Milik Yarbrough Commits

[JettFlight5]

Got Milik? sign coming soon to an arena near you

Winner.

[Billikenswin]

Interesting article from 2012 when he was a sophomore:

"Milik Yarbrough is the No. 8 nationally-ranked small forward in the Class of 2014 by ESPN Recruiting. He’s considered among the top five prospects in the state."

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/high-school/tag/_/name/milik-yarbrough

I spend some time last night on the internet trying to find out more information about Milik and there are actually a number of stories from many different sources talking about him and his background. It sounds like from the beginning, at least early in high school, he was highly regarded as a scorer and many, many big time schools were interested in him. He had big scoring games even as a soph--up to 40 points. He ended up breaking a bunch of scoring records.Then it appears that some of the schools backed off because of the concern that he might not qualify but he continued to play well and there are many comments about how he improved and became a real team player while he also continued to score a lot of points. He definitely sounds like the kind of player that has thrived with the Bills--a talent who is a bit under the radar but with devlelopment in our system he can become a very good player. Although he is not the same kind of player as DE he does seem to be like him in that he has the potential to do great things for our Bills over the next four years.

[doowop]

Some say he played well because he was bigger than his competition. I would think that during the AAU season he played against players who were just as big or bigger. I have not heard anything negative about his play on the AAU circuit. Maybe he is just a good player regardless of his competition.

[cheeseman]

I have to admit that I have very little knowledge regarding MY - I have read this thread and went to all the links posted on it by others. It seems that the key problem for him was the qualifying issue. If he has indeed gotten his head together and fixed the problems he was having academically, then great for him and for us but there is one nagging question - will he be a kid that every grade reporting period we will be holding our breath. I do think if he applies himself then the school will do its part to help him be successful but once again, he has to apply himself. Apparently WR could not figure that out nor the kid from Alton who only stayed one semester - in his defense, English was his second language - but then again we have had others who have figured it out. I am hopeful he will carry his work ethic he has developed recently to when he gets to SLU.

[Billikenswin]

Some say he played well because he was bigger than his competition. I would think that during the AAU season he played against players who were just as big or bigger. I have not heard anything negative about his play on the AAU circuit. Maybe he is just a good player regardless of his competition.

One of the games I saw reported was the championship game of the Proviso West tournament where Zion Benton beat Stevenson in Ot and MY had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, and hit a three at the end of regulation to force overtime. Stevenson was one of the big time teams in Ill--31-2 for the season and they lost to Whitney Young 75-68 in the state semi finals. At least that game was big time competition!

[Taj79]

About the best/only thing I can say about the whole recruiting class is that it's full up. I like that a lot of these guys played with some exceptional talent on their high school and AAU teams and that in MY's case, he scored a lot of points. While all that is good and we can now focus on the class of 2015, the unfortunate thing is that until these kids hit the floor in a Crews' style game plan and bright lights environment, we won't really know for sure.

Without a huge step into the past, there is Billiken precedent here. Tony Brown, 1984 - 1988. Kid was listed at 6'6" and came out of St. Petersburg, Florida averaging like 36 ppg his senior year. Late signee. He had a serviceable career but only had a career average of just under 7 ppg in 116 games here.

Still, I'm excited to watch how all this plays out. It will be a new era of Billiken Basketball dawning next year.

Again, there will be huge growing pains so enjoy the ride. Embrace the experience.

[WVBilliken]

Anyone know why MY has not signed a LOI yet? Why delay until next week?

[Zink]

Anyone know why MY has not signed a LOI yet? Why delay until next week?

The spring signing period doesn't open until then. At least I'm pretty sure on that...

[TRN]

The spring signing period doesn't open until then. At least I'm pretty sure on that...

It started last Wednesday

Basketball (Regular Period) : April 16, 2014 through May 21, 2014 (D1)

[JMM28]

He might want to do a little ceremony at his school which might be closed for Spring break.

[slu72]

Get him a SLU hat, someone.

[Zink]

It started last Wednesday

Basketball (Regular Period) : April 16, 2014 through May 21, 2014 (D1)

Thanks, my bad... Soooo why hasn't he signed??

[davidnark]

Thanks, my bad... Soooo why hasn't he signed??

He is probably holding some kind of ceremony at his high school when he signs.

[Taj79]

I would also imagine there is some sort of paperwork that has to go on. I remember Cody's issues with the NCAA Clearinghouse and if MY did has some qualifying issues, I'd bet you want to make sure that is all certain and above board as part of the process, thereby extending it somewhat. Plus it is Easter weekend which might put folks on holiday or add in other delays like a school's Spring Break. I don't think it means much right now.

[WVBilliken]

Ricky Cranford, a high scoring recruit from NY was also pretty much a bust. He had lots of hoopla, but never panned out .

MY is the real deal...............I hope.

About the best/only thing I can say about the whole recruiting class is that it's full up. I like that a lot of these guys played with some exceptional talent on their high school and AAU teams and that in MY's case, he scored a lot of points. While all that is good and we can now focus on the class of 2015, the unfortunate thing is that until these kids hit the floor in a Crews' style game plan and bright lights environment, we won't really know for sure.

