Basketball Recruit JJ Hickson Decides Today at 4pm

06-07 Basketball Basketball Recruiting General69

Fresh off the sting losing Chris Wright to Georgetown, J.J. Hickson will decide between NC State and Tennessee today at 4pm. Hickson is rated #21 overall in Dave Telep’s 2007 class rankings.

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06-07 Basketball Basketball Recruiting General

69 Responses to Basketball Recruit JJ Hickson Decides Today at 4pm

  1. ncsu96 10/12/2006 at 1:34 PM #

    i’m feeling good.

    look at it this way, 2 days ago we were well into meltdown at this point.
    today, the UT boards starting (albeit mild) meltdown this morning.

  2. Pack Laddie 10/12/2006 at 1:38 PM #

    just have to hope that one of Pearl’s torpedoes doesn’t show up in Marietta, with a briefcase

  3. ShootingGuard 10/12/2006 at 1:39 PM #

    “Dude, How many 2 guards do you need next year? We are going to have Grant, Fells, Thomas, Furgeson, and Horner. Maybe you can call Horner a 3/4. Fine. That leaves 4.

    We dont need 5 guys to play the 2! We need true PG’s and post players. You go after backup for areas of need. Not areas in which you are freaking stacked.”

    Dude, do you actually read the whole post or do you just assume shit in your head??

    I said IF Lowe whiffed BIG TIME on ballhandlers he would THEN and ONLY then take Green because WHIFFING would cause Lowe to HAVE to play Horner at the 4 and Ferguson at the 1…Lowe would be trying to insure that he goes 10 deep in order to run in this case, but, again, IF AND ONLY IF all other options are exhausted…I’m not saying I want a bunch of 2 guards. I’m just telling you what the staff has been discussing. Take it for what it is worth. The staff knows what they need IDEALLY but they also realize they need a BACKUP plan to run next year if Plan A falls through…

    And he would still have 2 scholarships for big guns in 2008…Not IDEAL but understandable in a desperate rebuilding project…

    Regardless, this whole 2 guard discussion will be pretty pointless (and our situation much less desperate) if Hickson pledges in a little while and Warren pledges in a couple weeks…

  4. primacyone 10/12/2006 at 1:43 PM #

    Not only does the staff know what we need, but they seem to be pretty dertermined to get it.

    As Red would say . . . This staff plan on winning some of dem championships everybody keep talking bout!!!

  5. ShootingGuard 10/12/2006 at 1:44 PM #

    Plus, Dan…

    There is no guarantee that Grant will be next year…and neither Thomas or Horner are 2’s…so we are not exactly “stacked” as you say at the 2, especially when you look around the league…

    Again, not that any of this will be an issue if Lowe is able to lock up Hickson and Warren with signatures in November…Lowe would have a lot more options with the lineups and a lot less desperation at that point…

  6. Mr O 10/12/2006 at 1:58 PM #

    Grant would have to have a great year to get drafted. I have always been high on him as a player(even as others criticized him as a turnover waiting to happen last season). Grant may have the abilities to play in the NBA, however I certainly hope he stays four years.

    He needs to work on the form on his jumpshot.

  7. Rick 10/12/2006 at 2:04 PM #

    “You know somebody is BSing you when Laddie is asking Trout for details.”

    Can someone say sacarsmly challenged?

  8. Trout 10/12/2006 at 2:14 PM #

    “Grant would have to have a great year to get drafted.”

    He may be talking about the deportation issue, and not the NBA draft.

  9. sautz 10/12/2006 at 2:16 PM #

    I don’t get the argument about having too many 2 guards next year. We are pretty shallow at every position right now.. and we can always play 3 guards (its worked well for Duke in the past) or have some taller 2s play the 3 spot. While we missed on Wright we still have Degand for next year and hopefully Warren to play point. I don’t see Green as being a bad addition if he ends up here (btw, Scout still has Green listed as committed to us). Back to the thread- getting Hickson would be huge.

