Bryce Husek & Recruting big men

[bart]

I watched most of the pick up games that Josh Fisher organized over at the Simon Rec Center last summer. Most everybody on the roster who was in town showed up fairly regularly. A few alumni such as Justin Tatum and even Larry Hughes on one occassion played. Bryce got pushed around alot by Tom and Justin - no surprise as he was just out of high school. However, for a 7'1" 18 year old he could run the floor well and he can catch a basketball.

I know many of you will say - so what, big deal. How many 7'+ players coming out of high school in the US in any year have those skills? Damn few. I believe you have to classify a kid like Bryce as having real upside potential. He needs to get stronger and have an attitude adjustment in terms of playing with greater intensity. It will take a while no doubt but you have to take a chance on a kid like this. There just aren't that many true centers with these skills and his size around.

[dewey33]

BTW if you last saw Bryce last summer....you wouldn't recognize him now...bigger, stronger and more confident

[jjray]

Thanks for the reports, encouraging.

[StLouBlue]

If we had Matt Shaw coming in next year as our 6'6" PF instead of Newbourne at 6'6" would everyone still be complaining about our PF always being undersized & complaining about Brad's recruitment of big men. I know there were many(and probably the majority) on this board that wanted Matt Shaw to come to SLU & be our PF. For next year I bet Newbourne will be more productive than Shaw. Newbourne has already had 2 years of college experience at playing PF, while Shaw is a highly touted player, but will only be a Freshman.

Most big men take time to develop, there are very few that can come in & play a major role for a team as a Freshman. I would guess that a lot of UAB fans thought of Tom F as a project when he was coming in & many probably also thought he was a dud after very unimpressive numbers as a Freshman.

The summer camps & AAU games are important for recruiting of big men, especially the summer before their senior year. This is where college recruiters can see these kids against better competition than the kids see in high school. My guess is that we have a long list of big men we want to see this summer at camps & AAU and then start focusing in on the ones that stand out and/or will fit our system. I think Brad has done an outstanding job so far in recruiting talented players that fit his system & I expect for this to continue.

[billiken_roy]

very good point. i guess the difference is that i have personally seen matt shaw play. i have only read about newborne. come november december, newborne will get the chance to sell us non-believers just like frericks did.

[Schasz]

I will stick with Brad on his player evaluation ability, as so far, he has shown me that he has a pretty good idea that he knows what to look for in players that fit his style of play. By the way, that includes Justin Johnson who I have faith that we will finally see good things from this year.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Thanks. Please keep us abreast of when the guys will be playing pick-up ball in West Pine this summer. I'd like to get down there to watch on occasion.

[bart]

Thicks:

I'll be around until the end of the month. Then I'll be moving to Michigan. I'll try to find out the schedule before I split and post it.

I'm a bills fan to the core but will start to root for another Jesuit school, the Detroit Mercy Titans. They have a transfer from Michigan elgible right away next year and a Michigan State transfer elgible mid year. UDM is the host institution for the 2009 final four in bb.

Trivia - why does Michigan State no longer play UDM? Because they lost to them three times. Seems as if Tom Izo and Quin Snyder are on the same page regarding scheduling in-state Jesuit schools.

[billiken_roy]

let's see how long it takes billiken law to respond to this one! :-)

[Quality Is Job 1]

Make sure you stay connected to Billikens.com.

[jjray]

Wait a minute Bart, were you not the guy assigned by the board to be our summer reporter for the Billiken scrimages??? This means you are abandoning your post??? JK.

[Billiken Law]

MSU does not play UDM because their coach, Perry Watson, was the point man in the Ed Martin scandal at Michigan that hurt MSU's program so much in the early 90's (Watson was the one leaving tickets behind the Michigan bench for Martin and bringing him into the locker room and setting up Martin with recruits). Izzo will not play UDM until Watson is gone as a matter of principle as there are few coaches dirtier than Watson. The first few times they played in Izzo's tenure the contract was signed before Izzo was the coach. In fact, the transfer they are getting from MSU, Cotton, was a result of his AAU coach's influence (who is close to Watson) getting him to ignore his family and leave MSU. By the way, the two teams did play a few years ago in the pre-season NIT but that was against MSU's wishes and MSU soundly beat them.

Also, are you sure UDM is the host school for the Final Four? I know the last few times the tourney has been at the Palace the MAC has been the host. UDM may be a co-host.

Just curious, why in God's name would you want to leave STL to go to UDM???

[NashvilleBilliken]

nm

[New2SLU]

While Tom was at UAB his freshman year, he was backup to a Senior, 7'0" center. Tom's best game as a Freshman was against SLU. Tom had the warrior mentality then that he has today!

