2007 Basketball Recruiting Rankings & Review

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball263

Basketball recruiting for this year’s class is complete and first year Head Coach, Sidney Lowe has an awful lot of which to be proud!! Coach Lowe made the best of his opportunity to make a big impact as early as he could last summer.

After inheriting a program that was in such disarray that Lee Fowler found it necessary to sign the new coach to an (uncustomary) SIX YEAR deal last year, Sidney bested expectations on the court during his first season and has continued his momentum off the court in recruiting.

(Sidebar: After six years of listening to “Coach” Fowler extol the strength of NC State’s program under Herb Sendek, I never understood the ‘logic’ and lack of consistency that the program was in such bad shape that Fowler needed to go outside of his box and give Lowe an extra year on his first contract. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining about the maneuver as it relates to Sidney – just flabbergasted at the hypocrisy of Fowler’s actions when measured against his words).

This year’s recruiting class started coming together when Johnny Thomas committed to the Wolfpack in early June of last year. The class kept picking up steam and then picked up momentum from there.

If you do not include point guard Farnold Degand or combo guard Marques Johnson who is transferring from Tennessee, the Wolfpack signed four players in this year’s class.

* JJ Hickson, C/PF, Scout – 5-star, #13 rank; Rivals – 5-star, #10 rank
* Tracy Smith, F, Scout – 4-star, #70 rank; Rivals – 4-star, #46 rank
* Javi Gonzalez, PG, Scout – 3-star, Top 150 rank; Rivals – 3-star, Top 150 rank
* Johnny Thomas, SF, Scout – 3-star, Top 150 rank; Rivals – 3-star, Top 150 rank

Not including the transfers, Coach Lowe’s first recruiting haul was ranked:

* 16th in the country CollegeHoopsUpdate.com. (Link to rankings)
* 16th by Scout.com (Link to rankings )
* 18th by Rivals.com (Link to rankings) (We particularly liked the Rivals article because of its format and easy access to past recruiting rankings.

The ACC Perspective
As always, the first place to turn for broad and deep analysis of the conference is Dave Glenn.

Glenn’s ACCSports.com has a detailed breakdown of both 2007 signees and a look ahead to 2008 recruits at this link.

The Fayetteville Observer highlighted the recruiting classes of the entire conference in this article that uses the Prepstars recruiting service for its basis.

Duke signed three of the top 20 basketball prospects in the Class of 2007, getting signatures from Kyle Singler, Taylor King and Nolan Smith in the fall. The only other top-20 player headed to the ACC is J.J. Hickson, who signed with N.C. State.

ACC schools are bringing in eight of the top 50 high school hoops players in the nation as ranked by prepstars.com. In addition to the three future Blue Devils, N.C. State and Florida State signed two apiece, while Georgia Tech got one.

Of the 43 high school players who signed with ACC schools, 20 are ranked in the top 100. One of those, however, Augustus Gilchrist, has said he will not attend Virginia Tech because of last month’s campus shootings.

None of Clemson’s three signees is rated in the top 100. All of the other ACC schools, with the exception of North Carolina, added at least one top-100 prospect.

Carolina did not sign anybody. In fact, the Tar Heels did not recruit anyone in the 2007 class after making the nation’s No. 1 haul last year. UNC’s 2006 group included six of the top 100 high school players.

Virginia Tech has the largest 2007 ACC class with six signees. Maryland has five.

The rankings are summarized below:

(1) Duke
(2) Georgia Tech
(3) N.C. State
(4) Florida State
(5) Virginia Tech
(6) Wake Forest
(7) Maryland
(8) Virginia
(9) Boston College
(10) Miami
(11) Clemson
(12) North Carolina

Related, Dave Sez has done a nice analysis on the talent entering the ACC this year.

NC State’s Future
We’ve been keeping a running list of the Wolfpack’s projected roster for the past year as we have been following recruiting. With the news that Tracy Smith has not only signed but is projected to academically qualify to play next season (and should be enrolling at State this summer), then it becomes more clear that someone on NC State’s current roster will not be returning to the program next season.

Early rumblings from Raleigh seem to indicate that Bartosz Lewandowski may be having some health issues that will preclude him from participating in college athletics in the future. We do not know who true this is and will be looking into it further; we will exclude Lewandowski for the purposes of the following projections. Also unknown for the purposes of the following projections is the classification of Marques Johnson next year. Will he be a freshman or a sophomore?

