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+----- Thread: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting (/thread-897621.html)
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - NIU75 - 04-11-2020 06:19 PM
(04-09-2020 02:39 PM)Big Red Wrote: Brandon Johnson of WMU has announced his transfer to Minnesota.PJ gave him a call.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-11-2020 06:49 PM
(04-11-2020 05:13 PM)dc1 Wrote: Huskies sign 6’7-6’8 Chinedu Okanu a center from Vincennes University
Good catch!
Seems a little short to play C at NIU but still is a big body.
Okanu is a 6'7" C who was a 2* recruit out of Thea Bowman Leadership Academy (the same high school that Brandon Johnson went to in Gary, IN) but he was born in Nigeria. Okanu started out at Vincennes University (Vincennes, IN) where he played in 23 games averaging 2.3 ppg/1.7 rpg shooting 54% from the field and 66.7% from FT.
Honestly, other than being a big strong body, I don't see the attraction. I guess he can fill Chris Johnson's role off the bench if Johnson becomes a starter or 6th/7th man type. Ultimately, he sounds like roster filler.
What, if anything, I can possibly draw from this and the fact that they still have 4 outstanding offers to JUCO players and only (to the best of my knowledge) 2 scholarship slots available (if Travis is gone), I'd say they may simply not interested in actually bringing in any of those freshman who were offered. And, honestly, they weren't that good anyway.
Having (currently) 5 sophomores on the roster (and 3 juniors...any possibly more with all the JUCOs that are possibilities), maybe Montgomery isn't too worried about filling up the freshman class. It's not a terrible idea. And then, going into 2021-22, they'd have a senior/junior heavy team and still 5 scholarships to offer that next class.
Anyway, just thinking out loud here.
Btw, back to Okanu, Vincennes is typically pretty good in the JUCO ranks and last year was no exception. The Trailblazers went 34-2 averaging 91 poitns per game. In Division 1 JUCO, Vincennes qualified for the National Tournament seeded number 10 in and, obviously the championship was canceled like everything else, but they had an impressive run up to that point too, beating a number of top teams in their region.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - NIU89 - 04-11-2020 08:43 PM
Appears his sophomore statistics were over 10pts and 5 rebounds on a competitive team
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - dc1 - 04-11-2020 09:56 PM
BRed, Chris Johnson will never start he’s not even a D1 player. He’s a good teammate and will do whatever Monty wants but he is not good at basketball. They still have 3 scholarships left. Hankerson must not need one.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - huskie87fan - 04-11-2020 11:02 PM
Vincennes won the NJCAA championship last year. I saw him play against Highland Community College this year. Big body with good mobility. Monty should give 6’8” inch Highland forward Vuk Stevanic a look. Really good fundamental guy like Noah.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-12-2020 09:09 AM
(04-11-2020 09:56 PM)dc1 Wrote: BRed, Chris Johnson will never start he’s not even a D1 player. He’s a good teammate and will do whatever Monty wants but he is not good at basketball. They still have 3 scholarships left. Hankerson must not need one.
Just out of curiosity, who is your starting 5 based on who is currently on the roster?
The team is heavy in guards probably starting 3 of them. I'd guess Hankerson, Beane, and Cochrane. But there's also Henry-Hayes, Daow, and Mateen. If all of them are healthy (I'm looking at Henry-Hayes) then there isn't a lot that separates them from each other (but I'd put Daow easily at the bottom of the list plus, I feel like he plays more like a forward).
At forward, you have a lot of question marks. Chris Johnson, Nathan Scott, Chinedu Okanu, Keenan Cole and Justin Lee. Ideally, the 2 starters I'd pick from that group are Lee and Cole. But Lee has been hurt for 2 years so there's absolutely no counting on him. Scott was good in small batches, but he has to be a lot better next year to warrant starting or being on the floor for major parts of games. Maybe he will. But I wouldn't want to bet on it.
So, again, I ask, who is your starting 5? And in what way is Johnson not at least the 1st or 2nd guy off the bench (more so the 1st forward off the bench?)
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - HuskiePride12 - 04-12-2020 09:52 AM
If that is the best monty can get the team is screwed. He need to land someone that can start right away and be very productive. He got Anthony Johnson a few years ago and that is the type he needs to go after again.
2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Dog Fan - 04-12-2020 10:48 AM
Our history in football is based on finding those diamonds in the rough (Turner, Wolfe, etc). Our history in basketball is based on finding pieces of coal. And if those pieces of coal are big, we need to be happy and excited.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - dc1 - 04-12-2020 11:05 AM
BigRed, Hankerson, Beane, Cochran or Henry Hayes, Scott, Lee. I also believe two of the starters will be new guys to the team. This team will need much more scoring just to be a middle of the pack MAC team. They cannot afford many minutes to a guy(Johnson) that cannot make a basket.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - dc1 - 04-12-2020 11:11 AM
College basketball is all about the transfers now, Monty should be limiting his search for 3 more players to only transfers. He needs two guards that can create there own shot and score and a 6’10 guy that can make a layup and rebound. You need guys that have been somewhat developed already. Tons of guys out there.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Schaefer Beer - 04-12-2020 01:01 PM
(04-11-2020 04:05 PM)StevenNIU Wrote:+1(04-11-2020 09:25 AM)Big Red Wrote: NIU has added two more JUCO recruit offers for next year.
