Telep’s Top 100

Basketball Recruiting General50

Dave Telep has released the Scout.com’s post-summer Top 100 High School Basketball players.

(In order of curent ranking)…I’ll take a JJ Hickson, Chris Wright, Tracy Smith and Jamelle McMillan to go with that Johnny Thomas please.

Imagine a core of Courtney Fells, Gavin Grant, Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley supported by an influx of that talent?

Ok. Come back to earth.

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Basketball Recruiting General

50 Responses to Telep’s Top 100

  1. redfred2 08/11/2006 at 6:13 PM #

    ^Statefans- I know, I really can’t understand that. I could see it happening with a kid who had developed a relationship with a certain coach in basketball camps, but is this the son of an NBA coach, and an alum of NCSU.

    This makes me seriously wonder about myself. Am I the only person alive who actually watches and pays attention to what goes on the basketball court? Maybe everyone socializes, or is too busy to get a feel for the events as they actually occured?

    There must many other factors involved. In strictly a basketball sense, Nat McMillian of the NBA, cannot believe that this is the best for his own son to play college ball?

  2. bTHEredterror 08/11/2006 at 8:43 PM #

    I’ll say this, if Jamelle McMillan does end up in Tempe, that will be the last you hear of him. Herb never developed anybody. A former player and freind, said the players at State felt Herb played favorites, and would focus on one player per year, almost exclusively. Hodge for four years
    Of the Pack PG’s I don’t think Archie was recruited as a point guard. Crawford never developed, and Gainey may have regressed. I loved them all as leaders, and I’m willing to give Herb some credit for developing that aspect of their personality. But that happens naturally as guys grow-up as wel. Julius was the same player for four years. I think all Herb ever developed in a basketball sense, is some quality teamwork dynamics, which had the unfortunate side effect of fostering a “Who’s gonna make the play?” approach , that I’m sure was evident to all in close games late.

  3. wayofthemaster 08/11/2006 at 9:27 PM #

    Statefans, I wish I was optimistic… but I’m not concerning Wolfpack basketball recruiting. I see only Smith committing in 2007. That means with Smith and Thomas in 2007 and Horner in 2006, those classes are LESS than ideal. Sidney is going to have to hit a grand slam in 2008 or his first five years with the Pack could be rough.

    SFN: What information or reason do you have to generate this presumption? If we did sign only Smith and Thomas this year, then that is quite a nice class. We only lose Atsur this year, and Grant the year after. This means that the 07-08 squad would include a core group of DeGand, Fells, Grant, Thomas, Horner, Costner, Smith & McCauley a large # of scholarships to give to players that

    We continue to be shocked at people’s pessimism regarding Jamelle McMillan. We have no reason to think that McMillan will not end up in Raleigh if the staff pursues him strongly.

  4. 4NCSU 08/12/2006 at 10:28 AM #

    It’s interesting that ‘ol Herb signed hisself a top 15 player at ASU just recently. How many times did that happen while he was at NCSU? Once or twice (Hodge and Wilkens)? I don’t know, but anybody with the answer?

    SFN: Hmmmm….you do realize that Herb (“himself”) hired the player’s high school coach to be on staff at ASU, don’t you? That ploy only works so often until you are hamstrung into recruiting more conventionally — see Mark Phelps and Damon Thornton and Kenny Inge. Ten years later…Herb is still stuck with Phelps.

    Wonder how much Herb is sad that Larry Harris left his staff right now and opened that position?

    I’m concerned about this situation because if Sid doesn’t recruit well not only will he fall for his first two years, years three and four will be hard, too.

    SFN: What does Herb’s recruiting at ASU have to do with being concerned about Sidney Lowe?

    I honestly tnink Sid is going to get it done; he’s going to bring some really good players to Raleigh. The thing people have to realize, in following this situation closely and being interested in what happens, is Sid inherited a tough job. Herb or Sid or Calipari or Barnes would have had a tough year this upcoming season. Herb knew next year he was going to catch a lot of hard flak so he got out of dodge. Smart move on his part. Get out while he can still get a head D-1 job.

    I feel bad for Lowe next year. It’s going to difficult with the roster he was left with. That’s just the bottom line.

  5. highstick 08/12/2006 at 12:28 PM #

    http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9597114

    Check this out, Herb’s done lost one of his starters!

  6. redfred2 08/12/2006 at 12:35 PM #

    Just planting seeds for two seasons. Nothing will come of them for years. Nothing with any consistency will happen until there has been time to rebuild some credibility and distance ourselves from this “out of worthy adjectives to describe,” mishandling of a major university’s general business and athletics program.