[StLouBlue]

I pulled up Tom's Freshman stats & compared them to our Freshman backup center last year Ian and the numbers are very similar. Here they are:

Frericks Freshman Year

Games 27-2 starts

Min 202 7.5 average

FG% .440

FT% .464

RB 2.4 average

Blks 4 total

Assist 3 total

Fouls 50 total

TO 13 total

Pts 2.1 average

Ian V Freshman Year

Games 21-7 starts

Min 220 10.5 average

FG% .391

FT% .769

RB 1.7 average

Blks 3 total

Assist 4 total

Fouls 24 total

TO 13 total

Pts 2.2 average

Tom's 50 fouls in 202 minutes is probably his number that stands out the most, 1 foul every 4 minutes on the floor. Can see that he was agressive then & has now learned to control this a lot better today. The number for Ian that stands out is the .769 FT%, pretty good. Also Ian had fewer fouls, fewer rebounds on average and lower FG% probably compares to Ian being much less agressive than Tom as a Freshman(I see higher FG% as being more put backs or close in shots, while Ian it seemed took more 5-10 ft shots).

Oh well, what does all of this mean? I guess my point is that after Tom's Freshman year at UAB, I doubt anyone was really sure how good he could be. Inside players take longer to develop--in most cases--than guards. We have to be patient with our young post players like JJ, Husak & Ian and let them develop.

[billiken_roy]

if ian ran the floor, defended and hit the boards with the same enthusiasm and vigor that tom frericks does, your point would be well taken. ian's style is nothing like tom frericks though. he is a finese player only right now it seems like he is in forever slow motion.

[kshoe]

the Tom Frericks you see today most likely looks nothing like the Tom Frericks of his freshman year. Thus, it is not unreasonable to expect similar improvements out of Ian as he matures physically and mentally on the basketball court.

[StLouBlue]

Kshoe, thanks that is pretty much my point. That and I don't really expect Ian to be a Tom clone, but probably still a good player in his own way.

[Sheltiedave]

I did a little digging, and there is an upcoming center in Peoria. Billy Cole is going to be a sophomore at Richwoods, and he is already 6'8", and fairly coordinated. I was a class ahead of his dad, Terry, at Richwoods. Terry was a decent high school player, and developed into a starting defensive tackle for Illinois, playing on their Rose Bowl team that got stomped(painfully) by UCLA in the '80s.

Terry feels he will be become a very good college center - and he has a decent basis to yardstick his son by. I'll try to paste the article from the Peoria Journal Star as well.

From the PJS yesterday...

Spotlight not so bright as summer basketball heats up

June 4, 2004

Dave Reynolds

[email protected]

The central Illinois basketball landscape has changed dramatically this summer compared with last year's scene.

No longer is the national spotlight created by Shaun Livingston and DeAaron Williams shining here, particularly since the top area prospect, Richwoods guard Jamar Smith, has already orally committed to Illinois.

In fact, the AAU team that Livingston and his Central teammate Brandon Lee played on last year, Ft. Sooy No Limits, is not even fielding a team this summer.

But there will still be plenty of talented local players plying their hoop wares in gyms around America the next couple of months hoping to catch the eye of a college coach or two.

"You probably don't have the marquee names this year," said Bradley coach Jim Les. "But we still feel there's an excellent core of talent coming up in central Illinois. And we want to be involved with them."

The Braves will not be alone.

The 6-foot-3 Smith, playing for the Illinois Warriors along with such standouts as Julian Wright of Homewood-Flossmoor and Jon Scheyer of Glenbrook North, is off to a good start with a solid performance at the Nike Memorial Day Classic in New Orleans.

"Jamar is a quality kid," said Warriors coach Larry Butler. "He's another in a long line of quality guys I've had from Peoria."

The Warriors are off until July so Smith will join his Knight teammates for June team camps at Bradley on Saturday and their own Richwoods Shootout next weekend.

Butler said Smith will receive an invitation to one of the major individual camps - either Nike in Indianapolis, ABCD in New Jersey or adidas in Georgia - before rejoining the Warriors for the Nike Peach Jam in South Carolina July 13-18, the Main Event in Las Vegas July 22-25 and the Kansas City Prep Invitational July 28-31.

DeAndre Miranda, the lone starter returning to Central from the Class AA state championship team, has joined the St. Louis Storm for the summer along with Pekin forward Kyle Myers. But Miranda will also be busy hitting the books.

"At this point, DeAndre won't be a (academic) qualifier,'' said Central coach Danny Ruffin. "He got a 19 on his ACT (a qualifying score), so he can do the work. But he hasn't done it in the classroom so he's going to summer school and night school.''

Two other Lion players - Jeff Wires and Orlando Edwards - are part of a new AAU team based in Pekin called Peoria Central Illinois Area (CIA). Also on the team are three Pekin players - Jordan Morris, Cole Stoner and Cody McGinnis - along with Washington's Matt Nicholson, Richwoods' Ryan Phillips and Notre Dame's Matt Kirkley.

The team finished 3-2 at the Windy City Classic last month and is scheduled next month to play in the Hoosier Shootout at Indianapolis and the Big-Time Tournament at Las Vegas.

