Had a few people ask about the possibility of current Marquette recruits asking to be released so they can still play for Buzz. Here is how I see the five players that he currently has signed so that everyone here has an idea.
Four Stars
Ahmed Hill: 6'4" 185 lbs, Shooting Guard, currently ranked 69th in the Class of 2014. Plays in Augusta, GA. He is the star of the class, a pure fluid shooter, that needs to improve his on ball defense to really take the next step. If we could only take one, this would likely be the one we would want although I have a sleeper pick on that too.
Malek Harris: 6'7" 170 lbs, Small/Power Forward, currently ranked 77th in the class. The ranking to me is fairly speculative as he is only able to play AAU right now. He has had several disciplinary issues in high school that played major parts of two seasons. He was suspended for 11 games his Junior year and ended up being suspended his entire Senior season after additional disciplinary issues. He got some great attention from the summer of his Junior year when he went on the AAU circuit. He was committed well before he ended up not playing his senior season. I would be concerned with his potential to get himself into trouble at Tech as well as possibly other players if they go out together.
Sandy Cohen: 6'5" 180 lbs, Shooting Guard, currently ranked 97th in the class. His shooting skills are not what I would be looking for to help improve that area of concern for Virginia Tech and has not shown the ability to play the tough defense that Buzz is known for so I am not sure how he ended up with Marquette. I could see him being another case of Robert Brown, not necessarily with the transfer but as far as poor shooting having a detrimental effect on his overall play.
Three Stars
Satchel Paige: 6'10" 250 lbs, Center, currently not ranked in this years class. I think Paige could be the one player that would benefit us the most from this class. He would go a long ways towards replacing Thompson if he actually does transfer. I think that Marquette benefited from Paige coming on late in the process with a growth spurt and increased offensive capability. Pair him up with JVZ and Barksdale and Tech could have a dominating front court.
Marial Shayok: 6'6" 205 lbs, Small Forward. I cant seem to find much on Shayok so I don't want to speculate on what he could or couldn't bring to Tech if he were to come.
Here is the twitter accounts to follow the current Virginia Tech signees as well in case things change with them:
Justin Bibbs: @justinbibbs20
Jalen Hudson: @JalenHudson5
T.J. Lang: @HWGNF
Anyway, If you hear these names bandied about the next few weeks, this gives you the fundamentals to go off of.
Comments
Yikes, whether he transfers or not, I hope Harris gets his off-the-court issues straightened out.
Also 170 lbs is not very much on a 6' 7" frame. Need to get him to Carol Lee's.
yeah no kidding!! I'm 5'9" about 160 and I'm skinny....
There's a certain man on campus who excels at fixing this particular problem...
247sports.com has him listed at 190, must have been a slight typo above.
All the sites vary, I think I took above from his Yahoo Rivals profile
I like Satchel Paige. He's definitely an athlete, I think the baseball team would want a guy who's in the baseball hall of fame. Maybe he can play both basketball and baseball at Virginia Tech (I don't know if that's ever been done before).
Not a big fan of Sandy Cohen. There's baggage with a guy who already has a son and brings juvenile delinquents into his home. He's a west coast guy anyways, I don't think he'll fit in Blacksburg. He already has a law degree so I don't think he would take academics seriously.
You can never have enough pitching. His arm may be a bit rusty though
Ever heard of Dell Curry?
FWIW most Marquette fans on their board think that Malek Harris is a lock for VT.
Any real chance we get that Ahmed Hill kid? Sounds like he'd fill our biggest need and we're a hell of a lot closer to Georgia than Marquette is (if distance from home would play any factor).
Until I see any of these kids have been released from their NLI's and haven't been blocked from VT, its too early to speculate. We will keep an eye on any news regarding these players requesting release.
Here are the Twitter handles for the five players for those that want to follow to see if they post anything Tech related:
Apparently it was Ahmed Hills birthday when he found out about Buzz leaving for Tech
Ahmed Hill = @MedHill_14
Malek Harris = @24_MoneyTeam_10
One good sign is that his account is protected and only those approved to follow can see his tweets. This to me is a good sign that he has made some changes to mature in preparation for college ball.
Sandy Cohen = @SandyCohenIII
Cohen has already been released from his NLI apparently. Rumors have him possibly going to Michigan State
Satchel Paige = Does not appear to have a twitter account
Marial Shayok = @supermarial03
Gotta think that Buzz will make a run at the guys who are released from their NLI's
No doubt about it depending on how many scholarships he has available. I have to think he will have to weigh the needs versus which of these guys are available as well.
