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Recruiting - 2021


Pistol

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I really wish we had a master list of local players who go on to play in college, broken down by year. It would come in handy for a lot of these conversations.

My guess is that Vashon has put more guys into college basketball than any other program. Not a lot of guys who have gone on to play professionally, and plenty that had short careers after starring under Floyd Irons, but a surprising amount that have had 4-year careers without much fanfare. Here's an incomplete list since 2000:

Joel Shelton (Mineral Area College), Lorenzo Gordon (Mineral Area College, Illinois State, Oklahoma City U.), Jimmy McKinney (Mizzou), Nicholas Kern (Mineral Area College), Dwayne Polk (SLU), Curtis Muse (Mineral Area College, North Texas), DeAlan Hicks (Mineral Area College), Kenny Daniels (Indian Hills CC, Cal State-Northridge), Johnny Hill (SEMO), Bobby Hill (Illinois State, Lincoln College, Illinois State again), James Washington (Western Illinois, Indian Hills CC, Middle Tennessee), Leon Powell (Indian Hills CC, SEMO), Cornelius Walker (Wabash Valley CC, Kentucky Wesleyan), Levi Stockard (Kansas State, VCU), Daniel Farris (Central Missouri, Maryville), Koray Gilbert (South Plains CC, Central Missouri) Joe Reece (Old Dominion), Mario McKinney (Mizzou, John A. Logan College, TBD), Donyae McCaskill (Portland commit, went to Wallace State CC), Akok Yur (SEMO commit, went to Moberly Area CC), Cam'Ron Fletcher (Kentucky), Kobe Clark (Georgetown), Phillip Russell (SLU), Keshon Gilbert (UNLV commit), Nick Kern (TBD). Quite a few others, like William Franklin and Derrick Mitchell, played football or other sports in college after playing basketball at Vashon.

So Vashon is putting out more than one college player a year, even including the lean years after Floyd's downfall, and the general trend over time is toward higher quality players/recruits. I hope that answers "what makes Vashon special?"

Looking through the list, it's obvious not every player coming out of V is a SLU recruit. We still have to look at fit, potential, etc. I trust Ford and his staff are approaching it correctly.

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14 hours ago, Pistol said:

We haven't. No coaches are following him on Twitter, and I haven't been able to confirm interest another way, either.

FWIW, PrepHoopsMO has Stacker ranked 6th in the state, behind Reed, Jevon Porter, Taj Manning from the KC area, Damien Mayo, and Robert Martin.

As for Kern, others have said it, but I wonder how different his recruitment might look if he waited until the spring. It sure seems like SLU is going to sit the fall out after missing on Nesbitt. Maybe a big HS season and some spring openings change the picture - then again, it means other, bigger programs probably get involved, too. If the thought is that he won't be an instant contributor, I don't necessarily disagree with that assessment.

I still think he's worth a scholarship if we have one to give, though. Really like his toughness and long-term potential. It would just take patience on both ends because we have a loaded roster and no idea who's staying next season. If one of these other (pretty attractive) schools is telling him he can contribute immediately, I can't blame him if he goes away.

I saw that Porter has committed to Romar at Pepperdine.  That is a nice pick up for Romar.  Jevon isn't his two oldest brothers, but he is still a nice player who has a chance to have a really good career in the WCC.

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14 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Yeah, I know he is short.  That said, I still think Martin could end up having the better college career than both Stacker and Hughes.  Plus, Martin is a almost a year younger than everyone else in his class.  He is ten months younger than LHJ.  I think Martin is really underrated at this point.

Unless they're ultra-athletic, it's always a waiting game to see how short guys will pan out.  Martin is the leader of CBC's team and the best point guard in the area.  He will get plenty of opportunity to blow up this year now that Love is gone.  

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Pistol's bottom line is truth:  In Ford I trust.  Whatever the staff decides, I am good with.  The Vashon list is interesting to say the least but not impressive from a production standard.  I fully believe Fletcher and Clark can change that perception but time will tell.  I'd take Kern without reservation but he'd have to have a Hargrove attitude and mentality ---- strive to get better and get time.  The line at the three is quite long but the challenge should be fun.

Question: along the Hargrove line and ESLHS .... do the majority of Vashon players end up at Community Colleges due to grades?  Thirteen of the 24 listed above (54%) went the JUCO route.  Seems incredibly high from my vantage point.

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5 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Pistol's bottom line is truth:  In Ford I trust.  Whatever the staff decides, I am good with.  The Vashon list is interesting to say the least but not impressive from a production standard.  I fully believe Fletcher and Clark can change that perception but time will tell.  I'd take Kern without reservation but he'd have to have a Hargrove attitude and mentality ---- strive to get better and get time.  The line at the three is quite long but the challenge should be fun.

Question: along the Hargrove line and ESLHS .... do the majority of Vashon players end up at Community Colleges due to grades?  Thirteen of the 24 listed above (54%) went the JUCO route.  Seems incredibly high from my vantage point.

Yeah, I'm interested to see how the guys currently in college end up. I think a few of them have a chance to have great careers if they're in places that are the right fit. McKinney's junior-senior seasons will be all about fit. Fletcher and Clark certainly went with their best offers so I'm curious to see if they stay put. Joe Reece worked his way into a starting role by the last dozen or so games of last season and figures to be a key piece for ODU moving forward. We're going to see Stockard this year, obviously.

