****Official Class of 2018 Recruiting Thread****

[coolerifyoudid]

Stumbled across this today, SIAP. Putting into perspective the disruptive presence Iowa State is in the state of Illinois for this class.

http://www.suntimeshighschoolsports...ive-offseason-hype-stories-seeing-every-year/

"THE COLLEGE PROGRAM [ENTER SCHOOL NAME FROM PAST YEARS] WITH AN EMERGING PRESENCE IN ILLINOIS: When coach Archie Miller was at Dayton, the Flyers singled out certain individual prospects in Illinois and hit them hard in the recruiting process. Miller, along with valued assistant coach Tom Ostrom, did their homework, locked in on a few and landed their fair share.

Simeon’s Kendall Pollard and Morgan Park’s Kyle Davis helped fuel those highly-successful NCAA Tournament teams in Dayton. Now Morgan Park’s Josh Cunningham is at Dayton.

There are other examples like this in the past –– SMU had a run with the likes of Sterling Brown and Ben Moore –– but there are also plenty of schools who have cast a wide net, tried and tried, offering anyone and everyone, and came up short.

Thus, a school “being strong” and having a “presence” in Chicago is sometimes overblown due to simply getting their name thrown around by throwing around offers.

But what Iowa State has been able to do leading up to this Class of 2018 in Illinois is impressive. In two years in Ames, coach Steve Prohm and his staff have taken a page out of Archie Miller’s staff days at Dayton in identifying and targeting players it can land.

There are few legit high-major prospects in the Class of 2018 in Illinois. Iowa State has landed one of them (Hinsdale South’s Zion Griffin) and is in very good shape with two others in the City/Suburban Hoops Report top five.

Late-blooming George Conditt of Corliss has visited Iowa State already and has the Cyclones among his final three schools. Conditt says he will make a decision in early October, though an official visit to Illinois is this weekend.

And Prohm and his staff are a not-talked-about-enough contender for Talen Horton-Tucker. The Simeon star has a bevy of schools on his list, but Iowa State has been there through it all and been consistent in its recruitment of the versatile wing.

So Iowa State is deeply involved with three of the top four prospects in the state of Illinois. Yes, that offseason storyline is legit."

Nice find. I liked this a lot:

And Prohm and his staff are a not-talked-about-enough contender for Talen Horton-Tucker. The Simeon star has a bevy of schools on his list, but Iowa State has been there through it all and been consistent in its recruitment of the versatile wing.

 

[srjclone]

About Zion

THE METEORIC RISE OF A PLAYER –– AND ITS LEGITIMACY: Maybe a “meteoric rise” doesn’t happen every year, but the rise of a player or two in some capacity is commonplace. These are developing, teen-aged basketball players we’re talking about here.

Edwardsville’s Mark Smith was last year’s “meteoric rise.” There is no other way to describe a player who visited NIU, SIUE and Wright State in the fall and ended up with Illinois, Ohio State, Kentucky, Michigan State and other big hitters heavily involved three months later.

Now it’s Zion Griffin’s turn. The Hinsdale South star opened eyes during his junior season. The City/Suburban Hoops Report boosted Griffin up its rankings last December and billed him as a bonafide mid-major prospect heading into the spring evaluation period.

But even after some mild hype and the conclusion of the spring evaluation period, there were only a few mid-majors knocking on his door. It wasn’t until a breakout performance in the first weekend of the July evaluation period where mid-major programs realized, “Uh-oh, this is going to be an uphill climb in keeping the lid on Griffin and his talents.”

High-major programs soon got wind of Griffin’s athleticism and talents. The high-major programs came in droves over the final two weekends of July when Griffin displayed his much-improved perimeter jumper and rising confidence.

There were some who questioned the interest of particular high-major programs as it pertained to Griffin. But this hype, this interest surrounding Griffin is real. The offers were legit. But Griffin and his people didn’t allow for the process to get out of hand, didn’t entertain everyone and narrowed it down quickly.