Senior Class
(1) Gavin Grant (2G/3F)

Junior Class
(2) Courtney Fells (2G)
(3) Ben McCauley (4F/5C)

Sophomore Class
(4) Brandon Costner (3F/4F)
(5) Trevor Ferguson (2G/PG)
(6) Dennis Horner (3F)
(7) Farnold Degand (1PG)

Freshman Class
(8) Johnny Thomas (3F)
(9) JJ Hickson (5C/4F)
(10) Tracy Smith (4F/3F)
(11) Marques Johnson (2G) (eligible after first semester)
(12) Javi Gonzalez (1PG)

HS Senior Commits
(13) Julius Mays (PG)
(1) CJ Williams (3F/2G) [Gavin Grant’s old scholarship]

More from Dave Glenn:

N.C. State is in the unusual position, even at this early stage, of having filled all of its open roster spots with commitments from members of the Class of 2008. These high school juniors won’t be in college until the 2008-09 season, remember, but Lowe already has secured pledges from Indiana guard Julius Mays and in-state (Fayetteville Jack Britt) swingman C.J. Williams. Unless a current team member leaves the program prematurely, the Wolfpack has no more available scholarships for high school juniors.

Given the nature (transfers, early NBA entries, etc.) of modern college basketball, of course, the Wolfpack is continuing to stay in contact with a variety of 2008 prospects, even without an open scholarship.

Updated – July 30, 2007
Link to WS Journal

There are four incoming freshmen to go with two players who transferred in last year and will be eligible in the coming season. The four freshmen alone – center J.J. Hickson, forwards Tracy Smith and Johnny Thomas, and guard Javier Gonzalez – gave State the No. 14 class in the nation, according to PrepStars, and the No. 2 class in the ACC behind Duke. Scout.com rated the class No. 17 in the nation and No. 2 in the ACC.

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Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

263 Responses to 2007 Basketball Recruiting Rankings & Review

  1. redfred2 05/31/2007 at 6:25 PM #

    Um, let me back up here, maybe he’s not screwing up so royally after all.

  2. vtpackfan 05/31/2007 at 8:21 PM #

    Just read where Brackman is not on the 25 man roster for the regionals. Here’s to the Pack winning it in Columbia. Good luck as a pro AB.

  3. choppack1 05/31/2007 at 8:21 PM #

    Wow. I hate it that the college game can’t keep great coaches anymore.

    I don’t buy this “want to be the best crap.” If you want to be the best, try breaking Wooden’s record.

    This is too bad – I wanted BD to pass Deano in titles…The bad news is that this may be timed just perfectly enough so he can do it at Duck or Chapel Hell.

    Regarding Costner, McCauley and Hickson on the floor at the same time. I think that will happen – however, I don’t think you want that line-up on the floor for a long time.

    What I’m really looking forward to is seeing how we play D. Red Fred – you were dead on about our baseline D last year. I think part of it could have been fearing foul trouble. I was encouraged by the D we played in the 2nd half of the year. As Wake Forest has demonstrated – you better play good D or you’re not accomplishing much significant.

    I’m also interested to see how we play the whole year. Last year, we had a lot of peaks and valleys. However, I was thrilled w/ how we finished out. IF we see that kind of effort 2007-2008 – I think we’ll all be very happy.

  4. xphoenix87 05/31/2007 at 10:01 PM #

    I’d love to see us play some more of that 1-3-1 defense that we ran early last year with Horner at the top, he was really disruptive in that setup and I think Hickson would be great in a 1-3-1. In fact, I’d much rather see Horner start than Grant, unless Gavin has taken huge steps forward in decision making and defense. He fits perfectly as an energy guy off the bench who can provide bursts of scoring, he’d just have to be willing to take on that role. I was wrong with my assessment of Horner early last year when I thought he’d take 3-4 years to be a legit ACC player. He was one of the smartest players for us last year (behind Ben and Engin), and has an excellent midrange pull-up game, something that you don’t find a lot in players anymore. He’s not going to take it strong to the hole and finish much, but he’s really good at rising up after one dribble for the shot.

    I’ll give Donovan 3 years before he’s back in college basketball. College coaches moving to the NBA never works, and I don’t see Donovan being an exception.

  5. choppack1 05/31/2007 at 10:46 PM #

    xphoenix – Grant can take over games. The move to PG seemed to mess up his head a little bit. I think he helped key our resurgence – and he made some clutch shots. He and Costner can both create their own shots, Horner can’t.

    I was impressed w/ Horner this year, but Grant can be absolute monster and has a set of skills very few w/ his height possess in the college game.