Tafari Simms - Sophomore - 6'6" - SF - 2* from Lincoln Prep at St. Mary Prep (I can't figure out where this school is but his hometown is Hamilton, ON) - Started his collegiate career at Western Texas College where last year, he started 31 of 33 games and averaged 11.8 ppg/6.8 rpg shooting 48.2% from the field (42,1% 3PT) and 73% FT.
Simms has other offers from New Orleans, Milwaukee, Incarnate Word, Tennessee-Martin, and Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Adong Makoui - Sophomore - 6'9" - PF - 2* from The RISE Centre Academy (Brantford, ON, his hometown is Edmonton, AB) - Makoui started his career at Daytona State College where he started 30 of 30 games averaging 6.6 ppg/5.4 rpg while shooting 69.8% from the field and 75% FT. He also blocked 46 shots which is about 1.5 per game.
Makoui has other offers from SIU, Portland State, Murray State, Kent State, and Buffalo.
I'm a little pressed for time this morning so I hope to have some time to look at some video later today. Barely first impressions from me are positive on both of these guys. Makoui looks like he could fill the James/McCarty role. Big, strong dude. And Simms appears to be an athletic guy with decent size and a pretty good shot from behind the arc.
Again, I hate to say too much because I don't know much and hope to a little later. But I just wanted to pass along the two new potentials.
Big Red, I really enjoy the time and effort you put into this. I hope you don't start charging a subscription fee!
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-12-2020 09:38 PM
(04-12-2020 11:05 AM)dc1 Wrote: BigRed, Hankerson, Beane, Cochran or Henry Hayes, Scott, Lee. I also believe two of the starters will be new guys to the team. This team will need much more scoring just to be a middle of the pack MAC team. They cannot afford many minutes to a guy(Johnson) that cannot make a basket.
Just so we're clear. I never said he had to be a starter. If you notice, I also said 6th or 7th man in (non-guard). So, ease up a tad.
I do agree with you though about making transfers a focus. It can't be every year 100%, but it's got to be a part of each year's recruiting class and, depending on the roster makeup and scholarships available, then it needs to be more or less.
Like I said, next offseason, I'd like it to be heavy on incoming freshmen just because the team will already be real heavy senior through sophomore.
Anyway, I too would like to see both Lee and Scott be the starters next year, but Lee simply has never shown he will be healthy and there's a good chance he's simply not going to be as good as his potential was when recruited because of the missed time and injuries. And Scott is no guarantee either. He played a lot at the beginning of the year, and did well, but once the conference season started, he vanished for good spans.
Though, I'd say Scott is a better bet than Lee. Ultimately, I think Monty will lean on Cole more just due to his size and size potential. But he's got to be healthy too.
Right now, it's pretty clear this team is going to be driven by its guards and is going to need strength, defense and rebounding on the inside.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-12-2020 09:40 PM
JUCO transfer DeAndre Gholston has committed to Milwaukee.
I'm quite disappointed in this. I wonder if NIU already being heavy on guards swayed him towards the Panthers.
Either way, I'm thinking Montgomery had to have a connection to him having gone to 21st Century and already played in the MAC. Maybe Gholston was done with the MAC. I don't know.
There's also a better than decent chance I'm over-rating Gholston.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-13-2020 03:43 PM
Some MAC transfer updates:
First of all, Justin Turner has decided to stay at Bowling Green. This is unfortunate because he's pretty good and Bowling Green was pretty good last year and that combination is NOT good for fans of other teams. Turner was considered to be one of the top transfer targets (and the top remaining player in the portal) this offseason so staying at BGSU is interesting. Turner turned down offers from Missouri, Marquette, and Iowa State. So, lucky for us....
Now, some JUCOs:
Malik Muhammad - Transfer to Central Michigan from East Los Angeles College - 6'9" - C - 2* recruit from Nathanial Narbonne HS (Los Angeles, CA) and born in San Pedro, CA - Played 28 games at ELAC averaging 9.6 minutes and 5.2 ppg/4.3 rpg/1.3 bpg shooting 57.3% from the field and 60.3% from FT. Muhammad had no other offers other than CMU.
