(03-25-2021 10:43 AM)NorthCoast Wrote: (03-25-2021 10:09 AM)Big Red Wrote: NIU Recruiting Update:
As I suspected yesterday, Noah Kon has verbally committed to NIU.
With Kon's committment, NIU currently still has 4 scholarships to fill (if my math is correct).
Noah Kon - COMMITTED - 6’1” - PG - 2* recruit from Houston Christian HS (Houston) - Okay, so the first thing I did was google this kid and look at his picture (this is usually my first step in the process). He’s 6’1” but has muscles. I’d bet almost anything he also plays football. He just has a body that screams two sport athlete. I also found an article and some quotes from his coach. Apparently, Kon took over as PG on the HS team as a sophomore when the starting senior PG got hurt. Coach said Kon was always going to be the PG but the injury sped up the process and Kon really took to it and blossomed. Now, here’s where things get interesting. I then went to YouTube and the first thing I found was a YouTube channel called “Noah Kon 2021 PG *****Northern Illinois University******” Yeah...you don’t see that everyday. His inclusion as an offer was just posted today. I have no idea who owns the channel, but my eyebrow was raised.
Anyway, the kid is a scoring PG. He can shoot a little from the outside but his strength is quickness with the ball and going to the rim. He can dunk. Easily. And forcefully. He can jump and has an extremely quick first step that leaves a lot of defenders off balance. He can take contact and hang long enough to make shots at the rim and attract fouls. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly this develops. Kon currently has no other offers from schools.
https://twitter.com/noah_kon/status/1375089890459783175
Thanks for posting this. Obviously, this developed quickly and I kind of rushed the write-up on him but, once I started watching video on him, I really liked what I was seeing and was hoping he'd commit.
We still have 4 spots to fill (barring any walk-ons) and, as of yesterday, he was one I was hoping we'd get.
I suppose right now (and I know this list is going to expand because it appears Coach Burno is getting after it on the recruiting trail), I'd definitely want (in no particular order at this point): Zion Russell, Maxime Ekono, Ibbe Klintman, and Montavious Myrick. Although, I'm just excited to see who else gets an offer as it seems the days of "1 open slot, 1 outstanding offer" are over. Teams, and I honestly have no clue how they manage this, will have like 3 openings and 11 offers. So, every day I expect to see a new name pop up and that next name could easily displace someone from my list.
As for the others..
Thompson is a Montgomery offer so, he's probably not in the mix anyway. He's a hell of an athlete but I never really figured out how that might translate to the college game for him. Maybe great, maybe not.
And Saint Thomas, I'm just not 100% sold on. At lot has to do with if he grows. If he does, he's probably way more attractive to higher profile programs. If he doesn't, he seems like a guy Montgomery would be excited to get. I'm probably wrong, but I'm putting him last on my wish list...well...he's ahead of Sinkler, who I'm not overly impressed with. The ONLY reason to grab him would be to have someone who can provide some level of college experience to the team.
And, well...it maybe seems like we might be done losing transfers (although there are two more I'd like to see shop their wares elsewhere). With that said, we're really only losing Justin Lee and Keenan Cole. I don't really count Nathan Scott as he'd already graduated and there was no guarantee he'd come back and all signs at the end of the season were indicating he had played his last game. I think I heard he's a really smart kid so going to grad school makes total sense and if he can get on a team...all the better.
And with Lee and Cole, well, they were both hurt all the time anyway. I honestly have no clue where either of them are going to end up. Neither can go JUCO for a year so I'm guessing they both go D-II or lower just to play and get a new start. But, especially with Lee, he couldn't be counted on anyway so him leaving (and Cole and his lack of availability) are more blessing than curse, imo. If a guy is on scholarship and can, at best, play 50% of the games and not at 100% when he does, than I'm more than fine with him moving on. I just honestly have no clue where they'll end up and it doesn't appear that any of them have received any offers, although transfers often kind of pop up out of nowhere.