  6. xphoenix87 05/31/2007 at 11:41 PM #

    Lets stop making excuses for Gavin about how he’s been playing out of position and whatever. He’s always been a bad decision-maker. The move to point guard really exacerbated that, but he didn’t stop making those same mistakes once he moved to the wing. He has no concept of ball movement and he’s a terrible defensive player. Is he enormously physically gifted? Yes, of course he is, but he hasn’t ever shown a good basketball mind. He’s an excellent penetrator who improved at getting to the line last year, and he’s an above-average rebounder at his position. Other than that, what does Gavin consistently bring to the table? Not defense. Not a jump shot. Not ball movement. Again, there’s the possibility that he’s vastly improved in some of those areas, and I’d love to see it, I’m just not expecting it.

    Horner may not be the athlete that Grant is, but he’s got a much better basketball head on his shoulders. He’s a much better shooter, a better defender, and he’s one of the few players on the team who actually knew how to throw a post entry pass last year.

    It’s a trade off, but Grant is the perfect type of player to come of the bench, with his offensive explosiveness and deficiencies in other areas.

  7. Rick 06/01/2007 at 7:47 AM #

    “The move to point guard really exacerbated that, but he didn’t stop making those same mistakes once he moved to the wing. He has no concept of ball movement and he’s a terrible defensive player. ”

    Did Gavin stela your girlfriend or something?
    He has his flaws but so does every player. You are overreacting to say the least.

  8. packpigskinfan23 06/01/2007 at 8:30 AM #

    yeah phoenix that is a bit harsh…

    Gavin Grant is a bad decision maker. I agree. He is a also a “balls to the wall” type player that has a ton of passion and loves NCSU. He not only played out of position last year, but he is also rather small for his postion… but he demands the respect of the other team while he is at it. He is the type of basketball player that takes a ton of risk while showing skill to get the shot. Unfortunatly for us that didnt work out too well this year(unlike it did for UNC) because of our lineup issues… but I love Gavin Grant for all that he does for NCSU.

  9. PapaJohn 06/01/2007 at 8:39 AM #

    ^ LOL
    Agreed Rick. We don’t have any flawless players.

    I believe what we will see this year is Gavin playing much better. Last year he had to play multiple positions and I think he thought he had to carry the team. And he’s not that kind of player.
    This year I think Sid will simplify Gavin’s responsibilities, therefore giving him fewer choices to make and lessening the likelihood of him choosing poorly.
    Like every other college ball player, I’m sure Gavin’s thinking NBA so I bet he’s gotten his offseason instructions from Sid and is working hard to prepare for his Senior season.
    And you know Sid’s going to honor his seniors. I can’t see a scenario in which Gavin comes off the bench.

  10. Rick 06/01/2007 at 9:06 AM #

    I think it takes more than a few months to beat the bad habits of the faux PO out of him. So I expect him to be much better next year.

  11. CedarGroveWolf 06/01/2007 at 9:16 AM #

    ^ sad

  12. redfred2 06/01/2007 at 9:19 AM #

    As far as the earlier comments, I agree that Grant, as well as most everyone on the team, needs to make some major adjustments and some hard schooling on fundamentals of defense. I wouldn’t mind those comments so bad if Grant had a bad attitude and didn’t seem to care, or if he wasn’t trying out there, but he is exerting more energy than the rest for the most part, misguided though it might be. Maybe with the right guidance he has some capacity to improve on his decision making processes, but he is a kid who does put forth the effort on the basketball court. Hopefully between seasons, and as upcoming senior Wolfpacker, this staff can make Grant realize that he doesn’t have to force it. That only NOW, there are other capable players at every position who will actually want the ball in the clutch, and he doesn’t have to do something that makes him look foolish because no one else is willing to put themselves on the line.

  13. xphoenix87 06/01/2007 at 9:22 AM #

    See, this is why I have to voice my opinion on Gavin so strongly. Everyone has a list of excuses for him. He played out of position, last year was a tough year and he was trying too hard to carry us, he’s a senior, etc. Some of those are probably perfectly valid excuses, and I certainly hope that Gavin can take the next step in his development and become a smarter player. However, the basic facts are that he turns the ball over at a tremendous rate and he really only brings two things to the table, slashing and rebounding. Please, if I’m overreacting, tell me where I’m wrong about his basketball skills. The player I watched last year stood straight up on defense, didn’t shoot well from the perimeter, turned the ball over far too much, and usually killed all ball movement when the ball swung to him. It got to the point where my friend and I would watch games and just laugh when the ball got swung around the perimeter because almost every time Gavin touched it he would hold the ball for 2-3 seconds. Like clockwork, the ball would swing and Gavin would stop it. I also remember multiple instances where he killed our spacing by standing right next to another perimeter player, again ruining ball movement. These aren’t things that turn up in the stats sheet and they’re not even really that noticeable if you’re just watching a game casually, but they’re the kind of mental mistakes that you rarely see players at this level make.

