2014 Basketball recruiting

[Sbee]

just wanted to share this article, it's a long read but an excellent breakdown of the rosters of perspective competitors.

http://www.theonlycolors.com/2013/6...all-recruiting-outlook-for-2014-class-my-take

it seems like a lot of MSU fans are pre-emptively moving on from Jones and Okafor, maybe they're a little gun shy based on the Jabari Parker saga.

Alexander announced that he's not going to do an official to MSU or UK because he's spent plenty of time there. a lot of people are worried about that but i'd be surprised if he ended up anywhere other than MSU, UK, or Kansas

 

[Sbee]

also, I've read that booker and Ulis are tight, might want to play together. we just need to get Ulis on board early. some seem to think that there is momentum toward Iowa or NW, but i'll be shocked if we lose a recruit to either of those program. Iowa may be somewhat up and coming but come on, no kid should go to Iowa with a MSU offer. NW has Collins which is great but they also have the worst facilities in the big ten and no fan support. if we can't beat those schools for waltons cousin, we're in trouble

 

[shielste]

Hey sbee. I see you recently made the move over from ESPN as well. This seems like the place I'm going to be making home as well.

And as for that long read of a blog post; a ton of work doesn't necessarily mean high quality. I think he makes way too many assumptions for me to take anything he said to heart. Was it a good time filler and conversation piece for offseason material? Yes, very much so. Should it be taken for more than just an okay breakdown of a handful of teams' rosters? Nope, it should not.

And his prediction that MSU will land Alexander (#4), Jones (#2), Okafor (#1), Ulis (#49), and Looney (#11) is a bit too homer-ish for anyone to take seriously. I don't see MSU striking out, but no way they hit a grand slam and take 4 top 11 players (according to Rivals).

 

[shielste]

And I also agree about your thoughts regarding Alexander. I think he is a smart kid and in now way does him not visiting again hurt MSU's chances.

 

[Sbee]

I don't see us getting all of those guys, but I think that we have a very good shot at Alexander, Ulis, and Booker. I do like the way he breaks down the rosters, there will be a lot more PG minutes available at MSU with only Trice vs Duke.

 

[Sbee]

also, I think the start to this season will be huge for MSU. we struggled a little bit early on last year, losing to an inferior UConn team and then @ Miami before everyone knew how good Miami was. the Kansas win was high profile but we weren't playing great basketball around the time of Jabari Parkers decision. At the time he did his final in homes and picked Duke, the blue devils were #1 in the nation and we were around #14 and didn't look that great.

If we can beat UK in a high profile game early on, that will maybe tip the scales for some of these kids. it doesn't hurt that the game is in Chicago, in the back yard of a lot of these recruits.

 

[shielste]

True, but coach K has shown he can have more than 1 elite PG on his roster.

As for Booker, I believe his story is a lot like Jabari to MSU. He's been in Michigan's back pocket forever. Now he is getting a ton of attention from UK, UF, Duke, UNC, MSU, etc, and seems to be fading. I would still think Michigan is his #1, but I would guess UK is his #2; not MSU.

 

[Sbee]

I've heard that Booker was never as strong to Michigan as their slappies seem to have thought. he just had a great visit to MSU a week or so ago.

UK is the one that scares me a lot, if he wants the one year NBA internship that's the place for him. I guess it just depends on where his heads at, some top flight kids think that talking about academics is an insult to their playing ability. I don't think he's one of those guys.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Sbee, have you gotten anyone else to come over from the MSU side of things yet?

 

[Green and White 95]

just wanted to share this article, it's a long read but an excellent breakdown of the rosters of perspective competitors.

http://www.theonlycolors.com/2013/6...all-recruiting-outlook-for-2014-class-my-take

it seems like a lot of MSU fans are pre-emptively moving on from Jones and Okafor, maybe they're a little gun shy based on the Jabari Parker saga.

Alexander announced that he's not going to do an official to MSU or UK because he's spent plenty of time there. a lot of people are worried about that but i'd be surprised if he ended up anywhere other than MSU, UK, or Kansas

Would be awesome to get everyone he thinks we will get. Aren't most of those guys one and doners ? What would that do to our recruiting for 2015 ? Would we have to deal with a lot of ego issues with all that talent ? I guess I would be happy if we just snagged a few of those guys and got some development players for the next. The selfish side of me wants them all though.

Also, this guy has Ellis as the 3 deep. From what I have heard, Ellis was underated and could see quite a bit of PT this year. I know football is right around the corner but I can't wait for basketball this year.

 

[Green and White 95]

True, but coach K has shown he can have more than 1 elite PG on his roster.