    This place is like a farm. While the closest neighbors have been bringing in bumper crops year after year, we have been mired in being the gentlemen farmers of the area and making excuse after excuse at every opportunity. We’ve only been worried about how presentable our barn looks from the road or if we may have possibly offended anyone at the church social. That’s all well and good, no one has any reason to really dislike us, or any reason to really like us for that matter either, but we’re the laughing stock of the neighborhood when we present our measley crop, along with all of our excuses, to the big market at the end of every season.

    Hard ground in every direction. A lot of time and a lot of hard work are all that will make this old place start to pay off the way it once did. If ever.

  7. highstick 08/12/2006 at 1:44 PM #

    If you haven’t checked out the link I posted earlier, Herb has lost his second leading scorer from last year. Seems like he likes to pack a gun and drugs!

  8. RamblinRed 08/12/2006 at 4:15 PM #

    statefans,

    I stand by my comments – if you would like to provide something counter feel free to.

    Within the last 10 days Jamelle has publicly stated that AZ ST is his #1 school, Clemson his #2 and NC ST his #3.

    Now visits can change things but if a decision was made today Jamelle would not be heading to Raleigh.

    But it isnot over yet. The 3 schools all have official visits with him yet. Probably the best one gets him.

    RamblinRed

  9. Luke12321 08/12/2006 at 8:56 PM #

    Looking at our roster after next season…saying no outbound transfers will happen.

    F-Brandon Costner-(SO.) All-American out of HS. We have not seen him play much at all but should be one of the better players and a starter.
    G/F- Courtney Fells-(JR) We know he is athletic and should do well in a more open offense and should start.
    G/F- Gavin Grant-(SR) Started leading us at the end of last year. Immigration stuff is up in the air right now but if he is back should be our leader.
    F-Ben McCauley- (JR) Hopefully will get experience and improve next season. Should be a solid piece for us and provide much needed inside help.
    G- Chris McCoy- (SR)- Non-Factor
    G- (SR.) Braxton Albritton- Non-Factor

    The Unknowns
    G-Farnold Degand (SO)- Could end of being a solid guard for us but will not be a huge impact player. Other colleges going after him other than us so he must be able to play ball.
    G- Trevor Ferguson-(SO)- Not seen the clips myself but everyone says looks like the kid could be a player but injuries and transfer has slowed him down. Who knows what we will get out of him?
    F- Dennis Horner- (SO)- Doubtful will be an huge impact player but much like the other two could be a asset to the team.
    C- Bartosz Lewandowski- (SO)- Who knows?
    F/C- Andrew Brackman- Doubtful he will be around here is the mutual feeling. If he is…should be a starter but everyone seem so to agree his best move is to be standing on the mound instead of in the paint.

    Freshman Class
    G/F- Johnny Thomas- (FR)- Should be a solid player for us and could develop into a starter later on down the road and contribute early only as well.

    Looking at that…we are set at the wing position. Grant-Fells-Degand-Ferguson-Horner-Thomas could all play there depending on how we wanting the lineup to look.

    Needs- Big men and PG. Wright seems to be fading but who knows. McMillian might come but he is not going to be a star player but would help out with ball handling duties.

    The two that seems most likely to come (from what I see online) right now are Dorenzo Hudson and Tracy Smith. Smith seems like a guy that would fit well into an up-tempo game and would be able to help out inside. Hudson would be a quality player but fighting with the 5 other wing players named above for time right off the bat. Grant is another name mentioned. I would be happy with either Smith or Grant. Be great to see Lowe beat out Calipari for Smith!

  10. vtpackfan 08/13/2006 at 6:21 PM #

    ^^^^^^^^^^^Coppack, yeah yoyr right about the perspective I probbably had (may still have) when writing above comment about the full court press on guards recruits. Your right about being behind the eight ball on the ’07 issue. Wright and McMillan were essentially on their way to visiting State, and having Larry Harris here could help with that. Also the connection with Nate’s dad and Sid is a plus. Your wrong about Ced, I wasn’t thinking you just grab a guy on the side line waiting to play. I went ahead and did some searching for ’08 big men. Sims is a center who is the teamate of Chris Wright in prep school, and it looks like we may have a good shot at him. Also, I would like to see Sid make a run at ’08 pf Braswell. G’Town, UMd. all want him , but he goes to DeMatha. Jerai Grant might be a good roll of the dice if he fills out and keeps improving.

  11. wayofthemaster 08/14/2006 at 12:58 AM #

    SFN, Scout.com has NC State as the third choice for Chris Wright and Jamelle McMillan. The site also lists 15 teams(!) for J.J. Hickson and the Wolfpack is not one of them. So… I’m only going by the Scout.com website…you say the information on the website is inaccurate… I guess I trust you and I’ll take your word for it and from now on read the website with a more critical eye.

    SFN – Scout.com is inaccurate.

