Virginia Tech just picked up the commitment of 2019 @TeamThrillUAA big man John Ojiako, a source tells @Rivals @Hokie_Haven https://t.co/s0u13bDBZf— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) June 18, 2019
High 3-star recruit with offers from UGA, LSU, KState and Pitt. More center than power forward as 247 refers to him as a "true rim protector". Gives us some badly needed size and KBJ insurance. Like the majority of our recuits, initially class of 2020 that is reclassifying to 2019 (like Alleyne, would have been a four-star if he stayed for his senior year of HS).
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awwwwwwwwww yisssssss
BOOM!!!!! GOT US A BIG MAN!!!!
I don't understand....Big Man? I thought basketball players don't get bigger than a 6'5 wing?
It's a misprint he's actually 5'9"
6'9, I've not heard that height in a long, long time.
nice
KBJ is 6'10", no?
what does KBJ being 6'10" have to do with hearing 6'9" though?
Wasn't sure if it was one of those "thread rabbit holes" of why height is useful/useless in CBB.
The fuk? Is that official ( I mean I know I have maroon and orange glasses)? He might leave.
I've seen this in a few places. It makes my blood boil hahah
Alternative facts.
That's what she said!!
"I thought he would be bigger"
Praise heebus a big with 4 years of eligibility yes sir. Starting to feel much better on the CMY hire with each passing day.
24/7 lists him as 6'10". Great pick up by CMY.
If he was a FB recruit, he'd report in at 5'10" and 150 lbs.
Confirmed: Virginia Tech is still a basketball school.
Good pick up. Nice to see the size rolling in. Now just got to see if CMY can develop him. KBJ back for a year to learn from would be ideal, obviously.
Glad to see the roster rounding out. We are not out of the woods yet as it appears nobody will be redshirting. There will have to be some careful roster management over the next couple of years or we will be back in this position in 4 years when our 15 member senior class graduates. I would love KBJ to come back and let us RS a big as our last two recruits seem like they could use a year of development before hitting the court.
I think it's safe to assume there will be attrition. Somebody's going to get pissed off at the coaching staff, or be displeased with his minutes, or get in trouble with the university or the law, or hopefully go pro a year or two early. A couple may redshirt in their second or third year on campus if recruiting continues to go well. The odds of all these new players completing four years together in the current NCAA basketball climate seems exceedingly small.
The numbers always work out.
What kind of contribution can we expect from the players that are re-classifying? It seems fair to assume that it'll take a season or two for them to "hit their stride". The ACC is a big jump from junior year of high school.
It says to me that MY is clearly thinking long term (as he should). The idea that eventually we could have a senior core of Cone, Nolley, Alleyne, Ojiako, and Cattoor is what MY is aiming for.
Sure, there will be obvious road bumps and maybe a couple rough seasons down the road, but MY knows this too. He's not here to raise his stock like many thought Buzz was, he's here to build a sustainable program, and everything he's done so far suggests that he has a clear vision on how to do it.
As I understand it, each of these reclassifying players have graduated high school as seniors, and were going to take an additional prep year to boost their rankings and offers for 2020 - instead of a 3* ranking in 2019, they would be 4* in 2020.
So they are physically and mentally ready - but they are still freshman, and not one-and-done freshmen who will immediately light up the league.
Hopefully they'll develop well over the year with playing time and good coaching.
they have "graduated high school as seniors" by doing 4 years of coursework in 3 years. That puts them a year younger age-wise when they enroll than the typical college freshman
I don't think that's true of everyone.
I am pretty sure that players who have reclassified up a year are doing it the way i described. I think players reclassifying back a year would be the ones going the "gap year" prep route
FWIW I think some of these guys had announced they were reclassifying for a prep year and moving to 2020 after 4 years of high school and have now flipped back to leaving with their actual senior classes.
BUZZ who???????????????
So if KBJ comes back, that's...6 players on the roster that are either listed as bigs or taller than 6-5
See GGC LOL, granted there might be some /s here
Love it! This is one Hokie who is getting more excited for next season. Sure, there will be times of struggle, but if CMY was able to pull off upsets against the big boys while at Wofford, I imagine he will be able to turn a few heads next season as well. Not a bad looking roster, at all. If KBJ returns, I'm feeling pretty optimistic the Hokies make the tourney 4x in a row. Bede's defense and improved offense. Cattoor hitting the 3's. Wilkins and Bongo doing their thing. Big men blocking shots. Cone weaving through traffic. Nolley making some crazy moves to the hoop. Yes sir, I think next season is going to be fun to watch.
