Cory Johnson

[StLouBlue]

I found this on Creighton's board and just copied and pasted it over here. Mentions that we have offered him also along with a few others, but sounds like Minnesota as a pretty good chance at him.

June 20, 2005

Johnson is taking things day by day

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryan James

GopherIllustrated.com

Cory Johnson of Duluth East is playing his summer basketball with the Howard Pulley Panthers and has performed well. Johnson, 6-foot-7 215 pounds, will be taking part in the Iowa State camp and in the Nike camp in recent weeks. His recruitment is going along steadily as he's showing interest in schools who have shown the most interest in him. Cory also had some very interesting comments about his home state Minnesota Gophers and where they sit in his mind.

Cory will be headed to the Nike Camp in July

Just recently, Cory averaged 19 points, six rebounds and had ten blocked shots in four games at the Rumble in the Bronx. "The Kingwood Classic was probably the highlight of the summer," said Johnson. "We played against OJ Mayo and a lot of other national talent and that tournament was just a lot of fun. I felt we could have won that whole tournament and it was one of our few tournaments where we were close to full strength although Isaiah Dahlman wasn't there. This summer has been a lot better for me then last summer. I've matured a lot more over the year because last year I think I was somewhat out of control and this summer I'm making better decisions. I'm just having a lot more fun because I'm more relaxed on the floor and just letting the game come to me."

In the next few weeks, Johnson will be going to Iowa State for their basketball camp and will then head off to Indianapolis for the Nike camp. "The trip to Ames will kind of be a visit for me as I'm heading to their basketball camp," said Johnson. "Overall, I'm just looking to improve on so much to get better. I think one of the biggest things for me is to get a consistent jumpshot. Most of shooting is confidence and it's coming to me for sure because I've been hitting consistently getting a lot of repetitions in the gym. You know, shooting opens up the entire game, so if you can knock down the jumper people have to respect that and then they will come out and guard me more on the perimeter. I always am looking to improve on my defense as well. It doesn't matter if you score points if you can't shut your guy down on the other end." Johnson has widely been recognized as one of Minnesota's best defenders and hardest workers on the floor.

After being ranked all year, Duluth East lost in the first round of the playoffs to Coon Rapids 59-47. Cory averaged 27 points and nine rebounds on the year and his team was up 15 points in the first half before things fell apart. "We had a nice lead going into the half and then they came back out with a new gameplan," Cory said. "They packed in a zone and we had trouble knocking down shots. Offensively, they ran this weave thing to stall and were scoring at different times when we didn't step up. It was like our team just wasn't mentally prepared for that playoff game. But we were young and we only lose one player from this year's team so we want to get to the State Tournament next year. But that Coon Rapids game was the most frustrating thing."

Teams who have offered Cory include Minnesota, Iowa State, Iowa, Marquette, Creighton and St. Louis. Other schools involved in the past are UNLV, Miami-Florida, Stanford, Illinois State, Wisconsin and Boston College. "I was considering making a decision on my college choice before July," Johnson said. "Now, I doubt that will happen but we just have to take things day by day and I will choose whenever I feel most comfortable. Minnesota is obviously a school that I like. Iowa State is there as I'm going down to see them at their camp next week and Creighton is a place I've never been to and I'm interested to take a look at them. They are always on top of the Missouri Valley Conference, they make the NCAA Tournament every year and I could play there right away and that is something that attracts me. And then there's Illinois State and St. Louis looking at me to. I'm just interested in schools who show a sincere interest in me. I'm not interested in schools who are a big name where I would go and maybe play, I just want to go some place and play right away. I have been recently talking to Boston College and I might wind up taking a trip out there in the fall if things keep going well with them. BC is a school that has just sparked an interest in me recently as I just talked to them and they are most likely going to offer a scholarship."

One of Johnson's Pulley Panther coaches is Gopher director of basketball operations James Ware and James has really helped Minnesota in their recruitment of Johnson. "James has really raised back my interest in Minnesota," said Johnson. "I hadn't talked to coach Dan Monson on a regular basis and what not before I met James. But lately I've become good friends with James as he's not recruiting me, he's just been himself as a coach and I've really got to know him and it's been great. I've been to Williams Arena to play and to scrimmage and he's always around watching me play. I don't think Minnesota really knew that much about me but since James has been involved with Pulley, he's been able to watch me play more and he's been like 'hey, we really need this guy.' Now I'm talking to Monson every Monday night when they can talk to me and Monday is just that night where I talk to coach Monson. Now that I talk to him on Mondays, I'm getting a chance to know him more and more and every time I talk to him I like him just that much more every day. I'm taking them very serious now as they are definitely going to be down there at the end. Minnesota could possibly be the one but who knows for sure right now."

