Versatile player and is powerful driving to the rim.
Doesn't Craig Thames and Shane Komives kids play at CCHS? and they too are sophomores.
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A couple men's basketball recruiting notes