How'd you get this gif of Bede playing defense? Nice work.
I don't like very many big men, but I like this guy. He seems remarkably skilled for someone of his experience (I read somewhere, he's only been playing basketball for a couple years). He is pretty athletic and looks coordinated. I think he has a bright future.
Excellent news. He's been the recruit I've been monitoring the most the last couple of months. We badly needed his size and skillset. He's raw especially offensively but is pretty darn athletic to where I think he can contribute defensively and rebounding right away. He had a couple of good offers from other power 5 schools and I bet he would have gotten a lot more if he had stayed in 2020. It was a smart move getting in early on a kid like this by offering him the option to reclassify to 2019 since a lot of those other power 5 schools that would start peppering him with 2020 offers currently don't have room for him in 2019
Nice pickup! This will help cover our bases in 2019 if KJB does transfer, and lays a foundation for the future.
I like CMY's approach here... bringing good balance to this class with a PG, SG and now a Post (I guess Aluma could count here too, especially if he gets a waiver)
247 Approves
CMY's recruiting strategy makes a lot of sense this cycle. His staff knew they didn't have the time to make inroads on the overrecruited 2019 guys. He dug his heels into talented 2020 guys who could reclassify. Cone, Alleyne and Ojiako are all guys whos offers would have blown up if they prepped for a year (e.g. Isaiah Wilkins).
Also, it speaks volumes to both Buzz and CMY that we recruited kids who had a 3.5+ GPA last semester and then brought in three kids who are intelligent enough to graduate a year early (including Cone who had an offer from Stanford) and Cattoor who got offers from Rice and Davidson.
By the way, the title should read:
"Report: JOHN OJIAKO HAS COMMITTED TO CMYBALL"
...just like your mom
Looks like we have a pro that uses a management team approach. He saw a strategy for this year and is executing it! If he game coaches as well as he's handled the transition, will be in great hands.
My guess is he will put just as much time in developing his coaches as he does his players. If he does, look out for future recruiting!
I was meh about the hire, but I have been very impressed with what he has done so far
How many scholarships do we have remaining for next year?
None if Blackshear stays.
I'm not holding my breath on that and I bet CMY isn't either.
Maybe not, but he hasn't ruled him out yet, has visited him and his family in Florida a couple of times and has another visit planned. I think we can still hope.
Anywhere from 0-2. If KBJ comes back and Radford remains on scholarship (which it looks like he will be), we're done. If KBJ doesn't come back and Radford is relegated back to walk-on status, we have 2.
Ideal situation would be if KBJ comes back, we get a commit from Lok Wur and Radford becomes a walk-on again.
I really like Lok Wur, he appears to be raw but he would have arguably the most potential of anyone on the team if he were to commit.
Especially if KBJ comes back. Big man rotation would look deep enough (KBJ, Horne, Johnson, Ojiako and small ball with Wilkins & Nolley) that redshirting Wur is realistic.
I'm a huge proponent of redshirting Wur if he commits. He really needs to put on weight, he's 6'9" (nice), 180 lbs. For sake of comparsion, KD was 6'9", 205lbs at the same age. He's such a raw prospect that a year under the staff's tuliage would be exponentially beneficial. The fact he was a late qualifier means there's good chance he's going to initially struggle academically. If KBJ goes to UK, we have no choice but to play him a true freshman.
KBJ + Wur would be an incredible haul for CMY.
I think that between Horne, Johnson and Ojiako playing PF we would still redshirt Wur. The main playing rotation isn't likely to be more than 8 players deep.
my estimation of an 9-man rotation:
1. Bede 35 min
2. Cone 25 min
3. Wilkins 30 min
4. Nolley 35 min
5. Ojiako 20 min
6. Horne 20 min
7. Kabongo 15
8. Alleyne 15
9. Johnson 10
Bench/RS: Radford, Cattoor, Aluma, Wur?
Does college basketball have same redshirt rule as football regarding playing in 1/3 or less of the games?
as of right now no but I understand that it is gaining popularity
At Wofford, 6 guards and 4 post players averaged double digit minutes. McGee was the only one over 30 mpg at 31.4. The 11th player, with 8.8 minutes, was also a guard. Next year, I'd guess MY will likely play everyone who can cut it.
Wur is probably going to play wherever he goes. If he comes to Blacksburg, my guess is someone seeing their minutes evaporate will hit the portal.