2007 Recruiting Updates

[Nuclear Dish]

regarding the '06 class, talked about the Terps watching a big guy, top 100 player out of Kansas this week.. didnt catch the name.

Could it have been Casey Crawford? He's from Kansas, and he's a 6'8" PF. He's a 3.5 star guy, but I wouldn't include him in a top 100 list. He's been getting more and more attention as one of the better reminaing guys on the board (now that so many guys have signed early). He was considering second tier school like Wichita St. and Texas A&m until Virginia, Missouri and Maryland got interested.

He'd be a decent guy to sign, but does Maryland need another 2006 recruit? Do they have room for one? What is their scholarship situation looking like? Remember they have 4 guys on board already. Maybe if they were signing this guy instead of Burney, but I don't think Gary will be able to weasel out of a LOI by the guy (although he's done it before).

[Krimka]

It is Casey Crawford. From what I've heard his stock is rising, but mainly (as you already mentioned) from being one of the better players remaining. As far as our (MD's) scholarship situation, we currently have a total of 11 players on schollie for the '06 class.

Ibekwe, Bowers, Strawberry, Jones, Brown, Gist, Neal, Milbourne, Vasquez, Hayes and Burney. Gini Chukura is a walk-on, and thus doesn't count against us. So we have 2 available scholarship spots left for '06 if we so choose, but Gary rarely ever uses his 13th scholarship spot.

We could use more front-court depth, so Crawford could fill a need. Gary has mentioned that he won't use that 12th schollie on a player in '06 unless it's a HS senior or JUCO that can help the squad. From what I've read about Casey thus far, he seems like that kind of player.

As far as '07 is concerned, we lose Ibekwe, Bowers, Strawberry, Jones and Parrish, and so far have Gregory, Dupree and Jeff Jones locked up. If we don't land Crawford, we'll have 4 "potential" spots open, although the highest Gary will go in the class is with 3 more guys (and even that's a stretch).

And Koufos is, and has been for quite some time, our highest priority in '07.

[Nuclear Dish]

2008? LOL

Amazing how far down these guys go.

Recruiting middle schoolers and whatnot.

Just to show how far ahead people are looking, check this out:

http://www.metrohoops.com/generation%20next%20sneek%20peek%20into%202011.htm

It's a list of the top 20 7th graders in the North and Central New Jersey region.

[Nuclear Dish]

Durrell Summers, 6'3" (#3 SG) #13/#13 (5 stars)

Committed to Michigan State over Syracuse, UConn, Kentucky, and Miami. This signing is terrific for Izzo, but it makes the next one look a little odd...

Chris Allen, 6'3" (NR SG) #84/NR (4 stars)

Committed to Michigan State over Georgia and GT. Not sure how much PT he'll get with Summers committing right after him. Wonder if he regrets the decision a day later?

Tyler Smith, 6'7" (#12 SF) (4 stars)

Smith is an interesting case. He was ranked as the #9 SF by Rivals in 2005 (#10 SF, #39 overall by Scout) and committed to his state school, Tennessee. But then Buzz Peterson got fired, and Smith decided he didn't want to go to Tennessee anymore. He had signed a LOI, so he had 2 choices - transfer or go to high school for a 5th year. He chose the latter, and he is back on the market for 2006. He's now listed by Scout as the #12 SF and Rivals as the #17 SF (#56 overall) for 2006. And he's narrowed down his list to 4 primary schools, 2 of which he's already visited officially, and a 3rd of which he will visit shortly. He's been to Pitt and Iowa. He is going to Memphis next weekend. And he is still likely to at least visit Kentucky.

[Nuclear Dish]

Some 2006 updates:

Roburt Sallie, 6'5" (NR SG) NR/NR (3 stars)

Had committed to Washington for 2005, but never attended. Now might be pursued by Wake Forest for 2006.

Ray Hall, 6'11 (NR C) NR/NR (3 stars)

Committed to Providence over San Diego State (had been shown interest by Kansas and Illinois, but never got offered).

David Booker, 6'7" (NR SF) NR/NR (3 stars)

Northwestern has jumped ahead of Memphis, Texas A&M and SMU.

Ruben Guillandeaux, 6'5" (NR SG) NR/NR (3 stars)

Committed to LaSalle over Seton Hall and Southern Cal.

Rob Thomas, 6'6" (#24 SF) #109/NR (3 stars)

Had committed to S. Florida, but never signed his LOI. Now he has re-opened his recruitment, and St. John's now leads.

Ricky Harris, 6'1" (NR PG) NR/NR (3 stars)

Harris, who is from Baltimore, committed to UMass over DePaul, George Washington, and St. John's. This is an interesting signing because it followed by maybe 2 days the signing of 2007 PG Joey Rodriguez (see below).

[Nuclear Dish]

Now some 2007 updates:

Gani Lawal, 6'8" (#5 PF) #19/#14 (5 stars)

Committed to Georgia Tech over Kentucky and Wake Forest. GT is going to be stacked if they can keep their recruits from the NBA for a few years.

Joey Rodriguez, 5'11" (NR PG) NR/NR (2.5 stars)

Committed to UMass over pretty much all the Florida schools. Rodriguez was then recruited over just 2 days later by the Ricky Harris signing for 2006 (see above).

Keegan Bell, 6'0" (NR PG) #98/NR (3.5 stars)

Committed to Georgia, primarily over Vanderbilt.

