J.J. Hickson, McDonald’s All American

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball50

The rosters can be found here. It helps wash away the memories of today’s game to think about next year’s frontcourt rotation. Congrats to J.J. and congrats again to the staff for landing such a fine commitment. (Link to S6)

For more on the topic of “The Rich Get Richer” you can click here.

If everyone returns for Duke next season, the Blue Devils will have nine McDonald’s All-Americans on their roster. Even if Josh McRoberts goes pro, Coach K would be working with a roster of a record eight Mickey Ds with the addition of three from the Class of 2007.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

50 Responses to J.J. Hickson, McDonald’s All American

  1. tooyoungtoremember 02/24/2007 at 11:50 PM #

    It might be worth mentioning that Tracy Smith was also a nominee.

  2. Dr. BadgerPack 02/25/2007 at 8:50 AM #

    Johnny Thomas was a nominee as well, so Sidney was 3-3 for ’07 in that respect.

  3. cpwolfpackfan 02/25/2007 at 11:50 AM #

    IF our guards are half way decent we will be a team to be delt with next year. Mccually, Hickson, Costner, and smith down low. with grant and horner, and thomas on the wings. And degand, johnson, fells, and fergerson when needed at the guards . I hope between degand and johnson we can find a servicable point guard. If so and things go right, we could be a sleeper team next year to make a good run

  4. cpwolfpackfan 02/25/2007 at 11:55 AM #

    I also saw where it said that hickson was up to 6’10” just a year ago he was at 6’8, the kid is still growning and from the video I have seen from him he is a beast. He is very athlethic and can finish around the basket. He even has a nice little jumper and can take slower less athlethic big men(hansbourgh) off the dribble. Him and smith down low could be almost unstoppable in a year or two. And in the skill that Mccually and costner bring it is two different styles.

  5. vtpackfan 02/25/2007 at 12:24 PM #

    No doubt the front line is going to be very interesting to watch. Congrats to JJ Hickson, and to Coach Lowe and his whole staff for doing outstanding work recruiting.

    We will keep our fingers crossed that May’s can really gain alot between his Jr and Sr. years. He could be another AA for us is next’s years game, certainly a nominee.

    Rooting for Johnny Thomas and Greensboro Day in 3A in the NC play offs. He sounds like a super kid with a lot of potential as a leader. It something else when senior day rolls around when it’s his turn and seeing what changes have come to his game and the program as a whole (hard to imagine Hickson playing college ball for four years).

  6. westwolf 02/25/2007 at 12:41 PM #

    Does anyone know the academic status of Smith? I’m hearing “rumblings” that he may have some issues in that area. Anyone have some scoop? Or is it the usual Pack paranoia regarding a very talanted player?

  7. vtpackfan 02/25/2007 at 1:12 PM #

    The rumblings are just that exact phrase “does anyone know…?” I haven’t seen or heard anything even resebling info on the matter.

    My spin on it is that the NCAA is taking some kind of official stance concerning any recruit coming from a so called “diploma mill”. What I’ve gathered (which is very minimal to say the least) is that no matter what kind of grades or test scores these individuals have they will all get the joy of going through the NCAA clearinghouse process.

    More concerning to Pack fans IMO is that Smith has only gone with a verbal and is still essentially open to all comers as the April signing period comes up. I would hope that we could unify on this matter a show alot of support for Smith leading up to a potential LOI signing this spring. I’m not signaling your post out, it’s just that Tracy Smiths name seems to only conjur up images of a “grades issue” lately, and he hasn’t even signed with us yet.

  8. bTHEredterror 02/25/2007 at 3:58 PM #

    In reading about how much weight Smith lost, and how much better he got as a player. I’d expect that type of commitment to spill over if only slightly to the classroom.

    I expect VT is right as I’ve seen the OTL report on “diploma mills” and got the impression that ESPN, conscience of sports that it perceives itself, has shone a spotlight on an overt circumvention of NCAA “standards” (there’s an oxymoron). The NCAA will do what they usually do, they’ll limit kids going forward, and grandfather the kids currently impacted.

    In any event, the fact Sid and co. have kept recruiting for next years class is encouraging. They are prepared to look at someone else if an unfortunate monkeywrench jumps up. I hope not, Smith is man down low, and his commitment to the lane will free up Costner to roam, or support McCauley/Hickson backside on post up. He has Lonny Baxter type skills.

  9. bTHEredterror 02/25/2007 at 4:05 PM #

    While we’re talking about signed letters. Chris Wright still hasn’t signed either. Spilled milk or not, still interesting.

  10. vtpackfan 02/25/2007 at 4:48 PM #

    Can he sign for G’Town until somebody gives up a scholly? They have to be chock full over there. JTIII is just linin’ em’ up and kicking them out (or off) over there.

  11. vtpackfan 02/25/2007 at 5:08 PM #

    “the fact Sid and co. have kept recruiting for next years class is encouraging. They are prepared to look at someone else if an unfortunate monkeywrench jumps up. ”

    Great observation. Some has been said that seeing the offers to Baciau (’08), Walker (’08) could be because something had to be going on behind the scenes. It could be true or they could just be setting up a “firewall” of sorts on the recruiting front. One year of coaching the “six Pack” is probably enough.