OT question: is the first letter in your SN a lowercase 'L' or an 'I'?
L as part of LT which was my rank when I took on the name.
Ah, thanks for that.
I am actually kind of glad that at least one potential student athlete doesn't feel the need to tweet everything in his life.
If you want you can go to my account as I created a list with all of these twitter accounts in one spot.
https://twitter.com/REPETEinDC/lists/poss-vt14-recruits-bball
You should be able to subscribe to the list by following that link
***I updated the OP with the current VT signees Twitter accounts. This list has all of them together.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the Marquette Satchel was Satchel Pierce. Also, when was the last time we secured someone from Oak Hill? Jeff Allen? I would expect that Buzz creates a regular trail to Oak Hill in the near future, along with the overall DC/Va/NC region, and his usual Texas pick ups.
He apparently hyphenates it as Paige-Pierce. I still checked for both on twitter and came up empty.
Ahh, that makes sense. I ran into that on twitter last night or at some point, and just chalked it up to the familiarity of the name.
One of 247's predictors just switched 4 star recruit Willie Atwood to VT. He would be a JUCO transfer and apparently Buzz was one of the guys going after him http://247sports.com/Player/Willie-Atwood-37755
What happens with Will Johnston? Can they take away his scholarship and relegate him back to walk-on status? I remember they did that to Jared Abbadarus when Russell Wilson transferred to Wisconsin...if so that's a third scholarship Buzz can play with.
Yes, Will Johnston will not be on schollie next year. In no way intended to be disrespectful, he was thrown a schollie at last minute last July/August timeframe by staff.. Dontae Clark was not admitted and they gave it to WJ. This was confirmed at the JJ camp.. no way Buzz extends the generosity and prior staff would not have either if they had time to sign a new kid and get him admitted.. the word was they helped Johnston for 1 yr only.
All scholarships are year to year, not just Johnston's. Keep in mind, we had one open scholarship before Buzz's arrival. With Thompson departing, that put us at two for next year (once paperwork is completed).
So, presuming all the possibles do come to VaTech, the math is - JUCO gets the open scholarship. Then, Malek Harris would get Thompson's scholarship. Then, if - IF - there is anyone else who decides to not enroll or return, then Sandy Cohen could pick that one up. Even if no one else leaves or decides to not attend, somebody might 'walk on' for one year, then get their scholarship. That's presuming all three do decide to attend here.
It will work out. remember, every year in football we recruit 'extra' players, and it always works out. The same will happen here.
Johnston will not have a schollie for next year so there is 1 more you are missing.. it was truly a last minute gift determined in early august 2013.. your math does not include this.
See, I told ya it would work out! On the serious side, Buzz might like Johnston's work ethic and give him another year's scholarship. It's not likely, but it is possible. Johnston might willingly return to walk-on status. One of the three Johnson recruits might decide that Buzz is not his kind of guy. Kirby might not work out, or anyone else might not work out. One of the new possibilities might not come. There are loads of options. This stuff has a way of working itself out, usually without all the private details becoming public.
If we do indeed get Harris & Cohen & Atwood in addition to our current group of recruits, it will be interesting to see where that places us in terms of class ranking. Especially since Buzz is highly regarded as a recruiter, we should get a favorable bump.
Guys,
As the roster is currently made up and with NCAA restrictions at 13 scholarships for Men's Basketball there are two openings right now. No one from the current Marquette class has actually been released from their NLI right now because Marquette policy is that no athlete is released from scholarship until a new coach is hired and that coach has an opportunity to meet with each player.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/251781261.html
Also interesting is that Cohen still hasn't retracted the tweet or issued a clarification on Twitter.
1)Malik Mueller
2)Joey Van Zegeren
3)Adam Smith
4)Devin Wilson
5)Ben Emelogu
6)Maurice Kirby
7)Marshall Wood
8)C.J. Barksdale
9)Justin Bibbs
10)Jalen Hudson
11)T.J. Lang
12)
13)
As for who will get those scholarships, I prefer to leave it to the coaches to decide who of their former recruits based on our current roster make the most sense to round out the team. The reality is that Malek Harris and Sandy Cohen are both basically the same position/type of player as all three players coming in for Virginia Tech already. 6'5" to 6'7", 170 to 190 pounds. I personally hope that Williams decides to pursue a couple of bigger players if he can get them because that would benefit our roster the most, secondly would be to go after another point guard to ensure Devin doesn't get burned out. I am not sure how well Malik Mueller is going to figure in to Williams style of basketball. The JUCO players seems to have a college ready frame to play the four spot so I wouldn't be opposed to him being one of the two.
