Jamelle McMillan to Sun Devils

Basketball Recruiting General75

Jamelle McMillan, the son of former NC State Basketball player Nate McMillan, announced today that he is planning to spend his college career playing basketball for former NC State Head Coach Herb Sendek at Arizona State University.

The whole trip overall was enjoyable, but there was one part of the visit that certainly sealed the deal. “The main thing was the closing speech by Coach Sendek at the end of the visit,� described McMillan. “You could feel how honest and dedicated he was with my recruitment. Coach Phelps, Coach Miller all gave their input and made me feel like I was better than anybody in the whole wide world. They showed all summer long how much the wanted me, but this visit really showed me how much of a great situation Arizona State will be for me.�

We’ve got a lot of thoughts on this, so let’s hit a blend of what we have been told and how we are analyzing this.

* We have been told that NC State’s coaching staff believes that IF State lands Chris Wright then the Pack wouldn’t necessarily want/need Jamelle McMillan.

* The problem with all of this is timing. Jamelle obviously is more eager to make a commitment than Wright and wants to get the process behind him. There is no doubt that Coach Sendek and the ASU staff have been selling this point and pushing Jamelle to go ahead and commit. Shrewd move.

* Outwardly, it never seemed as though Coach Lowe wanted to make the full court press on Jamelle, almost wanting him to go ahead and go somewhere else so that we didn’t have to tell him that we didn’t want him.

* Wolfpack fans now have to hope that Chris Wright appreciates the message that Coach Lowe and staff are sending to him that he is THE GUY. State has definitely put all of our eggs in one basket related to the point guard position now.

* As Wolfpackers , we definitely struggle with ^this strategy because we’ve never really seen a recruiting “strategy” pan out for us under Coach Sendek. We are being asked to ante back up with our “blind faith” (or is it “hope”) that our strategy to delay pursuing McMillan until after we learn about Chris Wright will work out well for us. To us, all eggs in one basket = Mustafa Shakur.

* Analyzing the situation strictly by the numbers – it appears that Fernold Degand ultimately took what would have been the scholarship designated for the Larry Davis/Jamelle McMillan role of a combo guard that can serve multiple roles in the backcourt. Degand would have had A LOT more value to the roster if he could have played THIS SEASON. Having to sit out for a year means that State basically ended up with Degand instead of Jamelle. Without DeGand we could have taken both Jamelle AND Wright in next year’s class.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

Basketball Recruiting General

75 Responses to Jamelle McMillan to Sun Devils

  1. packbackr04 08/15/2006 at 3:33 PM #

    maybe sid could go with the chest down to miami and recruit some killy kats to play round ball

  2. choppack1 08/15/2006 at 3:47 PM #

    “The reason most fans wanted him to come to NCSU was to see his name in the rafters, next to his dads. Outside of the sentimental value, it held for fans, we’re not losing out on a program changing guard.”

    That is the reason most Pack fans wanted him here. I wanted him here a lot more when I read that he was a lockdown defender and that he locked down UNC-Ch’s top rated PG. I wanted him here because he was a decent student and he would have added depth.

    Don’t get me wrong, if I had to choose between as basketball players, I’d go after Wright. However, I would consider Wright far from a lock at this point. It would also be nice if this was a sign that Fells, Ferguson and Degand have made Sid feel like all he needs is this one guard.

  3. redfred2 08/15/2006 at 4:03 PM #

    packbackr04

    What exactly is a killy kat? That’s a new one on me?

  4. Gene 08/15/2006 at 4:30 PM #

    It would also be nice if this was a sign that Fells, Ferguson and Degand have made Sid feel like all he needs is this one guard.

    I’d be surprised if he made such a snap decision, considering he hasn’t seen any of them in a practice yet.