Jonathan Komagum - Transfer Toledo from Williston State College (Williston, ND) - JUCO Sophomore - 6'8" - PF - 2* recruit from TaylorMade Academy of Crescent City Christian School (Metaire, LA) born in London, England - First of all, that's a heck of a high school name. Anyway, at WSC, Komagum started 27 of 31 games averaging 30.8 minutes and 9.7 ppg/10.4 rpg shooting 50% from the field (35.3% 3PT - 6 of 17) and 75.2% from FT. 17 attempts from behind the arc isn't a huge number but its not insignificant either and considering he shot 35% from 3PT and 75% from FT, I can't fathom how he managed to shoot only 50% from the field. Interestingly, he was 100 of 200 from the floor. Tidbits... So, yeah, he may be just a big body or he may actually be some kind of a find. He also blocked 1.6 shots per game. Komagum had other offers from Maine, Detroit Mercy (who seem to make an offer to ever single player in the portal), and St. Bonaventure.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - ChicagoHuskie - 04-13-2020 04:47 PM
Thank you for all this great info... I am itching for sports news so this is really appreciated.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-13-2020 07:44 PM
Another MAC transfer update:
Rifen Miguel - Transferring to Ohio from Tallahasee Community College - 6'9" - PF - 2* recruit from West Oaks Academy (Orlando, FL) born in Luanda, Angola - Miguel started his college career at College of Central Florida (Ocala, FL) and then transferred to Tallahassee CC. If Tallahassee CC sounds familiar, it should. TCC is the same school that DeAndre Gholston just transferred from and the same that received 7 D-1 transfers last off-season. They seem to churn D-1 prospects in and out of the school acting as a conduit for talented players who have 1) probably made a poor choice in their first school selection and 2) a proving ground for players who couldn't qualify academically out of high school. Anyway, at TCC, Miguel played on a loaded roster and started 21 of his 25 games played averaging 18.7 minutes and 7.8 ppg shooting 46.2% from the field (28% 3PT) and 67.6% FT. Miguel had received other offers from Jacksonville State, Hampton, Southern, Milwaukee (the same school that landed Gholston), Radford, Eastern Illinois, SIUe, Missouri State, Louisiana-Monroe, and Massachusetts.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Schaefer Beer - 04-14-2020 03:34 AM
Big Red, I saw an offer to Tavon Jones at Odessa College. 3* from Jersey. Is he on your radar or do I have bad info?
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-14-2020 07:54 AM
(04-14-2020 03:34 AM)Schaefer Beer Wrote: Big Red, I saw an offer to Tavon Jones at Odessa College. 3* from Jersey. Is he on your radar or do I have bad info?
Nah, he's on my radar. Just didn't realize I didn't put him on the list for some reason. I'll get him on there.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - Big Red - 04-14-2020 08:14 AM
(04-14-2020 03:34 AM)Schaefer Beer Wrote: Big Red, I saw an offer to Tavon Jones at Odessa College. 3* from Jersey. Is he on your radar or do I have bad info?
Here's what I found:
Tavon Jones - JUCO Sophomore - 6'3" - SG - 3* from Linden HS (Linden, NJ) - has started his collegiate career at Odessa (Odessa, TX) and as a sophomore he started 5 of 35 games averaging 13.8 minutes and 6.5 ppg shooting 47.8% from the field (30% 3PT) and 63.9% FT. I believe, even though he graduated from HS two years ago, he has only played 1 season at Odessa so he may be an incoming sophomore if he signs. In regards to Odessa College, there's literally nothing special about them. They went 14-16 last season and lost their last 5 games. So, if one were to try to look at his pedestrian numbers and draw some conclusion about him being a first year played being buried behind a loaded roster, it doesn't appear he was. Now, he was a 3* recruit coming out of HS so apparently there was something there. He very well could have been injured his first year, which is why he didn't play. Coming out of high school he had a ton of offers that he passed on for one reason or another (Eastern Kentucky, Massachusetts, Quinnipiac, Niagra, Hofstra, Buffalo, Stoney Brook, Seton Hall, St. Peter's, and Saint Joseph's). As of right now, NIU is the only school to make an offer on him as a transfer. After a little digging, it seems people (message board types) were pretty aware that he couldn't qualify academically and would be going to either a prep school or JUCO. One commenter even stated that he expected to see Jones in a few years in a major or mid-major program in a couple of years with a 3 point shot added to his game. Judging from his stats this past year, that didn't happen and it appears he couldn't shoot the 3 in high school either. Doesn't look like he can shoot free throws either. If I were a guessing man, I'd guess this guy goes to the basket. Eugene German but can't shoot. In my opinion, going off of what I've learned about him in a very short information search, adding Jones for next year would be a waste of a roster spot/scholarship. If you're going to take a shot on a guy with bad grades, at least get one that can score.
RE: 2020-21 Hoops Transfers and NIU Recruiting - dc1 - 04-14-2020 08:12 PM
Huskies offer 6’2 PG Sam’i Roe from Atlantic City and from Independence Community College. He looks like he can score