Recruiting - 2020 Class (Optimal Vision Class)

[Pistol]

Another solid offer, another Chicago offer:

Seryee Lewis - PF, 6-8, 210 - Chicago, IL (Kenwood Academy) - Twitter: @Seryee2020

Offers: SLU, SIUC, UIC, Columbia, Brown, Southern Utah.

Interest: Providence, DePaul, Boston College, Northwestern, Stanford, UConn, Tulsa, Miami-Ohio, Loyola-Chicago, Valpo, Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, Florida Atlantic, Yale, Holy Cross, Cal Poly.

Latest News: Lewis received an offer from SLU. (7/3/18)

Scouting Report: Lewis is a sound, skilled, active big man with athleticism and a fairly complete game. He runs the floor extremely well and thrives in transition. He can step out to shoot it from mid-range. He's a strong finisher and plays with intensity at both ends of the floor. Smart and patient, he's also an excellent passer and good rebounder on both ends. He sat the first half of his sophomore season with Kenwood after taking a while to be cleared as a transfer from Marist, and he plays his AAU ball with Young & Reckless (adidas Gauntlet).

-There's a lot to like here. He's got a game that looks good on video; really strong finisher who loves to dunk hard, shows good vision in his passing, runs the floor well. I like his upside. He must be a good student based on the early and heavy Ivy League interest and offers (he's been out to at least three Ivy campuses). He also is starting to get some higher-level interest now that coaches could start contacting 2020 kids directly in June; he visited BC and Providence late last month, and before that he got calls from Stanford, Northwestern, and a number of others. He needs to work on his handles a little bit and he doesn't have a polished back-to-the-basket game yet for a big man, but he's young and has nice upside.

[Pistol]

Another one: 

 

[Pistol]

Keshawn Williams - PG, 6-2, 160 - Chicago Heights, IL (Bloom) - Twitter: @keshawn_0

Offers: SLU, SIUC, UIC, Hampton.

Interest: VCU, Butler, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Miami-Ohio, Loyola-Chicago, Missouri State, Drake, Valpo, UIC, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Florida Atlantic, SIUE, Holy Cross, Nebraska-Omaha, Southern Utah, Seattle.

Latest News: Williams received an offer from SLU. (7/3/18)

Scouting Report: Williams is an athletic combo guard who can pile up points quickly. He loves to run in transition and get to the rim, but he can also knock it down from outside. He has a lot of bounce, and rebounds and dunks very well for his size. He plays with a ton of energy and is a very active defender. He's wiry but has good length. He plays his HS ball with Martice Mitchell and AAU with Seryee Lewis.

-So two Bloom HS kids and two Young & Reckless kids get offered in a short amount of time, and Williams is the connection between the others (Martice Mitchell goes to Bloom and Seryee Lewis plays for Y&R). Going hard at Chicago right now. This kid is on the small size, with a wiry frame but also with nice length. He's a spark, though, especially offensively. He's pretty explosive and hard to stop going to his left. He loves to run, plays with a lot of energy, thrives in transition. He can also shoot it, though. So he's another Chicago kid SLU is getting in early on, and who has some nice upside. Getting these early 2020 offers out is going to go a long way in forging relationships up in Chicago, which can be a difficult place to sustain a pipeline.

[bauman]

Pistol, I would love to sit down with TF and hear about his recruiting philosophy / strategy.  What is the staff trying to do with making, what, 50-70 offers a year?  Is some of it a smokescreen?  How are the multiple offers worded to prevent multiple acceptances which would put us way beyond our limit?  Do we think making offers very early pays off ? (It did with TH)

His approach is certainly 180 degrees at odds with Uncle Brad's.

[TheChosenOne]

1 hour ago, bauman said:

Pistol, I would love to sit down with TF and hear about his recruiting philosophy / strategy.  What is the staff trying to do with making, what, 50-70 offers a year?  Is some of it a smokescreen?  How are the multiple offers worded to prevent multiple acceptances which would put us way beyond our limit?  Do we think making offers very early pays off ? (It did with TH)

His approach is certainly 180 degrees at odds with Uncle Brad's.