And I. Ford joins, but with a football scholly, right?
Correct, Ford is a football scholarship whether he plays or not for the basketball program
Football scholarship and a bball walk-on?
Yep
Two guys transferring out of Indiana Jeremy Hollowell and Austin Etherington and one transferring from WVU Eron Harris who averaged 17.2 ppg last year (via Jeff Goodman)
I'd say Marquette is going to keep their players if there is any chance of this Shaka Smart to Marquette has any truth to it. Anyone got any updates on that?
Sounds like Marquette and Wake Forest are targeting Smart. Interesting to see what he decides to do. Go to a diluted Big East or in the Best Conference in America?
doesn't the BEST CONFERENCE IN AMERICA only have one team in the big dance at this point?
Yes, a team we don't want to admit is still there. The NCAA Tournament is a crap shoot. You can run into a Harvard and get beat. or a Mercer depending on the matchup and the drive. Still doesn't change my opinion. If we are going off that logic than I guess the Big10 is #1, SEC is #2, and Pac 12 is #3 for each having three teams left.
and the Big East have ZERO left since all four of their schools bowed out just as early.
I don't disagree with you..but you know the media machine is going to run with whichever conference has the most teams in the elite 8 as the premier conference..regardless of whether it's actually true or not
I mean, maybe I need to duck after saying this, but I thought the B1G was the best conference this year, followed by the ACC.
I think you're being generous saying the ACC was only the second best conference. I say 4th behind the Pac-12, B1G, and Big 12. I have no doubt that the ACC will be the one of the top 2 strongest conferences in the country in the future.
ACC is definitely in a down year, and there's definitely a reason UVA is the only school left, with UNC and to some extent Duke and Pitt having down years (by their standards), but on paper, most years I don't see how a conference with UNC, Duke, Syracuse, Pitt, and soon to be Louisville is not the best. Those are five programs capable of being top 5 teams in any given year, I don't think any other conference has that.
The 'problem' with the ACC now (including UofL) is that the top half is fantastic, while the bottom half is as weak as a mid-major conference. Now, in many ways that is a nice problem to have, but it is amazing that some teams are in the ACC and represent themselves so poorly.
Gee, I'm glad we don't do that! Any more!
Here is the JUCO stats profile on Willie Atwood so people can get more familiar with him. Not sure how accurate these are as some of the stats are hinky, like his 2.1 minutes per game. In 31 games it looks like he averaged 10.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, shot 57% from the field, 70% from the free throw line. This says to me that he takes high percentage shots in the paint and has the ability to convert at the free throw line on an acceptable basis to possibly start next year. He would be coming in as a Junior with one year remaining after that.
http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/div1/players/willieatwoodwd53
We've gotta get this guy. 10 points but only 2 minutes played on average?! Stud.
Malek Harris' twitter bio used to say Marquette commit yesterday and since he committed. It does not anymore. Wonder if he officially decommitted.
Willie Atwood is visiting Iowa this weekend and FSU April 10th.
Bad report
What? Did I miss something? I thought he confirmed that he was staying at VCU.
Was about to fix it. Was following the local paper up there and they got catfished
An actual center?
When was the last time we had a guy in here who was a natural center and not a PF we had post up down low?
THIS....I am all about this if it happens. I know that there were three four stars over there but this guy could be a game changer. He just hit the recruiting circuit late because of where he started. I think he comes in pushing JVZ for time. He is the one player from that class I really would like to see come.
I have to believe Buzz agrees with you there.
This would be a huge get for us. As I said in the other thread, there are so few true centers in college basketball right now that getting one is more times than not does REALLY good things for your program. Get this guy in here, have him get in our S&C program and he could very well dominate in the ACC.
Have this happen, show Thon Maker we can do it, and get him to follow in after Satchel. ACC Championship would be a possibility.
You get those 2 in here, and an ACC Championship could be considered settling.
I'm not expecting Buzz to go big in the first class like that. I expect this to be a good class that immediately gets us back on the right track. I expect this year to be the one that shows to all our future recruits the system we run, and we start attracting more big bodies down low. And we saw with FSU that size will make you a contender in this conference.
Lots of schools sustain success without old school centers. That being said, length and mobility down low are always positives. So is having a back-to-the-basket guy. We'll see how this plays out, but it is obvious Buzz has been multi-tasking.