  5. packbackr04 08/15/2006 at 4:55 PM #

    gene, i was wandering about that, thanks for clarifying that they havent practiced yet. but has there been any kind of team activities that sid has been involved in where he could see them play?

    redfred^^ killy kat is the self given nickname of the athletes who matriculate from Killian High School in Miami, one that is known for lots of talent on the football field and not so much in the classroom ( and that may be an unfair judgment, just what i have heard)

  6. packbackr04 08/15/2006 at 4:58 PM #

    just checked and their mascot is a cougar, so i guess it is a name the players have given themselves based on their mascot. but Killian is a school that Spurrier, Coker, Bowden, and recently Chuck have gotten lots of talent from…. in Dade county

  7. johnny 08/15/2006 at 5:00 PM #

    “This is not surprising, Coach Sendek has always been a superb recruiter. ”
    JM will team with a top 20 SG herb also got a commitment from this week.
    Az article says he might be headed for a top 10 class. However, booring it
    it is to watch Herb’s teams, the man can recruit.

  8. ShootingGuard 08/15/2006 at 9:25 PM #

    Sorry Herb apologists…Billy Donovan is the staple of a GREAT recruiter—has been from day one (although his coaching has been lacking in certain years). Herb Sendek, on the other hand, is a GOOD recruiter and a very hard working one, but is in NO way, shape, or form a “great” recruiter (if he is a “great” recruiter, then he must be the worst coach ever based on his results). In 11 years of head coach major D1 recruiting, James Harden is only the SECOND recruit (along with Julius Hodge) that was sought after by any elite level programs (i.e. NCAA championship programs) that Herb actually landed. You can offer up all the recruiting rankings by fat guys that don’t play or coach the sport all you want, but the fact that UNC and Duke NEVER offered Damien Wilkens or Scooter Sherrill or Mike Bell or Marcus Melvin or you name it, despite their connections to North Carolina, tells you all you have to know about their true “rankings” and how far they would carry a program. Julius Hodge was sought after big time by Gary Williams, Jim Boeheim, and Billy Donovan who all have multiple trips to the Final Four and, now, NCAA championships—and Julius carried us on his back back into the NCAA’s. Maybe James Harden, who was offered by Lute Olsen, will do the same for Herb at ASU. We’ll see…

    It is also worth noting that Jamelle McMillan, who is barely top 100 for those who love the fat guy recruiting rankings, will not break Herb’s dubious honor of NEVER actually fielding a top pg as a major D1 coach of 11 years (Chris Wright didn’t quite make it to play Herb ball and please don’t offer up Archie Miller who was always thought of as an undersized shooting guard anyway or other fruits of Herb’s “great” recruiting like Justin Gainey, Cliff Crawford, Mike O’Donnell, and Engin Atsur of whom NONE were offered a spot on a championship coach’s roster—well, I guess MOD was if you consider Billy Donovan’s suggestion that he go to prep school for a year first and then redshirt a second year at Florida before riding the pine for 4 more years of eligibility after that).

  9. redfred2 08/16/2006 at 12:55 PM #

    class of 74

    “In 1979 Sid Lowe was not considered one of the top guards in the country but it’s funny how well he turned out for us now isn’t it?”

    How many players from before 1991, at any position, ever where? Quite a few RED banners now hang in the RBC with numbers and the names of players who in reality, weren’t much more than projects the day they stepped onto the campus at NC State University.

    As far as coaching goes….

    “He was the 1991 District Coach of the Year as selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) after leading NC State to a 20-11 record in the first season. “???” was the only first-year coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference history to win 20 games, post a winning regular season conference record, and win games in both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.

    However, the team lost scholarships as a result of NCAA sanctions, and the team plummeted into the ACC’s second division for the next five years. At one point during the 1992-93 season, “???” could only dress seven players.”

    Can anyone name that much maligned coach???

    Some coaches couldn’t get the talent if they wanted it, while others required more talent than they can reasonably attain, even without any restrictions.

    Several ACC, and even national championship titles, didn’t require the top talent right out of high school. Those kids were never an absolute must around here until recently. The nation’s elite will begin to sit up and take notice of Wolfpack basketball again eventually under Sidney Lowe. But until that time the difference is that there will be no halt in his progress for developing the basketball players he already has. He won’t just stand around, desperately pointing to the future, awaiting the next group of “more highly sought after” kid’s to arrive.

    He’ll make them that way just like his coach did, on his own, right there in Raleigh, NC.