If you get that sit down, can I join? Apparently offers are essentially telling a kid that you are recruiting him at this point with some offers not truly being committable offers which is very odd to me. It seems much worse on the football side where there are so many more scholarships to fill, coaches and recruits seem to kind of be playing a game with offers and verbal commitments.

[Cowboy]

32 minutes ago, bauman said:

Pistol, I would love to sit down with TF and hear about his recruiting philosophy / strategy.  What is the staff trying to do with making, what, 50-70 offers a year?  Is some of it a smokescreen?  How are the multiple offers worded to prevent multiple acceptances which would put us way beyond our limit?  Do we think making offers very early pays off ? (It did with TH)

His approach is certainly 180 degrees at odds with Uncle Brad's.

-whatever it is the results are great

[Pistol]

6 minutes ago, bauman said:

Pistol, I would love to sit down with TF and hear about his recruiting philosophy / strategy.  What is the staff trying to do with making, what, 50-70 offers a year?  Is some of it a smokescreen?  How are the multiple offers worded to prevent multiple acceptances which would put us way beyond our limit?  Do we think making offers very early pays off ? (It did with TH)

His approach is certainly 180 degrees at odds with Uncle Brad's.

 

1 minute ago, TheChosenOne said:

If you get that sit down, can I join? Apparently offers are essentially telling a kid that you are recruiting him at this point with some offers not truly being committable offers which is very odd to me.

I can only offer conjecture, so here goes:

I'd love to sit down with him and talk recruiting strategy, as well, but I don't think he'd get too detailed on what he wants to do. We talked in the General Recruiting Information thread about how the staff appears to be focusing on several specific regions of the country, forging strong relationships there, and then working those areas exclusively. I don't know if they have a hard limit on how many offers they'll extend, nor do I know how they're prioritizing guys, nor do I know who they'd take an immediate commitment from, and who would have to show them more before having a truly committable offer.

For example, I would be surprised if they'd take a commitment today from Martice Mitchell, a raw 2020 big man from the Chicago area. That seems like an offer to start a higher-level relationship with this kid and be communicating with him as he develops. But if he doesn't show signs of improvement, they could slowly cool off and his offer wouldn't be "fresh" or committable anymore.

I don't think offers are formal necessarily, or worded in a way that locks the kid or the school into anything. For example, we read about Dominiq Penn, Scoonie's son in Columbus, who described his offer from SLU basically as Ford coming over to talk to him when he was walking to the car to head out of town after the Nike Top 100 camp at SLU, and that Ford basically said he was impressed and wanted to give him an offer and will keep in touch. I think recruits have an understanding that offers aren't formal or permanent and that they just more or less mean that they want to have a higher level relationship with this recruit and are prioritizing him at some level for his class.

Every recruit is different. Some guys really respond to that early offer and value loyalty, sticking with those programs that have been there with them from the start. Other guys are waiting on that dream program to come through with a late offer. Even with those guys, I think the early offers say a lot. But the communication all along matters. You have to figure out what style and level of contact a player is comfortable with, what his personality is like, what he responds to. This process is way more art than science.

As for having too many commitments, the only time I've seen that with Ford is in the past month, when we got the Hankton commitment before the Pearson rumor was officially confirmed. There are programs that stay 1 or more scholarships overcommitted and wait it out in the spring to see how many guys transfer out (or maybe are pushed out), but we haven't seen that as a standard practice here, at least so far. Ford seems to be relatively clear about who is left as a priority after we get a commitment/LOI. I'm sure there are a few 2019 guys whose offers are at least somewhat downgraded after TH's commitment. So I don't think there is "wording" in an offer to prevent this from happening; I think they just work to make sure things don't get messy like that. Communication is key.