    I suppose a class of Smith and Thomas looks less than ideal to me since I am comparing it to past classes. In 2005, Brandon Costner was the 20th ranked player in the country and a McDonald’s AA. Courtney Fells was the 30th ranked player in that class. In 2004, Cedric Simmons was the 24th ranked player in the country. Tracy Smith is the 45th ranked player in this class and Johnny Thomas isn’t even listed in the Top 100 (he isn’t even listed in Rivals.com Top 150!) .

    SFN – In 2000 our class was ranked #3 in the entire country with one of the Top 10 players in America. Of Sendek’s 10 recruiting class, 7 or 8 of them were Top 25 classes. Yet, we managed to finish in the Top 25 twice his entire tenure. How did those rankings work out for us? I wouldn’t focus so much on the rankings right now.

  12. vtpackfan 08/14/2006 at 9:30 AM #

    “Tracy Smith is the 45th ranked player in this class and Johnny Thomas isn’t even listed in the Top 100”
    In fairness to these two players they both seem to be “stock rising” players. Jerai Grant is listed as a palyer he improves his game a little bit each day, which makes sense being that his dad Harvey and uncle Horace put a huge emphasis and work habits and conditioning to get to various points in there career. If we land Smith then maybe wait till ’08 for someone else to occupy the paint. Otherwise, why not roll the dice for a guy like Grant. He won’t improve your recruit class ranking but he will probably be on a faster learning curve then Lew. Also, Andrew will relinquish his coveted baseba…, oh I mean basketball shcolly next year, so we can still go after some big men in ’08.

  13. nycfan 08/14/2006 at 11:11 AM #

    A related, and not particularly optimistic article, in the WSJ at: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FPage%2FWSJ_StandardIndex&c=Page&cid=1041611505628

    It is more about who State has lost and the 06 class than any 2007 info, but since it is in the same vein, thought I’d add it here.

    An interesting bit in the article was that Lowe has not been available to local media much to this point and that Lee Fowler continues to speak for the hoops team, including commenting on the ’06 class for this particular article. That seems a bit weird to me — why not at least one of the assistant coaches or something?

  14. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 08/14/2006 at 1:46 PM #

    The comment about Larry Hunter above is 100% correct and I was curious why is name was never thrown around during the search. No coach stays at Western Carolina for too long anyway so he could of took off without much of a problem.

  15. redfred2 08/14/2006 at 2:00 PM #

    Here are some of Fowler’s comments from ^nycfans link:

    “This happens pretty much across the board. If an assistant coach is hired, sometimes it doesn’t affect the recruits as much. But these things happen. You look at Oklahoma, I think they lost all of their recruits after their coach (Kelvin Sampson) went to Indiana. It’s just an unfortunate situation when you have to go through it.”

    That worse case scenario, so conveniently mentioned right off the top of Fowler’s head, supposedly justifies and makes everything OK. Kind of a “we aren’t the only ones to screw up on this grand scale” statement.

    “And nothing about N.C. State changed except for the coach.”

    That statement, that one is scary as hell, but unfortunately true.

    I wish Lowe would come on out and speak to media positively about the future and on down the road. Right now though, I think he is just trying to come to grips and busy trying to get some traction while sorting out this mess he has been handed.

  16. Dan 08/14/2006 at 2:31 PM #

    “We have no reason to think that McMillan will not end up in Raleigh if the staff pursues him strongly.”- SFN

    Then you’ve had your head in the sand. He committed to ASU today.

  17. redfred2 08/14/2006 at 2:32 PM #

    ^Just to add to that thought. I would love to hear that Lowe told Fowler take the heat for his own dirty work, while Lowe and his staff get on about the business of straightening out the things that they he can actually control from here on out.

  18. redfred2 08/14/2006 at 2:42 PM #

    “He committed to ASU today.”

    I know some people who are going to eat that up with a spoon.

    All I can say is, good luck, maybe a complete 180 has been accomplished after only a few months in Arizona and things have finally changed for the better, for your sake Jamelle McMillian.

  19. nycfan 08/14/2006 at 3:12 PM #

    McMillan is quoted as saying that State and Lowe had not really been in contact with him much (one text message since July) … sounds like State backed off. The question is whether that was Lowe’s decision based on what he thought McMillan offered, his decision based on comparing McMillan to Degand (sp?) and/or interest in/from an alternative guard like Chris Wright or Nate gave Lowe a heads up that his son was likely to go to ASU and a chance to back-off b/4 the decision was made.

    Is State after anyone at PG other than Wright at this juncture?