More importantly, Griffin didn’t waste people’s time in the recruiting process. While many prospects “narrowed” their lists in August and September to double-digit schools, Griffin kept his recruiting list neat and tidy, meticulously clean. He quickly cut it to four schools: Illinois State, Iowa State, Kansas and Pitt.

Griffin took official visits to both Illinois State and Iowa State and saw enough. He committed to the Cyclones ahead of planned visits to Pitt and Kansas.

As far as the player hype and recruiting legitimacy? It’s warranted.

 

[Seedman]

Stumbled across this today, SIAP. Putting into perspective the disruptive presence Iowa State is in the state of Illinois for this class.

http://www.suntimeshighschoolsports...ive-offseason-hype-stories-seeing-every-year/

"THE COLLEGE PROGRAM [ENTER SCHOOL NAME FROM PAST YEARS] WITH AN EMERGING PRESENCE IN ILLINOIS: When coach Archie Miller was at Dayton, the Flyers singled out certain individual prospects in Illinois and hit them hard in the recruiting process. Miller, along with valued assistant coach Tom Ostrom, did their homework, locked in on a few and landed their fair share.

Simeon’s Kendall Pollard and Morgan Park’s Kyle Davis helped fuel those highly-successful NCAA Tournament teams in Dayton. Now Morgan Park’s Josh Cunningham is at Dayton.

There are other examples like this in the past –– SMU had a run with the likes of Sterling Brown and Ben Moore –– but there are also plenty of schools who have cast a wide net, tried and tried, offering anyone and everyone, and came up short.

Thus, a school “being strong” and having a “presence” in Chicago is sometimes overblown due to simply getting their name thrown around by throwing around offers.

But what Iowa State has been able to do leading up to this Class of 2018 in Illinois is impressive. In two years in Ames, coach Steve Prohm and his staff have taken a page out of Archie Miller’s staff days at Dayton in identifying and targeting players it can land.

There are few legit high-major prospects in the Class of 2018 in Illinois. Iowa State has landed one of them (Hinsdale South’s Zion Griffin) and is in very good shape with two others in the City/Suburban Hoops Report top five.

Late-blooming George Conditt of Corliss has visited Iowa State already and has the Cyclones among his final three schools. Conditt says he will make a decision in early October, though an official visit to Illinois is this weekend.

And Prohm and his staff are a not-talked-about-enough contender for Talen Horton-Tucker. The Simeon star has a bevy of schools on his list, but Iowa State has been there through it all and been consistent in its recruitment of the versatile wing.

So Iowa State is deeply involved with three of the top four prospects in the state of Illinois. Yes, that offseason storyline is legit."

 

[cyclonespiker33]

Found this tweet interesting regarding THT and the thinking MSU is now out...


I wasn't able to view this article but sounds like we'll hear something very soon on OV's. Guessing Illinois, MSU, Kan

http://scout.com/college/georgia-tech/Article/Talen-Horton-Tucker-Ready-to-Set-up-Visits--107432458

And while I'm posting about THT, his tape from this summer makes me view him more as a guard and less as a small forward than I have in the past. Before I saw him and ZG as being very similar players. Now I would revise that and say I think THT is a more of a mismatch, big shooting guard and ZG will end up being a 4 who can kind of do everything.

I think the bigger question with THT would be if he can guard the 2 position, which I don't think he would be able to right now.

 

[ForeverIowan]

I think the bigger question with THT would be if he can guard the 2 position, which I don't think he would be able to right now.

I think as of right now THT would defend the 3. Griffin likely a 3/4 combo. Possible 8 man rotation of the below in a couple/few years:

Wigginton
Lewis
THT
Griffin
Young
Lard
Conditt
Harris

 

[buf87]

So THT, Griffin, Conditt, Harris, Haliburton and Fleming all in same class? And we can only take 4 of them? Am I missing any or are some of these a later class?

 

[Cyforce]

So THT, Griffin, Conditt, Harris, Haliburton and Fleming all in same class? And we can only take 4 of them? Am I missing any or are some of these a later class?

.

Just checking, what was the last year we didn't have attrition.