For the 2019 class, we identified 7 or so general regions: St. Louis, Chicago/Illinois, New York/New England, Philly/DC/Baltimore/Virginia, Minnesota/Wisconsin, Kentucky, and the Southeast. We probably could have added Texas to that but the Texas kids we offered in the 2019 class have already eliminated us from contention. To date, the staff has offered 51 (!) kids in the 2019 class, including kids that have moved on, as well as our one commitment so far. My final count for 2018 was 56, and that included transfers (which can be trickier to account for, in terms of offers vs. interest).

For the 2020 class, we have 20 offers out so far. They mostly fit into the regions we've been recruiting for 2019, except for one out to a kid from Iowa (which could probably be lumped in with MN and WI as the Northern Midwest) and two to kids in Ohio, where we had some 2018 offers but none in 2019 (so far).

For the 2021 class, we have 6 offers out so far, representing New England, New York, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Florida. Most of them have either HS or AAU program ties to kids we've offered in previous classes.

I think some of those 50+ offers we're now making per class are statement offers, or "smokescreens", to use your word, Bauman. I don't think Ford ever expected Vernon Carey or Jalen Lecque to prioritize SLU, visit campus again, or list us as a finalist. But I think those are broader statements to players and programs in the regions we're recruiting that SLU is in the market and we mean business.

The last point to be made here (for now) about the amount of offers we're extending is that we're at the level of program where I think a higher number of offers is a necessity. Bluebloods can sit back and wait on a lot of kids, and only put offers out to the highest-level recruits for a while, and then see what happens in the spring. Other programs have their own systems - when you look at VerbalCommits for the A10, you'll see that SLU, VCU, and Rhode Island have a ton of offers out, while Fordham and Davidson have hardly any. Those programs tend to recruit more internationally and sign guys in the spring. But I think programs at our level have to be a little more aggressive about offering guys if we're going to level up.

[RiseAndGrind]

 

[Pistol]

Reginald (Reggie) Strong - PG, 6-2, 160 - Chicago, IL (Farragut) - Twitter: @reginaldstrong3

Offers: SLU, DePaul, SIUC, UIC, Southern Utah.

Interest: Butler, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, UNLV, Ohio.

Latest News: Strong received an offer from SLU. (7/6/18)

Scouting Report: Strong is an athletic, energetic guard who lights up the game on both ends of the floor. He's wiry but has good length. He plays with a lot of smarts and anticipation, creating a ton of steals on the defensive end and making plays for his teammates on offense. He has tight handles and a great crossover, which he combines with a quick first step to get to the rim. He loves to play in transition. His jump shot keeps getting better and he has good, replicable mechanics. He also rebounds his position extremely well. He fills up the stat sheet.

-Third offer to this AAU team in the past week, after his teammates Seryee Lewis and Keshawn Williams. This kid is a lot of fun. He plays hard, really gets after it on both ends. He put up some eye-opening stat lines in his sophomore year, like a 16-5-7-8 game against Aurora East or a 20-10-8-4-4 against Westinghouse (and an identical line, except for 2 fewer blocks, two weeks later) or 20-6-5-2 against CBC. You get the idea. He does everything and is a triple-double threat every night.

[Cowboy]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

Reginald (Reggie) Strong - PG, 6-2, 160 - Chicago, IL (Farragut) - Twitter: @reginaldstrong3

Offers: SLU, DePaul, SIUC, UIC, Southern Utah.

Interest: Butler, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, UNLV, Ohio.

Latest News: Strong received an offer from SLU. (7/6/18)

Scouting Report: Strong is an athletic, energetic guard who lights up the game on both ends of the floor. He's wiry but has good length. He plays with a lot of smarts and anticipation, creating a ton of steals on the defensive end and making plays for his teammates on offense. He has tight handles and a great crossover, which he combines with a quick first step to get to the rim. He loves to play in transition. His jump shot keeps getting better and he has good, replicable mechanics. He also rebounds his position extremely well. He fills up the stat sheet.

