Welcome to the eighth installment of The War Room for the 2005-2006. As always, I'll begin this session with the ground rules for those that may be new. Everything that is reported in The War Room must stay in The War Room. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply doesn't need to be passed on beyond the doors of this message board thread.
This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation. Here it is, the seventh edition of The War Room for the 2005-2006 Recruiting Season:
Dew-ly Wed
Certainly, I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't shocked when James Dews announced he was going to be a Hurricane. Maybe not so much that he picked Miami, but the fact that he did it so early. I had just talked to him two days previously, and he told me that he had a top 5, but would begin to dwindle down that list in hopes of making a decision in July. *POOF*, I guess he dwindled it down. I would say from what I know and talking with some of my sources, Dews was one of three in-state players that UD had their eye on for their shooting guard needs.
Someone wrote on the board that they thought it was good that he committed this early so UD is not holding out for him and then he selects Miami. This commitment just means the time and efforts put into Dews recruitment can now be reallocated elsewhere, whether it be the two in-state 2-guards or some others that UD may be recruiting elsewhere. And let me say that while UD may still have an offer on the table if Dews waited until July, they're not going to hold out. They will offer those they feel comfortable with and take first come first serve from those they've offered.
Shootin' Hoops
One of the in-state off-guards is of course Adrion Graves. While I was told that he is looking to have his recruitment wrapped up by September, we also thought that Dews was going to wait until after the AAU season, originally. Graves needs to get a grip academically and get his priority straight because there's no doubt athletically, he is one of the most sought after guards for UD's recruiting. There are mixed opinions about who is better, but most seem to feel that Graves would fit into the style of play BG is trying to run at Dayton more so than Dews would have.
The second in-state guard is Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's Marcus Johnson. He's a Rivals Three-Star and ranked 116th in the Rivals150. Another A-10 school that appears to be recruiting him very hard is St. Joseph's in Philadelphia. The general consensus says that Johnson has all the makings to be a superstar, and he knows it. Dayton visited him during the in-school period and also watched him in an open-gym in April. Dayton has been recruiting Johnson for quite some time and appear to be sitting well with Johnson at the current time.
I'll have updates coming up on both of those two guards.
Use em both?
I was told recently that there is a possibility that UD goes out and lands a shooting guard with one of their two remaining scholarships and might hold on to the other with there only being two scholarships available for the 2007 class. That would allow UD to keep their options open and possibly even make themselves available to take in a transfer. Another source said that UD will likely use both, with the second being on a point guard. (My own opinion is they would only hold onto the second scholarship if they landed a combo-guard with that first one).
PGs
In my opinion, again my opinion, so I am not sure if there are others I don't know about, but I think there is about six different point guards the Flyers are looking at. In no particular order, Ryan Sims, Jerome Randle, Patrick Beverly, TaJuan Porter, Jonathan Peoples, and Dwight Thorne.
As you could see from my udpate on Sims yesterday, it seems that the Flyers may have cooled on Sims a bit. I don't necessarily think they've cooled too much, but I would say Sims is definitely in the top six recruits at his position. His recruitment has gone up and down with a lot of teams, so only time will tell what goes on with Sims. He said he is going to take some visists and a little while ago, said that Dayton was interested in him taking an unofficial visit this summer so we'll have to wait and see if that happens.
Jerome Randle is the Chicago point guard that plays at old-target Nate Minnoy's high school in Chicago. Randle is touring this summer with Ferrari, and I got a great account from an opponent of his from this past weekend. After Dews came home from his visit to Miami, he went to Columbus to catch up and play with his All-Ohio teammates. He told me "There was a Dayton recruit there, a point guard from Chicago." I then asked him if he was talking about Jerome Randle, to which he said that it was indeed him. Dews went on to say that Randle "had his way all day" with the All-Ohio point guards. Another person that witnessed this game, told me that Randles was absolutely AMAZING and that he was undressing the All-Ohio point guards. "If he was taller, no doubt he would go big time." The 5-8 junior is high on Dayton's list.
Patrick Beverly has been dubbed a sleeper in the 2006 class. Beverly plays with Joevan Catron on the Mean Streets' AAU program. If you'll recall, Catron said that McNeal was giving him advice about Dayton, perhaps Beverly could be getting the same input from the same source. He's a 6-2 slashing point guard that has received some high interest from a lot of different programs including Dayton, Illinois, Purdue, Seton Hall, Wisconsin, UNLV, Kent State, Northern Illinois, and Bradley. I'm working on getting contact information on Beverly, and hope to have an update on him shortly.
TaJuan Porter, when you think of Michigan recruiting from Dayton, you'd likely think Mike Jackson. That's not necessarily the case as Billy Schmidt has been on Porter's recruitment and was in attendance for the Michigan state semifinals when Porter nearly matched David Kool's efforts big play after big play until he finally ran out of gas in the 4th Quarter. Porter will likely be visiting UD's campus in June and could see a scholarship offer extended then. Oregon, after landing Malik Hairston two recruiting classes ago, are heavy on Porter at the current time. He too, is short in stature, but big in the heart and comes up even bigger in the clutch.