Grades are definitely part of it, but keep in mind that JUCO was really the only other option for guys hoping to end up D-I but who needed more academic or athletic development in the early 2000s. The prep school thing hadn't really taken off yet. I'm not sure what the story is with McCaskill or Yur, more recent guys who went the JUCO route after committing to D-I programs.

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37 minutes ago, brianstl said:

I saw that Porter has committed to Romar at Pepperdine.  That is a nice pick up for Romar.  Jevon isn't his two oldest brothers, but he is still a nice player who has a chance to have a really good career in the WCC.

That is fascinating to me as Michael Porter backing out of his LOI with Washington is essentially what got Romar fired. Honestly, I had forgotten that Romar went back to Pepperdine. 

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3 hours ago, Pistol said:

Yeah, I'm interested to see how the guys currently in college end up. I think a few of them have a chance to have great careers if they're in places that are the right fit. McKinney's junior-senior seasons will be all about fit. Fletcher and Clark certainly went with their best offers so I'm curious to see if they stay put. Joe Reece worked his way into a starting role by the last dozen or so games of last season and figures to be a key piece for ODU moving forward. We're going to see Stockard this year, obviously.

Grades are definitely part of it, but keep in mind that JUCO was really the only other option for guys hoping to end up D-I but who needed more academic or athletic development in the early 2000s. The prep school thing hadn't really taken off yet. I'm not sure what the story is with McCaskill or Yur, more recent guys who went the JUCO route after committing to D-I programs.

There was a coaching change at Portland.  Most of the the young men playing under Tony Irons going Juco out of high school have been players at the end of the bench.  The rest are going D1/D2.  

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3 hours ago, kshoe said:

That is fascinating to me as Michael Porter backing out of his LOI with Washington is essentially what got Romar fired. Honestly, I had forgotten that Romar went back to Pepperdine. 

I think Romar got fired first

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2 hours ago, wgstl said:

I think Romar got fired first

That's the official line, but the story I remember from back then was Washington giving Romar the vote of confidence and saying his job was safe. Then the Porter's told Washington (behind the scenes but eventually leaked to the public by some media), that they had a change of heart and weren't coming, and Romar then getting fired since he wasn't going to deliver the #1 overall recruit.

To be fair, the fact the latest brother is going to play for Romar suggests that either Romar is an even more forgiving Christian than I thought or it went down the way the popular media portrayed it (Romar was fired first).

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2 hours ago, kshoe said:

That's the official line, but the story I remember from back then was Washington giving Romar the vote of confidence and saying his job was safe. Then the Porter's told Washington (behind the scenes but eventually leaked to the public by some media), that they had a change of heart and weren't coming, and Romar then getting fired since he wasn't going to deliver the #1 overall recruit.

To be fair, the fact the latest brother is going to play for Romar suggests that either Romar is an even more forgiving Christian than I thought or it went down the way the popular media portrayed it (Romar was fired first).

Shortly after the firing Michael won some big national award and Romar was with the family at their house in Seattle when he was surprised with the recognition, so it seemed apparent the rumor was likely not fully accurate. Romar is the Godfather of a few of the Porter kids, was Porter Sr.’s boss, and I am sure he was well aware of what was going on with the family who was really struggling being away from their oldest daughters in Columbia.

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On 11/9/2020 at 3:14 PM, kshoe said:

I have a lot of confidence in this staff and I fully understand things are in incredible flux with the # of scholarships available next year, etc. but I'm not a fan of passing on a player of Kern's ability, if that is indeed what is happening (reading between Cusumano lines can be dangerous). I have a feeling we are getting too greedy with the type of talent we want and are passing on a kid that can help...and keep the local pipeline open and flowing.

With the whole world basically saying "we'll wait until the spring to see what is available" now could actually be the best time to sign a kid in the fall and he is getting nervous. When others zig, you should zag. Especially when we have at least 3 schollys to offer.

We shall see...hearing Nick will be committing in the next day or so.

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9 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Little surprised at this. Didn’t Rhodes lose control of the Rams last season? They looked like a shadow of the team they were supposed to be. 

I think it’s important to remember that every recruit chooses a school for different reasons. I think Kern has a better chance to be an impact player at VCU sooner. We’re deep at the wing and he could think he doesn’t have a chance to get time until he’s a junior or senior. 

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20 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Three Wolverines all within 3 hours of each other.  Kobe Clark at Georgetown, Kern at VCU and Joe Reece at Old Dominion.  Four if Stockard decides to stay at VCU for another year.  Quite the support system.

who is the Vashon kid who committed to UNLV?

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10 minutes ago, wgstl said:

who is the Vashon kid who committed to UNLV?

Keshon Gilbert from Las Vegas. Transferring to the V this year. 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.reviewjournal.com/sports/unlv/unlv-basketball/unlv-commit-keshon-gilbert-leaving-las-vegas-for-senior-season-2045168/amp/

 

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It is weird, I wanted Kern to commit more than Nesbit, but I am not surprised and kind of less affected by this news.

When Nesbit chose not to pick us, I felt like it was really a statement on how much talent we have at the 2/3 who are either freshmen or sophomores. It is one thing to be buried on the depth chart at a traditional power, but would be difficult to be buried at an upstart. We can’t exactly hide how talented Hargrove is from these guys. Jimerson, Thatch, Jacobs, Strickland, Russell, and now Lorentson could be a 2/3.

That said, it is going to be really hard for these guys to watch us dominating in the final four this 2021. 

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