As for Booker, I believe his story is a lot like Jabari to MSU. He's been in Michigan's back pocket forever. Now he is getting a ton of attention from UK, UF, Duke, UNC, MSU, etc, and seems to be fading. I would still think Michigan is his #1, but I would guess UK is his #2; not MSU.

You could be right. We have all seen how quick a kid can change his mind after we all but thought he was solid. Still a long road to go.

 

[Sbee]

Would be awesome to get everyone he thinks we will get. Aren't most of those guys one and doners ? What would that do to our recruiting for 2015 ? Would we have to deal with a lot of ego issues with all that talent ? I guess I would be happy if we just snagged a few of those guys and got some development players for the next. The selfish side of me wants them all though.

Also, this guy has Ellis as the 3 deep. From what I have heard, Ellis was underated and could see quite a bit of PT this year. I know football is right around the corner but I can't wait for basketball this year.

I'm not drinking the kool aid on Ellis, he could end up as a starter but he was a plan D kid. in retro we really made a mistake not offering Derrick Walton or Demetrius Jackson, we were holding out for Parker and Young with few scholarships to offer.

also, Kearney transferring when he did killed us. we're not going to miss him that much but if he would have left before the season then we would have been able to offer those other kids early. Kids aren't going to wait until March for a MSU offer when they have other good ones on the table.

 

[Sbee]

You could be right. We have all seen how quick a kid can change his mind after we all but thought he was solid. Still a long road to go.

a hot start for MSU could be huge. wins over UNC and UK will go a long way towards creating some MSU momentum

 

[Green and White 95]

I'm not drinking the kool aid on Ellis, he could end up as a starter but he was a plan D kid. in retro we really made a mistake not offering Derrick Walton or Demetrius Jackson, we were holding out for Parker and Young with few scholarships to offer.

also, Kearney transferring when he did killed us. we're not going to miss him that much but if he would have left before the season then we would have been able to offer those other kids early. Kids aren't going to wait until March for a MSU offer when they have other good ones on the table.

I will be honest, never saw any film on Ellis. Just read a couple blogs where people were really impressed with him. From what I understand we just didn't show a lot of interest because he was at Minny until Tubby left. We'll find out soon enough.

 

[Sbee]

I will be honest, never saw any film on Ellis. Just read a couple blogs where people were really impressed with him. From what I understand we just didn't show a lot of interest because he was at Minny until Tubby left. We'll find out soon enough.

If you read enough about any recruit you'll find someone saying good things, like he's under the radar or a potential difference maker. there is a reason he was a Minnesota commit, maybe with a few years under Izzo he can become a factor but I see him playing a Brandon Kearney role.

I put this last recruiting down as our worst, the only other one as bad was Nix/Sherman and we lucked out that Nix developed into a solid contributor.

 

[johnny2x2x]

I think we still lead for Alexander and he's really making a good impression at camps this off season, coule even challenge Okafor as the #1 overall player, currently sits at #2. Ullis is a guy that is moving up in the rankings, his only drwback is his height and there are rumors he's grown a couple inches. A 5-11 Ullis would be a top 10 player in the nation. He's called State his dream school.

As far as Jones and Okafor, Jones favors Duke I have heard and Okafor has us and Kansas in the lead. Booker is anyone's guess, at one time he favored Michigan, but ow it's wide open and his dad called Izzo a legend. Kevin Looney is another guy we're in the top 5 for.

Jaylon Johnson is one to watch, he's shooting up rankings and has an MSU offer already, could end up being a top 20 guy and a McD's AA. We probably lead for him.

 

[Sbee]

I think we still lead for Alexander and he's really making a good impression at camps this off season, coule even challenge Okafor as the #1 overall player, currently sits at #2. Ullis is a guy that is moving up in the rankings, his only drwback is his height and there are rumors he's grown a couple inches. A 5-11 Ullis would be a top 10 player in the nation. He's called State his dream school.

As far as Jones and Okafor, Jones favors Duke I have heard and Okafor has us and Kansas in the lead. Booker is anyone's guess, at one time he favored Michigan, but ow it's wide open and his dad called Izzo a legend. Kevin Looney is another guy we're in the top 5 for.

Jaylon Johnson is one to watch, he's shooting up rankings and has an MSU offer already, could end up being a top 20 guy and a McD's AA. We probably lead for him.

I like Alexander a lot, his twitter handle is "humblekid" and he's said many times how much he "loves" Izzo and how much he appreciates the attention from Fife and the rest of the staff. UK just scares me because they offer something completely different than MSU.