Without a huge step into the past, there is Billiken precedent here. Tony Brown, 1984 - 1988. Kid was listed at 6'6" and came out of St. Petersburg, Florida averaging like 36 ppg his senior year. Late signee. He had a serviceable career but only had a career average of just under 7 ppg in 116 games here.

Still, I'm excited to watch how all this plays out. It will be a new era of Billiken Basketball dawning next year.

Again, there will be huge growing pains so enjoy the ride. Embrace the experience.

[Taj79]

I'm with you WV. We just have to be patient and see how it all goes down.

[almaman]

Ricky Cranford, a high scoring recruit from NY was also pretty much a bust. He had lots of hoopla, but never panned out .

MY is the real deal...............I hope.

that's the guy I queried about in an earlier thread. He was all something in New York area like Ash in HS.

[thetorch]

that's the guy I queried about in an earlier thread. He was all something in New York area like Ash in HS.

Cranford went to prep school. He was the #1 prep recruit in the country, but prep schools were a little different back then. He came out of the NYC area. Spoon recruited another guy, Hardin, who was a Donnie Dobbs wannabe who was all city NYC and was hyped up way more than Cranford. Cranford got a bum rap replacing Larry. He had a very good college basketball career, he could have played at SLU and been a Virgil Cobbin level player. Would have been nice to have playing with Love and Jeffers. Hardin on the other hand was a bum. People get these two players confused or combine them into one player.

[Taj79]

I think Spoon doomed Cranford by referring to him in the vernacular of not only replacing Larry Hughes but being "a poor man's Larry Hughes." And the die was cast and failure was the only option. But it was Cranford as I recall with that title, not Hardin. Spoon also signed maybe the highest scoring kid in WV at that time, Donnie Adkins or something like that. Another huge bust. Then another recruit, Tyrone Caswell,was hailed as the best signing by one magazine ala Keith Carter two years ago. I think he was a Spoonball recruit too. Short of Hughes and that class, Spoon's only really good guy was Justin Love, I think. And the H Waldman transfer.

Cranford did resurface. I think he played his senior year at either Boston University or Northeastern, starting at forward and maybe averaging just short of 10 ppg as I seem to recall.

My foundation with Billiken basketball recruiting is built on my formative years of way too many failures and minor surprises. That's why I take the recruits and their so-called talent levels and ratings with a huge grain of salt. I'd go into history,but f05's head would explode.

[slu72]

I think he was a Spoonball recruit too. Short of Hughes and that class, Spoon's only really good guy was Justin Love, I think. And the H Waldman transfer.

I think you're overlooking Marque Perry and Mighty Mo Jeffers. They were pretty solid players for SLU.

[AlumniFan]

Cranford went to prep school. He was the #1 prep recruit in the country, but prep schools were a little different back then. He came out of the NYC area. Spoon recruited another guy, Hardin, who was a Donnie Dobbs wannabe who was all city NYC and was hyped up way more than Cranford. Cranford got a bum rap replacing Larry. He had a very good college basketball career, he could have played at SLU and been a Virgil Cobbin level player. Would have been nice to have playing with Love and Jeffers. Hardin on the other hand was a bum. People get these two players confused or combine them into one player.

Hardin was a very big kid. Problem is he got bigger...and bigger. He barely played in the short time he was here. Where did he end up?

[MB73]

BIGS are the key to success.

They make guards look a whole let better if we have deep, diverse, quality bigs.

RM showed us that... we had deep, diverse bigs for the first time, ever. We were 5-6 deep (including our 3's).

Yarbrough seems to be a good fit for our needs. Not ready to compare him to DE, now way, he has a long way to go to earn that... though of course we have to hope he develops that well!

IMO our guards will perform at a level of, say, "C" to "B+", whereas I think the bigs are more questionable, "C minus (or even D+) to B" range.

Worried, losing DE and RL after losing CE and CR. Losing some excellent guards, too, of course, but IMO easier to replace.

Sure nobody knows how these kids will perform, there are too many unknowns with mostly new players, but that is how I see it, and Yarbrough fits well to round out our depth and diversity of talent at the 3-4-5 positions.

[Taj79]

@larry72 ---- you are right, but with a minor caveat ----both Perry and Jeffers were recruited by Spoon but they played under Romar. Perry and Jeffers' first years were 99-00 and that was LoRo's first year. I seem to recall Romar having to"re-recruit/convince" Perry to stay. So yes,I'll give Spoon then but I passed at first due to their not playing for him.

Half credit?????

[Box and Won]

Hardin was a very big kid. Problem is he got bigger...and bigger. He barely played in the short time he was here. Where did he end up?

Found this little blurb from the NYT:

Hunter's Greg Hardin, a senior transfer from St. Louis University, is considered by some to be the Division III City University of New York's most dominant player in more than a decade. Maybe his 30.7 points per game average has something to do with it. As a team, however, Hunter is struggling along at 2-7 (1-2 CUNY).

[moytoy12]

Found this little blurb from the NYT:

The use of "CUNY" makes me giggle.