-Third offer to this AAU team in the past week, after his teammates Seryee Lewis and Keshawn Williams. This kid is a lot of fun. He plays hard, really gets after it on both ends. He put up some eye-opening stat lines in his sophomore year, like a 16-5-7-8 game against Aurora East or a 20-10-8-4-4 against Westinghouse (and an identical line, except for 2 fewer blocks, two weeks later) or 20-6-5-2 against CBC. You get the idea. He does everything and is a triple-double threat every night.

-you sold me, let's get him

[Pistol]

Updated Rivals 2020 rankings were released. This class is only at 125 for now, but will grow to 150 eventually. 2021 rankings aren't out yet from Rivals.

Offers:

23 (20) - Xavier Foster

41 (83) - Caleb Love

44 (44) - Cam'Ron Fletcher

49 (51) - Mark Williams

63 (80) - Symir Torrence

86 (57) - L.J. Cryer

97 (76) - Richie Springs

104 (NR) - Matthew Murrell

109 (NR) - Joshua Hemmings

116 (NR) - Zed Key

Not ranked: Kobe Clark, Davonte Davis, R.J. Davis (93), John Hugley, IV, Luke Kasubke, Seryee Lewis, Martice Mitchell, Dominiq Penn, Jackson Sivills, Reggie Strong, Keshawn Williams.

Others:

56 (49) - Elijah Hutchins-Everett - SLU interest.

103 (87) - Davion Bradford - SLU interest.

[Major Majerus]

On July 3, 2018 at 11:14 AM, Cowboy said:

-whatever it is the results are great

1 we want to win

2 we recognize talent

3 we won't sit on our duffs waiting for your commit - there are plenty of great options out there early on

[billikenfan05]

Travis and Tate are at Lindenwood today to watching luke kasubke.

[RiseAndGrind]

What’s going on at Lindenwood?

[RiseAndGrind]

 

[Pistol]

Liam Murphy - SF, 6-7, 190 - Staten Island, NY (St. Peter's) - Twitter: @liammurphy657

Offers: SLU, LIU-Brooklyn, Little Rock.

Interest: George Washington, American.

Latest News: Murphy received offers from SLU and LIU-Brooklyn after his performance at the PSA Cardinals-NY Lightning combine. (7/23/18)

Scouting Report: Murphy is an elite shooter off the catch or the dribble. He has good length and size and is a steady player at both ends. He's been great for his 16U NY Jayhawks AAU team, which was almost unbeatable this season. Murphy also plays baseball and runs track and cross country for his HS.

-There's not a lot available on this kid yet. I know he's had a strong AAU season and that he can really shoot it. He's been out to GW and American on visits. His offers are all new. He plays at the same HS as 2019 SLU offer Chris Ledlum, and he, Ledlum, and 2020 offer Zed Key all play for the NY Jayhawks AAU program.

[Zink]

Caleb Love looking really good for BBE today. Step-back three and then a nice runner in the last few possessions. 

[bauman]

 Love is #1 on my local recruit target list for next year!  He would be a great get.

[almaman]

# today?

[Aquinas]

This may have been stated earlier in this thread, but I saw an interview with Zion Harmon where he said he is considering reclassifying  to class of 2020.

[TheChosenOne]

11 hours ago, Aquinas said:

This may have been stated earlier in this thread, but I saw an interview with Zion Harmon where he said he is considering reclassifying  to class of 2020.

Based merely on his experience as a basketball player at the high school level (including school and EYBL ball) reclassifying would seemingly make a lot of sense.

[Pistol]

Another local kid we should probably be aware of:

He transferred to Chaminade from Pine Ridge in Pickering, Ontario. Now has offers from FAU, Drake, and Canisius. Nice looking 6-5 scoring guard. Had a solid AAU season for the Northern Kings 16s.

[brianstl]

A kid from Toronto playing for CCP?

[Littlebill]

35 minutes ago, brianstl said:

A kid from Toronto playing for CCP?

basketball factory

[wgstl]

3 minutes ago, Littlebill said:

basketball factory

ours closed up shop