And the one all Maryland fans should already be aware of...

Kosta Koufos, 7'1" (#8 PF) #10/#20 (5 stars)

Koufos broke his foot in a game. It was initially thought to be a minor injury, but it is likely to keep him out the remainder of this season. Koufos is unofficially down to 3 finalists: Ohio State, Louisville, and Maryland.

[LADANK]

Is maryland recruiting Koufus really hard. Gary should be leading the recruiting for this bigman or we'll definitely lose him. Though i think we're third behind Louisville and Ohio State

[mweb]

Is maryland recruiting Koufus really hard. Gary should be leading the recruiting for this bigman or we'll definitely lose him. Though i think we're third behind Louisville and Ohio State

Koufas is coming to MD for the Duke game, his second visit to the campus. He was there for midnight madness. He's our main target.

They have also just offered Michael Sanchez who is a 6'8 PF who is ranked 65th in the 2007 class. His grandfather was a first team All Acc player for MD.

[Mackus]

Koufas is coming to MD for the Duke game, his second visit to the campus. He was there for midnight madness. He's our main target.

They have also just offered Michael Sanchez who is a 6'8 PF who is ranked 65th in the 2007 class. His grandfather was a first team All Acc player for MD.

Well theres no better game for a recruit to go to than the Duke game, the place is absolutely electric starting about an hour before tip. Hopefully its not a blowout and the intensity remains high for the entire game. If it does, I think thats as good of a sell-job for the University as any possible.

[Nuclear Dish]

Koufas is coming to MD for the Duke game, his second visit to the campus. He was there for midnight madness. He's our main target.

They have also just offered Michael Sanchez who is a 6'8 PF who is ranked 65th in the 2007 class. His grandfather was a first team All Acc player for MD.

FYI, he's also made 2 trips already to Louisville, and he has been numerous times to Ohio State. It is definitely a 3-team race.

[mweb]

FYI, he's also made 2 trips already to Louisville, and he has been numerous times to Ohio State. It is definitely a 3-team race.

I didn't imply otherwise, but thanks for the info.

[Nuclear Dish]

Some rumors:

I mentioned earlier that OJ Mayo is expected to go wherever Bob Huggins goes, and even that Huggins may be recruiting outside of the scope of the NCAA because he's not employed.

Well, here's the latest scoop on that:

1. Skip Prosser will leave WF to go to Cincinnati, John Beilin will leave West Virginia for the WF job, and Huggins will take over at WVU. Mayo will sign with Huggins, and his AAU teammate from Cincinnati, Bill Walker, will follow.

The issue with this scenario is that Prosser's contract buyout is massive ($10M), so unless WF decides to fire him, he is unlikely to leave on his own (I doubt Cincy wants to pay that much just to bring him in).

2. Quinn Snyder is going to be fired at Missouri, and Huggins is the leading candidate among the Trustees to become the next coach. Mayo and Walker will therefore go to Mizzou.

Another rumor that I've heard is that UNC finally made an offer to Julian Vaughn, meaning they are probably not counting on Kevin Love choosing them over UCLA. It could be a conditional offer, but that's not what I'm hearing. Roy Williams likes his recruits to keep things quiet until they are ready to commit, and Derrick Rose and Julian Vaughn have both been keeping things very close to the vest (i.e., no media interviews). Vaughn supposedly likes UNC best, but he's got dook and WF as his alternate choices.

[amoly22]

I don't have a subscription to Terrapintimes.com so I was wondering if someone could tell me which two schools Koufos apparently has on top.

[Sports Guy]

Some rumors:

I mentioned earlier that OJ Mayo is expected to go wherever Bob Huggins goes, and even that Huggins may be recruiting outside of the scope of the NCAA because he's not employed.

Well, here's the latest scoop on that:

1. Skip Prosser will leave WF to go to Cincinnati, John Beilin will leave West Virginia for the WF job, and Huggins will take over at WVU. Mayo will sign with Huggins, and his AAU teammate from Cincinnati, Bill Walker, will follow.

The issue with this scenario is that Prosser's contract buyout is massive ($10M), so unless WF decides to fire him, he is unlikely to leave on his own (I doubt Cincy wants to pay that much just to bring him in).

2. Quinn Snyder is going to be fired at Missouri, and Huggins is the leading candidate among the Trustees to become the next coach. Mayo and Walker will therefore go to Mizzou.

Another rumor that I've heard is that UNC finally made an offer to Julian Vaughn, meaning they are probably not counting on Kevin Love choosing them over UCLA. It could be a conditional offer, but that's not what I'm hearing. Roy Williams likes his recruits to keep things quiet until they are ready to commit, and Derrick Rose and Julian Vaughn have both been keeping things very close to the vest (i.e., no media interviews). Vaughn supposedly likes UNC best, but he's got dook and WF as his alternate choices.

Mizzou apparently does not want to hire a cpach who has had NCAA issues.

They are looking at Beilin, the coach for Northern Iowa and someone else(not Huggins)

[Nuclear Dish]

Mizzou apparently does not want to hire a cpach who has had NCAA issues.

They are looking at Beilin, the coach for Northern Iowa and someone else(not Huggins)

No way Beilin leaves a good situation in West Virginia for a troubled program in Missouri. He'd be smart to wait out an opening at a higher profile place. Something (Georgia, S. Carolina, Auburn, WF, Indiana) will open up. Otherwise, why not stay in the Big East and play with the big boys?