  20. RamblinRed 08/14/2006 at 3:16 PM #

    “We have no reason to think that McMillan will not end up in Raleigh if the staff pursues him strongly.�- SFN

    That comment basically sums up the McMillan recruitment. Jamelle on the Scout site was quoted as saying Coach Lowe didn’t recruit him very hard. That he hadn’t talked to Lowe in person in about a month.

    Meanwhile you have Coach Sendek sending his entire staff to watch Jamelle play in Vegas. Coach Lowe appears to have put all his eggs in one basket (Wright) in the hopes of pulling off the upset and getting him back. Time will tell whether he ends up succeeding in that recruitment.

    RamblinRed

  21. Dan 08/14/2006 at 3:30 PM #

    Which is better?

    A low ranked recruit that forced to red-shirt (a rarity in college B-ball) at Iowa State (a bottom half Big 12 school) who only has three years of eligibility, or the 17th ranked PG for the full 4 years?

    Using the ‘ship on Degand may have just made recruiting two PG’s for ’07 problematic. Troubling.

  22. nycfan 08/14/2006 at 3:48 PM #

    ^To be fair, perhaps signing Degand was an early sign that Lowe knew that he had little shot at (or, for whatever reason, little interest in) McMillan?

    The limited effort put in the “recruitment” of McMillan seems little more than some sort of courtesy contact with the son of an esteemed Alum. McMillan continuing to list State since Lowe’s arrival could be the same (or could be a sign that McMillan was signaling his continued interest to Lowe but that interest was not mutual).

  23. redfred2 08/14/2006 at 4:53 PM #

    That one does hurt, a former Wolfpack great’s son going with Herb instead of NCSU. But it all shakes down to the attitudes all around NCSU these days. The fans, the administration, it’s the same as we’ve witnessed on the football field. We act and talk like we’re supposed to better than this, among the best around, we just don’t ever do anything to accomplish it.

    Talking strictly basketball here, but if I hear one more time, “Why do we have to be so worried all the time about beating Duke or Carolina?”

    What in the HELL do you people think made those two basketball programs great? What program do you think they were all chasing and trying to catch up to to begin with? They accomplished their goal, now they’re gone, totally untouchable in many of your minds.

    That thinking is so wrong I can’t even begin to comprehend it. I know alot of you who think that way consider yourselves to be the only true rational ones among us. By seeing all of the limitations that have now overwhelmed NC State athletics in general, you think you are the only correct thinkers among us. Let me just say that that attitude and belief system is one of the biggest detractors from the program and why we are where we are today. It is that attitude that any misguided university administration would love to hear all of their loyal fans voicing LOUDLY in public. By doing so you just help them to lower all expectations and keep their jobs cushy, with the very minimum requirements involved.

    The NCSU basketball program did not disintegrate on it’s own, the administration put it there by totally limiting it’s ability to recover from a farcical media stampede. Those fans and supporters who continue to condon and proclaim the after affects of a twenty year old philosophy are only contradicting and postponing any positive changes for the better.

    Again, the administration, and all those even particially responsible for bringing basketball back to life at NC State, absolutely love you for your undying patience and your lack of even the slighest expectations for positive results. They get still their paychecks, they just aren’t required to work quite as hard as the many NC State University administrators who were around when all the other ACC of schools were struggling to follow OUR lead. The ones who put things in place when we won ACC championshipS and national titleS.

  24. Luke12321 08/15/2006 at 7:40 PM #

    Nice Post…we must move on! I think when we start winning the ACC Championchips then many attitudes will change. I am 20 years old and as a major basketball fan of ours….I can never remember actually having a squad that you could say..”They have a legit chance to win it.” I think as far as basketball goes..the coaching change has have us a HUGE breathe of fresh air! I just looked out scout.com and we are now battling Florida and Tenn for Hickson! If we could get him to come…what a steal! Thomas,Smith (or Grant) and Hickson would be a nice class for the amount of time Lowe has had. Add Wright to the mix of Thomas and Hickson (Smith or Grant) and things are looking VERY VERY good for the pack in the future. What is the word about Hickson guys? Fill me in. Do we really have a legit chance!?

  25. redfred2 09/07/2006 at 11:19 PM #

    Young Luke,

    Sorry, a little James Earl Jones came out there. But really, it’s great to see a 20 year old with real passion for NCSU basketball. Though I have no idea from whence it sprung??? Your short reality of Wolfpack basketball has been absolutely miserable. But I, for one, am damn proud of you boy! Just hang in there, there are much better days on your horizon.

    Your new coach once orchestrated every move that was made on the NC State basketball court. I personally believe that he has always had what it takes to do from the coach’s box, and showed every sign of it even back when he was a college point guard. His coach(s) said it repeatedly.

    You have already shown the patience, just a few more years and you’ll be on cloud nine. I’ve been there on many occasions already, it’s some pretty awesome stuff.

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