  10. ShootingGuard 08/16/2006 at 1:18 PM #

    RedFred2 and Class of 1974,

    I like your spirit, but I think you guys are seriously downplaying the need for top tier talent and overplaying how far you can get developing diamonds in the rough…

    Whitt and Lowe were both McD AA’s out of Dematha which, at the time, was probably THE premiere hs basketball program in the country. Jimmy V himself said that you need at least 3 future NBA level players in your lineup to have a chance of winning it all, and V’s success was founded on players that had that kind of potential from Thurl Bailey (who Sloan left him) to dicey recruits like Washburn to Charles Shackleford (6’11” guys these days are drafted early solely on potential and make bunches of money). V knew the importance of size in the middle and also point guards from Lowe thru Spud & Nate to Corch (isn’t it ironic that Herb never quite grasped the center and pg until the end of his tenure when it was too late?). What made Jimmy V great was that he could not only recruit and arrange a team of real talent with size inside, power forwards, combo forwards, shooters, and point guards but he could also find those true grit role players like the Gannons and Giomis AND diamonds in the rough like Vinnie and Gugs that he could use and/or develop and make the overall team even better…

    The same cases could be made for the late 40’s, the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s as well. State was never devoid of real talent for very long until the 90’s doom set in…

  11. packbackr04 08/16/2006 at 1:53 PM #

    i like alot of your points shooingguard^^^ which is one of the reasons i thought Jamelle could be an important recruit. he may not be a program changer, but from what i hear he is a good kid, who is willing to be a role player. something that you always need to win championships. And while i am not saying this is the end of the world that we didnt get JM, he could have been a solid producer, putting up quality minutes, taking care of the ball, locking down on d and giving the stars a breather wihout too much of a drop in talent or skill on the floor.
    I will defer to our new head bball coach though because i feel if sid wanted this guy we could have got him

  12. primacyone 08/16/2006 at 2:09 PM #

    Herb Sendeck could recruit the top five players available in a single class and have the best recruiting class that ever existed, but he still would not be capable of making the necesary and correct adjustments needed during a live game to win championships.

  13. ShootingGuard 08/16/2006 at 2:22 PM #

    ^^^^^ I agree, packbackr04…JM sounds like a great kid and could have definitely been a contributor. I am betting that, in the end, Degand is insurance while Lowe shoots for the fence with Wright or a 2008 guy while leaving open another scholarship for HOPEFULLY another scorer like Hudson or big men like Hickson, Smith, McClain, or Grant…We’ll see…

  14. packbackr04 08/16/2006 at 2:26 PM #

    ha. nice primacyone^ i have never been more frustrated watching basketball than when i watch Herbs teams play. When coach k or roy come out of a timeout late in the game, its guarenteed to be 2 pts. When we came out of time outs late in a game, we couldnt even get the ball inbounded, and when and if we finally do, we got some sloppy hail mary from 25 ft as the shot clock expires…… and there is no amount of top rated players that can be held accountable for or who can solve that problem, it is a coaching problem.
    He just looked sickly and confused on the sidelines

  15. Luke12321 08/16/2006 at 3:32 PM #

    I agree with the fact that you do need NBA draft quality players on your team to when it all. Often, you see a team have the two upperclassmen who are great college players (who will go pro) along with the young star who is going to make the jump as a FR or SO. Add in two roleplayers that are specialist…3pt shooter…defense..blocking ect…include a solid bench… then you have a great team on your hands. Looking back…Grant seems like he will be a solid college basketball player for State and he was ranked near the 80’s. Marvus Melvin was another player that was not ranked that high that had a very productive career. Keith Bean was more highly ranked than both of these guys! We know that H.S was not the best at improving a players game and I have a gut feeling that Lowe,Towe,Strickland ect. will be able to get more out of the talent. Landing Wright and Hickson would be great but it is not do or die. We seem to have legit shots at both. Scout upgraded Hickson to “HIGH” interest with us, Tenn, FL. Three way race for him…anyone have any news on the word with Hickson?

  16. Luke12321 08/16/2006 at 3:37 PM #

    Signing top players is a must when it comes to winning rings! Is it the only thing? Far from it. Marcus Melvin was not as highly ranked as Keith Bean but I think we all know who the better player turned out to be. Guys ranked 50-125 can be great college basketball players. You still need them top 25 guys as well though if you want to contend year in and out.