Jonathan Peoples, while we've listed him as a pure shooting guard, my people are telling me that UD is looking at him as a combo-guard and maybe just a point. He's got offers from a couple of smaller schools in Illinois, and interest from some other big schools, but no offers from them as of the last time I had spoke with him. At 6-3, 200 pounds, he could be a force if he is able to handle the point guard duties.
Dwight Thorne, a guy I would classify as truely a combo-guard. He just plays his butt off every time out and that's grabbed Brian Gregory's attention. A native of Texas, Thorne is intrigued of the thought of coming to the Midwest to play college basketball. Whether that translates into Dayton or someone more West, time will tell. I think mostly Dayton is recruiting him as a point, but I think if they landed another point guard they would continue to recruit Thorne as well. The plan is to likely get him up to Dayton for a visit, and all signs from both parties point to that happening.
U-Huels
A couple of War Rooms ago, I had mentioned that I had heard a rumor that Kurt Huelsman may be going to another AAU team for the remainder of the summer. That has been confirmed and he will be staying closer to home and playing AAU ball with a team based out of Lima. The team was said to be competitive, but will have a chance to win some tournaments now with the addition of Kurt. I guess the reasoning behind Kurt's decision is the fact he is now committed and would like to stay closer to home on the weekends, instead of being thousands of miles away all the time. The other and obvious reason is he'll be a more important part of this team's offense, while he many times took a backseat to Mayo and Walker, and had limited touches on the Greyhounds.
Vacancy
While many times, there is a quietness to hiring of assistant coaches because many times they still have active jobs, UD needs to find a replacement for Mike Jackson who departed for Michigan. While there is a tight-lip about the possible replacement, one name I have heard thrown around is Kent State's Arnette Jordan. He just finished up his first season at Kent, and like Mike Jackson, has ties to Detroit. Jordan, himself, graduated from Cass Tech in Detroit and has coached high school basketball at Martin Luther King in Detroit and also helped out with The Family AAU (a big-time summer program from the area-- alumni such as Hairston, Joe Crawford, etc.) He also went on to become an assistant at Oakland University before he went to Kent last season. With the geographical experience and with the fact he is a rising star in this profession, it seems to be a logical choice and could replace Mike Jackson on the UD bench.
That does it for this edition of the War Room, I hope I answered some of the questions you all have had stored away. I know a lot of you tend to panic when a guy like Dews, who UD was sitting well with, picks elsewhere. But one thing I've come to learn, BG is on plenty of good players to ever worry. Until next time, enjoy the sunshine.
This post was edited on 6/2 8:58 AM by Matt Schwadeif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation. Here it is, the seventh edition of The War Room for the 2005-2006 Recruiting Season:
Dew-ly Wed
Certainly, I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't shocked when James Dews announced he was going to be a Hurricane. Maybe not so much that he picked Miami, but the fact that he did it so early. I had just talked to him two days previously, and he told me that he had a top 5, but would begin to dwindle down that list in hopes of making a decision in July. *POOF*, I guess he dwindled it down. I would say from what I know and talking with some of my sources, Dews was one of three in-state players that UD had their eye on for their shooting guard needs.
Someone wrote on the board that they thought it was good that he committed this early so UD is not holding out for him and then he selects Miami. This commitment just means the time and efforts put into Dews recruitment can now be reallocated elsewhere, whether it be the two in-state 2-guards or some others that UD may be recruiting elsewhere. And let me say that while UD may still have an offer on the table if Dews waited until July, they're not going to hold out. They will offer those they feel comfortable with and take first come first serve from those they've offered.
Shootin' Hoops
One of the in-state off-guards is of course Adrion Graves. While I was told that he is looking to have his recruitment wrapped up by September, we also thought that Dews was going to wait until after the AAU season, originally. Graves needs to get a grip academically and get his priority straight because there's no doubt athletically, he is one of the most sought after guards for UD's recruiting. There are mixed opinions about who is better, but most seem to feel that Graves would fit into the style of play BG is trying to run at Dayton more so than Dews would have.
The second in-state guard is Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's Marcus Johnson. He's a Rivals Three-Star and ranked 116th in the Rivals150. Another A-10 school that appears to be recruiting him very hard is St. Joseph's in Philadelphia. The general consensus says that Johnson has all the makings to be a superstar, and he knows it. Dayton visited him during the in-school period and also watched him in an open-gym in April. Dayton has been recruiting Johnson for quite some time and appear to be sitting well with Johnson at the current time.
I'll have updates coming up on both of those two guards.
Use em both?
I was told recently that there is a possibility that UD goes out and lands a shooting guard with one of their two remaining scholarships and might hold on to the other with there only being two scholarships available for the 2007 class. That would allow UD to keep their options open and possibly even make themselves available to take in a transfer. Another source said that UD will likely use both, with the second being on a point guard. (My own opinion is they would only hold onto the second scholarship if they landed a combo-guard with that first one).