  10. Dan 10/12/2006 at 2:18 PM #

    Gavin Grant wont be going pro this year. C’mon.

    SG, I think we need a scholarship count for you to see the light here

    PG – As of ’07 – 1 deep
    Engin Atsur – Sr
    Farnold Degand – So (will be R-So next season)

    SG – As of ’07 – 4 deep
    Gavin Grant – Jr
    Courtney Fells – So
    Trevor Ferguson – Fr
    (Johnny Thomas) – Inc Class of ’07

    SF/PF – 2 deep
    Brandon Costner – Fr
    Dennis Horner – Fr

    PF/C – 2 deep
    Ben McCauley – So
    Bartosz Lewandowski – Fr

    Total of 10 scholarships. 10 of 13. That leaves 3 for ’07 and with Gavin leaving the next year its 4 total for ’07 AND ’08.

    Biggest Needs

    PF/C and PG. We need to burn AT LEAST three ‘ships on these two positions. Even if we land JJ. We need at least one more player of note there.

    PG is crucial. We need a TRUE PG. We need an elite PG. If we take Rashard Green for ’07, that leaves only one ‘ship for PG. We get one try at it. That seriously limits Sid’s ability to offer multiple recruits in ’08. That scholarship needs to remain open. And the LAST thing we need with it is a 2 guard as we will already have 4 on the roster.

  11. Trout 10/12/2006 at 2:20 PM #

    Johnny Thomas, Tracy Smith, JJ Hickson and a good PG – save the other scholarships for ’08. That’s what I would do.

  12. Mr O 10/12/2006 at 2:20 PM #

    Trout: Good point. That would really be a shame if Grant is forced to go play overseas and not be able to finish his college degree at NC State.

  13. RAWFS 10/12/2006 at 2:23 PM #

    It’s really good to see the old gang talking State hoops in thread. Really, I mean that. Keep it up!

  14. Girlfriend in a Coma 10/12/2006 at 2:39 PM #

    [quote]

    Can someone say sacarsmly challenged?

    [/quote]

    Hilarious! Actually I think I am sacarsmly advanced. I read Trout’s post predicting JJ to Raleigh and then skipped the Lowe-Wright conspiracy crap and read what I thought was Laddie asking for details (about the recruiting prediction), which as everyone knows is absurd.

  15. redfred2 10/12/2006 at 2:41 PM #

    I swear, if Grant can’t finish at NCSU, there had better be some fruit left hanging on the trees in florida next season, with no one around to pick it.
    I could ride to a construction site right now, if they haven’t already finished their work, and give anywhere from five to ten guys over to immigration authorities this afternoon. These guys came here on their own accord, not their parents, and much more and recently in comparison, and you won’t be catching any one of them trying to EARN a college degree.

  16. packbackr04 10/12/2006 at 2:43 PM #

    LATEST NEWS ON HICKSON!!!!!!!
    JJ is in history class, the lesson today is the war of the roses. JJ was overheard commenting on the House of Lancasters role in the lead up to the war. Word on the street is he is chewing Bubble Yum- watermelon flavor… Sources close to JJ say that he was seen earlier in the day doodling in his notebook during math class, and was later seen talking to friends in the hallway between classes, tripping nerds. If i hear anything more i will pass it on~~~

  17. Jeff 10/12/2006 at 2:45 PM #

    I respectfully disagree with Dan’s classification of the players on our roster…particularly the classification that Johnny Thomas is a “shooting guard” despite the fact that he has been playing the post in high school and needs to work on his jump shot. Thomas clearly projects as a “wing” in the mold of a PJ Tucker who can play the three with the physicality of a power forward when needed. That is different from being a puer shooting guard as Dan is trying to pigeon-hole him.

    We have some players that can play different positions that would tend to make a particular position (like shooting guard) APPEAR to be over-stocked when it is definitely not.

    In addition to Thomas, my perspective differs from Dan in the following key areas that impact roster analysis.