    Jeff: Good points. I definitely hope/think that Johnny Thomas is destined to become exactly the type of player of which you speak.

    Looking at it from a young players point of view…if I was planning on going to N.C State for a few months, I been telling people “yea..I am going to N.C State..ect ect” then you must of liked the school. I think we have a great shot at Wright even with gtown and pitt in the mix now. If scout.com is on target here…it is between us, Florida and Tenn. for Hickson. Will we go after Tracy Smith if we sign Hickson? Anyone got any info on our true chances with Hickson?

    Jeff: I think that our chances with Hickson are as good as anyone’s. (No inside info here….but,) I would fully expect us to take a commitment from BOTH Hickson and Smith. Different types of players…and, you can never have too much front court talent and depth. Only one of those commits would mean that Costner (so) and McCauley (Jr) are the only other post players in 2007-2008.

  17. redfred2 08/16/2006 at 4:13 PM #

    ShootingGuard,

    Another of my patented rants that slightly touches on your thoughts.

    So how much of the credit for that talent being at NC State goes solely to the credit of Jim Valvano. How much of it goes to a combination of Jim Valvano and NC State University. How much of a role did the history of the program, along with Jim Valvano’s personality and great promotion of NC State, play into getting Sidney, Derek, ….and so on, to Raleigh?

    That has been the underlying burr in my saddle for the past decade. That university/coach relationship, mutual respect, while both benefit from each others successes, both honestly and openly promoting one another, and improving in unison.

    My gut feeling from years ago was that the program was veering off in a direction that never related to anything NC State basketball had ever stood for in it’s history. I looked for hope and sat back and tried to be open minded about it. The further it went, the more I felt it would never be able to recapture the momentum that that great basketball tradition offered.

    Any resemblances to Wolfpack basketball of the past continually faded over a decade, as did the ability to take deep pride in that history, along with any urge to fight to recapture it. Coaches settled, players settled, administrators settled, and even a majority of the fans settled. So much distance had been accomplished that there was no longer any proof that the program was ever really any different than it is. That time span is very short. Too short for all to be forgotten and discarded like it never happened.

    I remember the old NC State like it was yesterday, but my vertical isn’t what it once wasn’t, so I can’t help. Some up and coming recruit somewhere will have to do some research on his own, and try to take pride in the tradition and the brand of basketball that was once simply expected from the Wolfpack. It certainly hasn’t been in evidence anywhere recently for them to witness on their own.

    The recent wins and losses meant absolutely nothing in comparison. The denial and careless separation from our past glory, is the part of the last decade that will make this turn around extremely harder than it ever should have to be. Just as it has already shown to make coaching at NC State over the past ten years, extremely harder than it ever should have been.

  18. packbackr04 08/16/2006 at 4:41 PM #

    redfred, you speak of your past vertical… do we have former players in da house??? 🙂

  19. primacyone 08/16/2006 at 4:56 PM #

    Amen brother redfred.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whIPLxAXGc4

  20. ShootingGuard 08/16/2006 at 5:02 PM #

    redfred2,

    Lowe, Whitt, and Bailey were brought here by Norm Sloan, so the foundation for great success was there for Jimmy V when he arrived.

    What V did was take that foundation and give it a brand new and timely burst of youth, energy, and charisma as well as the dreamy vision and leadership to accomplish what few would have thought possible way before the great run and, really, even on the eve and morning of closing out the dream when there was just one game left to play.

    All UNC conspiracy theories aside, Jimmy V’s downfall was that he became too big and got a little too drunk on the success and too addicted to being in the limelight, so much so that, to stay on top, he took some chances on some guys like Washburn and Kenny Drummond that ultimately came back to bite him.