Four sophomores-to-be - Billy Cole and Justin Dehm of Richwoods, Breland McKnight of Manual and Josh Edmonds of Metamora - are playing with the Bloomington-based Magic, which advanced to the championship game of the Windy City Classic before losing to Chicago Ferrari. The 6-8 Cole is also playing with Butler's 16 and under Warriors club.

"Billy Cole will be the next great player from Peoria," said Butler. "We're probably going to move him up (to the older team)."

Metamora big man Blake Mishler began the AAU season playing with the Illinois Warriors, but has switched to the Illinois Fire.

"For us, the summer recruiting period levels the playing field," said Les. "When you can see 400-500 kids at one site, it's so valuable from a money and man-hour standpoint."

Hoop scoops: Bradley kicks off the local summer scene this weekend with its second 16-team camp for area high schools Saturday on campus. Les and his staff will also conduct a shooting camp Sunday from 8:30-4 for $75. Walk-ups can register at 8:15 a.m. Sunday. . . . Central guard Jacob Motteler has signed with Southwestern Illinois College, the junior college where Bradley forward Marcellus Sommerville spent one season. Motteler is an academic qualifier so if he has a good year and the right situation presents itself, he could move on to a four-year program after just one season. . . . Central forward Dustin Warfield is still planning to attend Division II Lewis University in Romeoville after a coaching change sent head coach Jim Whitesell to Loyola and brought in former Marquette assistant Kyle Green as the new coach. . . . Pekin guard Tyler Moretto has signed with Robert Morris-Springfield, joining fellow Pekin graduate Dirk Williams. . . . Jamarcus Ellis, the Chicago Westinghouse all-stater who considered signing with Bradley this spring, has signed a National Letter of Intent with Texas A&M and head coach Billy Gillispie, the former Illinois assistant. . . . Among the central Illinois players being wooed by Bradley are Dodie Dunson and Brandon Holtz of Bloomington (both class of '05), Central's DeAndre Miranda ('05), Blake Mishler of Metamora ('06) and Richwoods' Billy Cole ('07).

[3star_recruit]

Vlade Divac isn't exactly known for running the floor or an aggressive attitude either but he's been getting the job done for years and years. Some guys are really aggressive, other guys play the game with a more cerebral bent. You can be successful both ways.

[jjray]

I think about all those chances Ian had down low with a small guy on his back, missing a short turnaround jumper. Ian just didn't have the strength to take the contact to the body and still make the shot over the smaller player from 3 feet. It was maddening to watch. However, that is something that can be corrected by strength training. Ian shall never be as aggressive as Tom nor the rebounder; however, Ian has a much larger wingspan, much softer hands, better interior passer, much better free throw shooter. If the guy gets stronger, he can be solid contributor to this team. Think of all the stiff we have had at 5 over the years. This guy will be an upgrade as he grows into his body.

[willie]

Ian can shoot the ball. How many big men outside of the NBA can do that. If he stays here a couple of years he will be the best center we've had since Melvin,and I thought Melvin was pretty good.{I am not including Jamal Johnson.}

[billiken_roy]

i am sorry to hear that he plays for the illinois warriors. based on articles i have read and results of where his players end up collegiately, it is my opinion that larry butler has a very short and tight leash on his players. the closest slu has ever come to getting a larry butler player was darius miles.

saw brandon holtz's name at the bottom of the article. i saw holtz play last summer in a game at the eagles tourney. his team was basically a bunch of undersized gym rats and they were about to play brandon rush's awesome looking kc team. rush's team was putting on a dunk show in warm ups and it was hard to even look away to watch holtz's ragtag team warming up. a lot of people left the gym assuming a blowout was about to incur. my son and i hung around as shaun livingston was listed as being on holtz's team's roster and we were holding out hope he would show late.

livingston never showed, however holtz's team didnt need him either. they put on a defensive and shooting show that was magical. i have been following holtz's progress since then. the dunston kid is from bloomington as well, but he is a lot smaller than holtz is. dunston reminded me of dave ferguson. holtz is built more like justin love. holtz's name doesnt even show up in the insider's data base, which shocks me. someone will steal a nice wing guard with him imo.

hey sheltie, if you know the dad, tell dad to check out brad. cant hurt. of course i am assuming you have a long standing relationship with dad. if not, better e-mail brad to check out the kid and stay out of it completely.

[billiken_roy]

i am sure tom has put on bulk. all freshman to juniors do. i didnt see frericks play as a freshman, but i would be shocked if he didnt play with the same heart and desire and physicalness (is that a word?) as he does today. i would be willing to wager a big milkshake he was a hell of a lot faster than what ian appears all the time.

[billiken_roy]

i didnt realize that ian shot over 75% from the ft line! impressive even if he only shot it 13x. that said, do we really know what kind of a free throw shooter frericks is? how many of those free throws came after he had the shoulder/back problems that seemed to linger most of the season? what we need to hope for is tom gets healthy and stays healthy.