PGs
In my opinion, again my opinion, so I am not sure if there are others I don't know about, but I think there is about six different point guards the Flyers are looking at. In no particular order, Ryan Sims, Jerome Randle, Patrick Beverly, TaJuan Porter, Jonathan Peoples, and Dwight Thorne.
As you could see from my udpate on Sims yesterday, it seems that the Flyers may have cooled on Sims a bit. I don't necessarily think they've cooled too much, but I would say Sims is definitely in the top six recruits at his position. His recruitment has gone up and down with a lot of teams, so only time will tell what goes on with Sims. He said he is going to take some visists and a little while ago, said that Dayton was interested in him taking an unofficial visit this summer so we'll have to wait and see if that happens.
Jerome Randle is the Chicago point guard that plays at old-target Nate Minnoy's high school in Chicago. Randle is touring this summer with Ferrari, and I got a great account from an opponent of his from this past weekend. After Dews came home from his visit to Miami, he went to Columbus to catch up and play with his All-Ohio teammates. He told me "There was a Dayton recruit there, a point guard from Chicago." I then asked him if he was talking about Jerome Randle, to which he said that it was indeed him. Dews went on to say that Randle "had his way all day" with the All-Ohio point guards. Another person that witnessed this game, told me that Randles was absolutely AMAZING and that he was undressing the All-Ohio point guards. "If he was taller, no doubt he would go big time." The 5-8 junior is high on Dayton's list.
Patrick Beverly has been dubbed a sleeper in the 2006 class. Beverly plays with Joevan Catron on the Mean Streets' AAU program. If you'll recall, Catron said that McNeal was giving him advice about Dayton, perhaps Beverly could be getting the same input from the same source. He's a 6-2 slashing point guard that has received some high interest from a lot of different programs including Dayton, Illinois, Purdue, Seton Hall, Wisconsin, UNLV, Kent State, Northern Illinois, and Bradley. I'm working on getting contact information on Beverly, and hope to have an update on him shortly.
TaJuan Porter, when you think of Michigan recruiting from Dayton, you'd likely think Mike Jackson. That's not necessarily the case as Billy Schmidt has been on Porter's recruitment and was in attendance for the Michigan state semifinals when Porter nearly matched David Kool's efforts big play after big play until he finally ran out of gas in the 4th Quarter. Porter will likely be visiting UD's campus in June and could see a scholarship offer extended then. Oregon, after landing Malik Hairston two recruiting classes ago, are heavy on Porter at the current time. He too, is short in stature, but big in the heart and comes up even bigger in the clutch.
Jonathan Peoples, while we've listed him as a pure shooting guard, my people are telling me that UD is looking at him as a combo-guard and maybe just a point. He's got offers from a couple of smaller schools in Illinois, and interest from some other big schools, but no offers from them as of the last time I had spoke with him. At 6-3, 200 pounds, he could be a force if he is able to handle the point guard duties.
Dwight Thorne, a guy I would classify as truely a combo-guard. He just plays his butt off every time out and that's grabbed Brian Gregory's attention. A native of Texas, Thorne is intrigued of the thought of coming to the Midwest to play college basketball. Whether that translates into Dayton or someone more West, time will tell. I think mostly Dayton is recruiting him as a point, but I think if they landed another point guard they would continue to recruit Thorne as well. The plan is to likely get him up to Dayton for a visit, and all signs from both parties point to that happening.
U-Huels
A couple of War Rooms ago, I had mentioned that I had heard a rumor that Kurt Huelsman may be going to another AAU team for the remainder of the summer. That has been confirmed and he will be staying closer to home and playing AAU ball with a team based out of Lima. The team was said to be competitive, but will have a chance to win some tournaments now with the addition of Kurt. I guess the reasoning behind Kurt's decision is the fact he is now committed and would like to stay closer to home on the weekends, instead of being thousands of miles away all the time. The other and obvious reason is he'll be a more important part of this team's offense, while he many times took a backseat to Mayo and Walker, and had limited touches on the Greyhounds.
Vacancy
While many times, there is a quietness to hiring of assistant coaches because many times they still have active jobs, UD needs to find a replacement for Mike Jackson who departed for Michigan. While there is a tight-lip about the possible replacement, one name I have heard thrown around is Kent State's Arnette Jordan. He just finished up his first season at Kent, and like Mike Jackson, has ties to Detroit. Jordan, himself, graduated from Cass Tech in Detroit and has coached high school basketball at Martin Luther King in Detroit and also helped out with The Family AAU (a big-time summer program from the area-- alumni such as Hairston, Joe Crawford, etc.) He also went on to become an assistant at Oakland University before he went to Kent last season. With the geographical experience and with the fact he is a rising star in this profession, it seems to be a logical choice and could replace Mike Jackson on the UD bench.
That does it for this edition of the War Room, I hope I answered some of the questions you all have had stored away. I know a lot of you tend to panic when a guy like Dews, who UD was sitting well with, picks elsewhere. But one thing I've come to learn, BG is on plenty of good players to ever worry. Until next time, enjoy the sunshine.
This post was edited on 6/2 8:58 AM by Matt Schwadeif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