 

[Knownothing]

What is Harris eating for? The thing
That worries me
Most about recruiting right now is no spot up three point shooters. Naz, matt, tyrus. Guys like that

 

[Dandy]

What is Harris eating for? The thing
That worries me
Most about recruiting right now is no spot up three point shooters. Naz, matt, tyrus. Guys like that

Terrence Lewis maybe

 

[CyberJJJ]

What is Harris eating for? The thing
That worries me
Most about recruiting right now is no spot up three point shooters. Naz, matt, tyrus. Guys like that

Harris seems to be a great shooter as well, he just isn't one dimensional.

 

[cyclonedave25]

.

Just checking, what was the last year we didn't have attrition.

Doing a very quick search, here's what I found. And I only went back to when Fred was hired.
Basically in the last 7 years at least 1 player transferred.
16-17: Kasongo
15-16: Cooke, Ashton, Ernst
14-15: Custer, Jackson, Tsalmpouris
13-14: Dorsey-Walker
12-13: Okoro, Law
11-12: Railey, Sledge
10-11: McKnight, Godfrey

 

[Messi]

Doing a very quick search, here's what I found. And I only went back to when Fred was hired.
Basically in the last 7 years at least 1 player transferred.
16-17: Kasongo
15-16: Cooke, Ashton, Ernst
14-15: Custer, Jackson, Tsalmpouris
13-14: Dorsey-Walker
12-13: Okoro, Law
11-12: Railey, Sledge
10-11: McKnight, Godfrey

Simeon Carter also left this year.

 

[LLCoolCY]

Not that it was going to be likely LeDee was coming to Ames, ISU was one of his finalist. Looks like he'll end up at A&M.

"Coming off his Texas A&M official visit, the Aggies seem like the favorite. According to247Sports’ Crystal Ball, through 11 predictions, 73 percent of experts believe Ledee will choose Texas A&M, while the other 27 percent is split among UCLA, Kentucky, and unknown. Kentucky was not included in Ledee’s top eight."
http://d1vision.com/jaedon-ledee-commit-tuesday/

 

[Thomasrickj]

What is Harris eating for? The thing
That worries me
Most about recruiting right now is no spot up three point shooters. Naz, matt, tyrus. Guys like that

Lewis shot something like 60 percent in high school from downtown. I think he will be fine as our spot up shooter!

 

[casey1973]

So do most on here feel that THT is a higher regarded recruit than Haliburton? Seems like Griffin is having an impact on this a little which could be a could thing.

 

[rholtgraves]

So do most on here feel that THT is a higher regarded recruit Haliburton? Seems like Griffin is having an impact on this a little which could be a could thing.

Yes. Much higher. Top 60 on Rivals. Horton Tucker has more offers and better offers.

 

[srjclone]

So do most on here feel that THT is a higher regarded recruit Haliburton? Seems like Griffin is having an impact on this a little which could be a could thing.

Yes, that isn't to say Haliburton isn't a very solid get, however.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

So do most on here feel that THT is a higher regarded recruit Haliburton? Seems like Griffin is having an impact on this a little which could be a could thing.

I think most think THT is more highly regarded simply based on the offers and ratings. Since nobody on here is a professional scout, it's about all we can go on outside of some random highlight tapes.

Not to bring back an overused CF saying, but I'll trust Prohm until he gives me reason not to.

 

[rholtgraves]

I think most think THT is more highly regarded simply based on the offers. Since nobody on here is a professional scout, it's about all we have to go on outside of some random highlight tapes.

Not to bring back an overused CF saying, but I'll trust Prohm until he gives me reason not to.

What does trusting Prohm have to do with who is the more highly regarded recuit?

 

[MartinCy]

I think most think THT is more highly regarded simply based on the offers and ratings. Since nobody on here is a professional scout, it's about all we can go on outside of some random highlight tapes.

Not to bring back an overused CF saying, but I'll trust Prohm until he gives me reason not to.

Them taking a commitment from Haliburton today does not signify they believe he is a better player than THT. Right now he quite clearly isn't as many have offered reasons in the above posts.