    (1) Gavin Grant is obviously a wing that can play 2 or 3. Since Fells is obviously a solid 2-guard, then Grant is obviously the other projected starting wing at the swing forward.

    (2) Brandon Costner can play 3 or 4 or 5. It depends on what you want on the floor at any one time. Unless we have a stud center (like JJ), then the two post positions are relatively interchangeable in today’s game.

  18. old13 10/12/2006 at 2:49 PM #

    FWIW – UT posters on The Wolfpacker free board are congratulating NCSU for getting JJ!

  19. StateFans 10/12/2006 at 2:53 PM #

    ^ Yes. It is pretty much out of the bag. But, we all like to wait until the official announcement so that the kid can have their time in the sun.

  20. Pack Laddie 10/12/2006 at 2:56 PM #

    I would be shocked if Gavin had deportation issues affct his senior year.

  21. Woof Wolf 10/12/2006 at 2:56 PM #

    Dan:

    I’ve counted your list several times and with Enjin gone at the end of this year, I can only get to 9.

  22. packbackr04 10/12/2006 at 2:57 PM #

    THIS JUST IN^^^ redfred just burst into JJ’s social studies class, stark naked chanting the Wolfpack song with a half empty handle of bourbon! He was promptly escorted off of school property by the local police dept.

  23. Wolfpack4ever 10/12/2006 at 3:14 PM #

    I love reading all this great and sometimes entertaining basketball talk but occasionally, there is something I don’t understand. Does anyone really think Sid goes in the tank because this hotshot or that hotshot HS basketball player didn’t commit to NCSU after all his hard work?

    I think we got us a coach who will compete with what he’s got. I wasn’t one for firing a certain coach but I surely was wore out from seeing our guys go to the gas pipe at the end of games we could have one. What I want out of our BB coach is, aside from winning national championships 😉 guys who want perform like winners one night and losers the next. I’ve been more pleased but not neccessarily more proud of a State team than I was of the Justin Gainey lead Pack 10 years ago.

    I hope Sid is looking at players with heart who, might develop as Justin and others did, while he is behind in the recruiting game. I lived the freckled-faced kid who played with him. I can’t remember his name — something like — Jeremy Hyatt who over-achieved every night he suited up.

  24. Pack Laddie 10/12/2006 at 3:14 PM #

    The good news with Gavin is that it is immigration handling his case.

    If it was the NCAA, knowing their track record with NC State, he would have already been on a slow boat back to Jamaica.

  25. Dan 10/12/2006 at 3:26 PM #

    Woof – You are right and I am retarded.

    Jeff, you make all valid points. And there is definitely different types of 2 guards. There are spot up shooters and there are guys who play better down low like Gavin. Jeff is also right regarding Grant. And other guys on the team for that matter. One thing the last coach had was lots of guys that could play the 2 and the 3. And he left a lot of them. “Interchangeable postions…blah, blah”

    Comparing PJ Tucker to Thomas is a little far fetched though. PJ Tucker is a rarity. Projecting the guy to be like Tucker is projecting him to the ultimate. Man, every Pack fan hopes you are right (wouldnt that make up for not getting Tucker to start with!), but on average that isnt the case. The facts are that the kid is 6’5″. A 3? Maybe. 4? No. Even Tucker had Aldridge and Buckman (or whatever that big white kid’s name was).

    I also agree with Jeff on Costner. But I dont anyone would disagree that his ideal postion allows him to face the basket with the option to drive or shoot. Ideally, that’s a three. Although, yeah, he can play 4.

    Jeff, my biggest concern is that we have the leftover 2/3 guys in spades. If we going to spend scholarships on back-ups it should be for guys that really fit a need. Like Bartosz. Now, if Green is a combo guard like a Larry Davis, fine. But that’s not what I am getting on this. He is not a distributor as yet. I just think our depth of guys who can play two or three affords to not have to offer scholarships to sleeper recruits at those postions. They would be better spent the following season on a higher level recruit during an ’08 class where Sid is on even footing. I’d hate to see his hands tied there.

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