[p diddy]

word on the street was that cory took an unofficial to slu in late may, the same weekend his aau team played in the eagles tournament in columbia

bad boyz for life

[VTIME]

I'd rather have the 6'7 Leon Powell. Powell will have much bigger offers than Johnson after the Nike All-American Camp.

[Box and Won]

I never would have guessed...

[p diddy]

I'd rather have Leon as well. He's the next piece to the puzzle, being that athletic small forward who can go inside or outside.

The question is, will he see that slu can possibly be the best place for him to succeed despite the numerous offers from "Name" schools that will come his way. or will he go to the "name" school and potentially get lost in the shuffle like jimmy mckinney did at mizzou for the past three years.

'Zo recruited J-Roc hard and he wanted to come, but the lure of the big name and bright lights got to his peeps and he went down the road. he would have been a stud at slu, playing his correct position (swingman), instead of getting recruited over at mizzou. that happens all of the time at the high-major level. the same thing happened to johnnie parker several years back. circumstances chose his school for him instead of best fit and look what happened to his career.

tommie, dwayne (pre-injury) and Kevin could have gone to bigger places, but they are going to have great careers here. 1. because they are really good players. 2. they are in a position to succeed.

i imagine slu is recruiting powell pretty hard, seeing that brad was more than a few vashon games this year. he would be a nice fit to a program that is on the way back.

let's see if leon will choose a place like slu and have a great career or capitulate to the hype and choose "Big School U." and fight for minutes. does anyone have any thoughts on this.

besides, there may be one more scenario in leon's recruiting at play involving another school very far from st. louis. i really cannot mention any more, but if you are really on your game, problack, you will know what i am talking about.

bad boyz for life

[VTIME]

I would've said that another obstacle in his recruiting might be the NBA, but it appears apparent that the NBA will agree on a 19 year old age limit.

[Nate Latsch]

Leon Powell measured at 6-feet-6 (in tennis shoes, I think) and 188 pounds at the Nike Hoop Jamboree. He still has to get bigger and stronger before he's going to step in and help SLU or any other Division I program.

There is definitely an opening there for Powell, since Obi will be a junior and most of the other big men will be finished. But he's got a lot of work to do to get bigger and stronger, like Nick Kern did over the course of his career at Vashon.

I've mentioned him before, but the Billikens need to start recruiting DeSmet sophomore-to-be John Brandenberg. I saw him working out at HammerBodies a couple weeks ago. He's 6-10 or 6-11 and he's working at getting bigger and stronger every day. The Bills will probably have a realistic shot at landing him if they go after him early.

I know they have already recruiting Lafayette freshman-to-be Tyler Griffey very hard.

- Nate

[VTIME]

Powell wont be playing inside much longer, and he doesnt have to get much bigger or stronger. Richard Hamilton is 6'7 in shoes and 175 pounds. Leon has almost 15 pounds on him. Tayshaun Prince is 190 pounds. Not only did they thrive in college, but are thriving at the NBA level. I dont buy your argument about him NEEDING to get bigger and stronger to play at the Div 1 level. Working on his outside jumper and his ballhandling would be more crucial to his success at the Div 1 level than gaining more muscle. He'll get stronger naturally, but he would still be an effective Div 1 player if he didnt ever get any bigger.

[slufanskip]

Depends on where they project him to play. If it is at the 4 ... he needs to get stronger, especially at 6'6". If it is at the 3 ... then you are probably right ... he needs to work on his shot and his quickness. I always thought he was primarily an inside player, though I could easily be wrong.

Vtime ... you always come up with a name or two that defy the norm and then try and turn that into the norm ... for every 6'6" skinny pf that may make it once in awhile there are 1000 that don't.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[VTIME]

He's not a pf at the next level. He's a 3 or maybe even a 2. His assets has always been his quickness, athleticism, and length. He already started shooting 3's this past season at a 40% clip and he will shoot them more as his career progresses. He's Nick Kern, but better than Kern was at the same stage. Kern didnt become a scorer or outside shooter until his junior year. If you remember in 2002, Kern's only year without Gordon, Irons made the 6'3 Andre Aarons play out of position inside so Kern could play on the wing and shoot threes. The same will be done next year with the 6'4/6'5 Brian Roach (younger brother of Vashon standout Will Franklin) will start at center and allow Powell to drift outside the paint and develop his perimeter skills.

PS Andre Aarons, plays for Kaskakia CC and will be entering his sophomore year this fall.

[Box and Won]

What are you talking about? I'm the same height and weight as Allen Iverson, and I'm clearly just as good.

[VTIME]

No need for abrasive sarcasm. The point that I was making is that several players with his build have succeeded at the Div 1 level, so there is no urgency for him to build up his body. It would be more advantageous for him to work on his perimeter game.

[Box and Won]

I agree with you, I was just having a little fun with slufanskip.