    There will never be another character like V, and I think Sendek drowned trying to run away from the legend rather than just embracing it and moving forward. Sidney Lowe has a huge uphill battle thanks almost entirely to Lee Fowler’s poor management the last 5 years and his stupidity in running the coaching search, but, if anyone can sell yesteryear and a proud tradition and the fact that State CAN not only compete with but BEAT Duke and UNC, it is Sidney Lowe. He is not V, but he was touched by V. He lived the dream, and he can share that dream with a new crop of talent in his own way just as V surely shared his dream in his own special way…

    If a mathematics guy with zero personality and zip meaningful college playing experience and limited D1 coaching experience can take us from terrible to mediocre, I am hopeful that a coach on the floor point guard with decades of basketball experience and instruction from Dematha’s Wooten thru Jimmy V and others, with an NCAA ring and NBA playing minutes and coaching experience, who bleeds NC State red, and has a personality to boot can do at least the same—at worst—and hopefully MUCH MUCH better. Sidney’s certainly laying it all out on the table with the recruits he is going after…With a break here or there with a Wright, a Hickson or Smith, a McClain, a Hudson, or etc. who knows what could happen. Sidney seems to be saying,”Let’s live that dream again or die trying!!” I am fine with that after living in “daytight compartments” and chopping the same old wood for 10 years “content” with simply saying,”we are who we are…WTNY”

  21. Wulfpack 08/16/2006 at 10:16 PM #

    Very interesting take on JM:

    http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/471380.html

    “[Sendek] and his staff did a tremendous job with their recruiting,” McMillan told the Republic. “When they want something, they really go get it.”

    SFN: Just curious…how is that quote a very interesting take on JM? We linked the N&O article in the entry. Why does it need another link?

  22. redfred2 08/17/2006 at 10:37 AM #

    primacy one

    Great stuff! Thanks for the clips!!!

    I started typing a long explanation of how I felt I about those guys, but I can’t do them any justice. It’s one thing to watch and enjoy as a program develops, but it’s totally different all together the unbelievable pressure that builds and builds, game after game, when you have a team that has it all. Every time they stepped onto the court and everything about that time period in Wolfpack basketball history was…simply…magic.

    ShootingGuard

    Thanks for setting me straight with due credit to Norm and also another well thought out and unreal post to back it up!!! Keep ’em coming, I’ll just sit back and read from here on out.

    But wait a minute….lastly of course, there’s Wulfpack, with a link saying that the opinion of a still wet behind the ears, high school kid, and one who met his new coach only because of NC State, gives some credence to Wulf’s own high opinion of the greatest coach any of us could have ever hoped for. Wulf, by all means, keep those coming too. love ’em

  23. Wulfpack 08/17/2006 at 3:18 PM #

    ^Two important things: I didn’t provide the quote or write the article. I was only relaying pertinent information that was not mentioned on this all so exhaustive medium earlier. Just trying to provide a little balance, that’s all.

    It truly amazes me the way some of you can reject information, and glorify other types in order to build your very own ultra-biased case. Here we have one of our own telling us a former coach and his staff really know how to get it done when it comes to recruiting. Could this possibly be true? Nah, certainly not…..

  24. Wulfpack 08/17/2006 at 8:42 PM #

    SFN: My apologies, I missed it in the entry. Perhaps I should have been more clear.

    “Jamelle McMillan spurns Wolfpack”

    First, in my mind, JM didn’t only “spurn” NCSU, but he spurned Clemson as well. No mention of that at all in the byline just NCSU.

    The quote to me is very clear. It infers that ASU won him over, hands down. How did others recruit him? Or did they? It’s a lot to read into a single quote which could very well be out of context. A the same time, it seems to fit the logic of many of the previous posts that perhaps we may have not gone after JM hard enough — for whatever reason.

  25. redfred2 08/18/2006 at 4:18 PM #

    Wulf

    I don’t glorify the media, postive or negative. You have never seen me pointing to a piece of media from a single sports writer, EVER, to make a point on on this site. I try to look at things with a broader perspective than what any one person in the media can provide.

    As of the signing of Jamelle McMillian NOTHING THAT GOES ON IN ARIZONA IS OF ANY INTEREST TO ANYONE POSTING ON THIS SITE!!!

    Please stop your gloating about things that negatively affect NC State University. Any success that Herb Sendek has in Arizona will not help YOUR Wolfpack of NC State and it will not convince anyone of anything that he did while he was here.

    Whether you like or dislike the guy after the season starts, Sidney Lowe is OUR coach now.

1 2 3

Leave a Reply