    Hickson is going to exciting to get in here. All the souting reports say that he can’t be stopped one on one. If he can get some confidence and get into the flow of the offense then he and McCauley down low could really prove powerful. You look at BC last year at what there were able to accomplish using the flex offense with Dudley and Craig Smith down low. Tyrese Rice was a freshman (and they had a senior who was decent, but no high profile pg for sure), but were still able to dictate their game plan most of the time.

  12. noah 02/25/2007 at 5:49 PM #

    Tracy Smith has not qualified. I would be very surprised if he’s at NC State next year.

  13. vtpackfan 02/25/2007 at 6:14 PM #

    That would be unfortunate and a set back for sure. Ty Walker would be another great big man (with strong grades) but it seems that we’ve got alot of ground to make up vs. the Demon Deac’s there. It could fall down to Baciau or maybe Davila, a couple of international big men. It would be pretty awesome to have Tracy Smith here in a Wolfpack uniform, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. He has to have a shot otherwise why would he verbally committ?

  14. choppack1 02/25/2007 at 9:34 PM #

    I’ve heard that Walker is a Tar Heel lean.

    Noah – You’re statement on Smith has me more than a little concerned. Of course, I became real concerned when I saw his first SAT score.

  15. E-RO 02/26/2007 at 12:12 AM #

    Nice to see Concord’s Dee Bost on the nominee list. I’ve heard he’s a good basketball player. He also QBed Concord to the State championship this winter, and Concord should be the favorite to win the 3A championship in basketball… Maybe TOB should give him a scholly if it isn’t too late and make him a 2 sport star.

  16. noah 02/26/2007 at 9:12 AM #

    There’s a whole lot more to the diploma mill story than anything ESPN has reported. And a lot more to it than the NCAA trying to make an example of people. There have been some great investigative pieces done on it (none of them by ESPN, IMO).

    The University High School/Killian High School scandal down in Florida really ought to wake people up. I hope the NCAA doesn’t cave. We ought to just do away with college sports and create a semi-pro league and be honest about it if we’re going to allow it to continue.

  17. BJD95 02/26/2007 at 9:29 AM #

    We really need Smith – but I’m picking up lots of negative vibes about his suiting up for us in 2007-08.

  18. Rochester 02/26/2007 at 9:42 AM #

    If he’s not going to get his schoolwork done I’d rather know now than have him declared academically ineligible at the semester break next year. But maybe he’ll still qualify.

    I won’t be shocked if our three-man recruiting class looks a little different in a couple of months.

  19. choppack1 02/26/2007 at 10:12 AM #

    Rochester – I don’t think it’s as simple as that.

    Who is the last ACC player to play at Mount Zion?

  20. noah 02/26/2007 at 11:02 AM #

    Max Owens, I think.

    The diploma mill thing is beyond just basketball. There are at least three federal probes into the practice.

    There’s the guy who got his cat an advanced MBA with letters of recommendation (the cat got a 3.5 gpa) from some school in Texas, there’s a Homeland security probe into whether or not people are using these schools to get student visas and there’s one more involving the Justice Department.

    None of this stuff is really new…but a lot more people are paying attention.

  21. noah 02/26/2007 at 11:05 AM #

    BTW, backing up to Tracy Smith, there are two issues here…

    1) I don’t think his grades and test score are quite as good as we initially hoped, and,

    2) There is still the question of the Mt. Zion’s academic accreditation with the NCAA.

    I hope the NCAA is a real hard-ass with the questionable schools. There are some horrible people associated with some of these schools. Think back to Joel Hopkins and Tracy McGrady and their deal. A lot of people are hoping to cash in.

  22. Gene 02/26/2007 at 11:16 AM #

    If everyone returns for Duke next season, the Blue Devils will have nine McDonald’s All-Americans on their roster. Even if Josh McRoberts goes pro, Coach K would be working with a roster of a record eight Mickey Ds with the addition of three from the Class of 2007.

    I know recruiting is essential to sustained success, but I wonder than how Wisconsin is always among the top schools in the nation, year in and year out, without really loading up on Burger Boys.

    We may not get to the point where we are always loaded with talent (at least in the near future), like Duke and Carolina, but still have to develop players in order to compete with them.

    Hopefully someone at NCSU is paying attention to what Wisconsin has been doing and can find a way to copy that success here.

  23. noah 02/26/2007 at 11:24 AM #

    Don’t they run some form of the that-which-shall-not-be-named offense? I don’t watch them, but they’re scores are always in the 40s, it seems.

  24. Dr. BadgerPack 02/26/2007 at 11:29 AM #

    Gene-

    Wisconsin has really only been “among the top” for the past 5 or so years (coinciding with Bo Ryan’s arrival).

    Of late it has seemed that Wisconsin has their pick of Wisconsin athletes, and they do quite well with Minnesota and North Dakota. If you get the cream of the crop in a 3 state area, it certainly helps and it most definitely is relative lack of D-I schools in the upper mid-west.

    While NCSU certainly can’t copy that blueprint to the letter, they can highlight some of the Wisconsin points of emphasis, those being go hard after in-state talent and don’t be afraid to look to “obscure” places for talent.

  25. BJD95 02/26/2007 at 11:32 AM #

    WI has that guy who looks just like Chris Rock. I think that throws the opposition off a bit.

    WI plays hard-nosed defense and grinds games out. I don’t see putting them in the Final Four in any of my NCAAT brackets.

1 2

Leave a Reply