[DeSmetBilliken]

Nate, do you know how Brandenburg did for DeSmet's JV team this year? I saw him on the JV roster, but never arrived early enough to catch a JV game for the couple DeSmet games I went to this year. I've heard that he's supposed to be pretty good, but one question remains. Is he built like Matt Baniak and Joe Ries, or does he have the physique of Mike Kernan, who was 6-11 and about 180. As he enters his sophomore year, he has plenty of time to add some weight, but I will be much more encouraged if he has some muscle to him.

[VTIME]

I wouldnt invest much recruiting energy into 6'10 guys who dont play varsity full-time. More interesting prospect would be 6'8 sophomore Raymond Harrell who has grown since the season was over or the 6'8 Benjamin Adams.

[billiken_roy]

last year at the billikens.com golf outing, i said to myself after seeing you stride up to the tee box, "damn, if box only had 76 idiot tatoos, and had his hat on sideways and couldnt talk right, i'd swear i was playing golf with allen iverson."

[billiken_roy]

problack, if he is only a sophomore, but is almost 7 foot tall, you are way out in left field on this one. you cant teach 7 foot.

[Nate Latsch]

>I wouldnt invest much recruiting energy into 6'10 guys who

>dont play varsity full-time. More interesting prospect would

>be 6'8 sophomore Raymond Harrell who has grown since the

>season was over or the 6'8 Benjamin Adams.

VTime,

Of course you would much rather recruit 6-7 sophomores who barely get off the bench at Vashon (http://prepsports3.stltoday.com/basketballboys/05/stats/overall277.shtm) than a kid who has a chance to be a special player.

DeSmetBill,

I'm not sure how well Brandenberg played this last season, but you'll get to see a lot of him this winter when the Spartans will be playing a lot of youngsters. Like I said, he's gotten a lot bigger and stronger (he's no Michael Kernan) and he'll be the best big man prospect in the area in the next few years. He needs to keep getting stronger (and he's working toward that), needs to get more aggressive and show some toughness. Once he does those things he'll have a chance to be a big-time prospect. And, unlike guys like Leon Powell (Vashon) and Lucas O'Rear (Nashville) from the Class of 2007, Brandenberg already has the size colleges are looking for.

- Nate

[Box and Won]

Yeah, I get a lot of that. One other thing that AI and I have in common is a knack for shunning practice, although I tend to neglect practicing my golf game as opposed to b-ball.

[p diddy]

Melvin Robinson did not start his first game at Vashon until he was a senior. He was doing pretty well at slu before he quit the team. he was on the junior varsity as a 6-11 sophomore in high school.

as a freshman at cardinal ritter, jahidi white played a total of about 10 varsity minutes. He was a jv player. all 6'9" and 280 pounds of him. john thompson and all those d-1 schools should have left him alone, not to mention those three NBA teams.

samuel dalembert did not start until his junior year in high school. he is now starting for the philadelphia 76ers. what was seton hall thinking.

tim duncan was a swimmer in his native virgin islands and did not pick up a basketball until he was about 16 years old. wake forest clearly wasted their time recruited him.

nazr muhammed was a fat out of shape 300-pounder who wasn't really a factor in high school until late in his career. i guess rick pitino should be fired for recruited him.

you're right. why on earth would anyone consider recruiting a 6'11" 15 year old with a big upside and a 4.0 grade point.

guys, who let the lightweight on this board. this is wayyy too easy.

bad boyz for life

[VTIME]

All of those guys were phenominal athletes, and Brandenburg is not. Those guys also were never soft. Brandenburg is. Nothing worse than a soft big man.

[p diddy]

true dat.

but with big guys, you explore all avenues.

big men are different. they are on a different wavelength than the rest of us. i'm pretty tall myself, and i know i'm on a different planet at times.

just about all of the young big men (freshmen and sophomores over 6'8") have either been sitting on the varsity (like adams or harrell) or have been playing junior varsity (like brandenburg or t. williams).

none are ready for prime time just yet, but someone in that group will emerge.

[VTIME]

I agree, but I think a 6'8 big man sitting on Vashon's varsity bench would start at a school like DeSmet or Kirkwood, but I dont think a 6'10 kid playing mostly JV on a bad DeSmet or average Kirkwood team would start for Vashon. Most of the kids on Vashon's bench would start at most schools.

[tseugnekillib]

Nate, what makes you think that SLU isn't aware of, or hasn't been recruiting John Brandenberg?

[tseugnekillib]

yes, Cory Johnson and his parents made an unofficial stop at SLU on the way to the Eagles tournament (Columbia)in May.

btw, Cory is a really nice power player. Strong body for a senior-to-be. Obviously, Cory likes to lift weigths. Nice mid-range stroke. Rebounds well. Was one of the top two or three post-players at that tournament.