    Again, I would love to see Gavin improve on all these areas. He’s got enormous potential if he ever realizes it, and I really hope he does this year. However, I’m not holding my breath for that. Gavin hasn’t shown any signs of improving his decision making the last 2 years, and I don’t think it’s likely that his senior season will magically improve that so that he can give “veteran leadership”. The Gavin from last year is the perfect type of player to come off the bench and give his team a boost in energy and scoring, so if he doesn’t improve that’s where I would prefer to see him. This has nothing to do with honoring seniors. You honor your seniors by trying to win the most games possible for them, and I would hope that Sid is going to trot out the lineup that gives his team the best chance to win.

  14. redfred2 06/01/2007 at 10:03 AM #

    “he really only brings two things to the table, slashing and rebounding.”

    I’d take those two attributes and be pretty happy with them. But not as a the primary ball handler or the person who seemed to always be left with the ball when the shot clock was running down, nobody else moving, just off hiding somewhere in the corner. Apparently some of our current roster’s HS experiences weren’t such that the fundamentals were driven home, and then they evolved in a different system when they arrived in Raleigh, I can’t really lash out at the kid because of that. I’ll say this, the reason that Grant has taken the heat, say versus a Corey Fells who SHOULD HAVE been more visable as an option at PG spot, is because even though he hasn’t matured and developed as we had hoped, somehow, he still came through with his confidence still intact and isn’t afraid to try.

  15. Rick 06/01/2007 at 10:17 AM #

    “^ sad”

    I am the PUPPET MASTER

  16. CedarGroveWolf 06/01/2007 at 10:19 AM #

    weak

  17. redfred2 06/01/2007 at 10:24 AM #

    Cedar,

    Such depth, such analytical skills, the detail, and the delivery!!!

    Where in the world does it all come from?

  18. Rick 06/01/2007 at 10:27 AM #

    “However, the basic facts are that he turns the ball over at a tremendous rate and he really only brings two things to the table, slashing and rebounding.”

    No, these are your opinions.

    Here are some actual facts
    – He was the second leading scorer on the team
    – He was third in FG% behind Horner and McCauley
    – He had almost as many assists as turnovers
    – He lead the team in minutes played at almost 37 minutes a game.
    – And he had way too many turnovers

    So he did turn the ball over too much. And since you consider being forced to play the toughest position on the court when you are not prepared for it an excuse, I guess he then sucks.

    What I see is a guy that plays his heart out, scores well while shooting a high percentage and is willing to do what he can to help the team win.

  19. Rick 06/01/2007 at 10:28 AM #

    “weak”

    Watch as I pull the strings to make him sing.

  20. PapaJohn 06/01/2007 at 10:53 AM #

    I love Gavin and only wish he’d had four years of coaching instead of the two he’ll end up with. It would have been nice to see what he could have become. But he is still one of the best players on the team.
    I’ll go out on a limb and predict what we’ll see from him this year:

    – He will be the second leading scorer on the team again
    – He will be third in FG% again
    – He will have more assists than turnovers
    – He will lead the team in minutes played due to his versatility
    – And he will greatly reduce his turnovers simply because he’ll have less than 50% of last years minutes with the ball in his hands

    (royalty check in the mail to Rick)

    Assuming he stays healthy, I’m betting we’ll see him on some All ACC team and making some ESPN highlight reels in the NCAAT.

  21. PapaJohn 06/01/2007 at 10:54 AM #

    where did that BOLD come from?????????

  22. redfred2 06/01/2007 at 11:01 AM #

    I think what we’re witnessing are possibly the last vestiges. Two very athletic kids, Grant and Fells, who were recruited, signed on to, and got lost in a system that didn’t suit their skills, and more importantly did not mesh with their personalities at all. I don’t want to be right just to make a point personally, but I sincerely hope Gavin Grant will either bust wide open as a senior, or just finish out comfortably while benefitting the team in a lesser role. Fells more has time, whether he comes around and realizes his potential, is yet to seen.

  23. xphoenix87 06/01/2007 at 11:02 AM #

    Despite the fact that your facts do not contradict my statements in the slightest, I’ll add a few in there since we’re playing around with facts.

    Facts
    – Gavin shot 31.5% from the 3-point line.
    – He had a worse A/T rate after Atsur came back to run the point.
    – His Effective Field Goal percentage was second lowest on the team, beating only Bryan Nieman
    – His Offensive Rating (according to KenPom.com) was also second lowest on the team, only beating Ferguson
    – He averaged less STLs+BLKs than any other starter.

    Now, it’s common knowledge that you can usually make stats say whatever you want them to, so I don’t like to rely too much on statistics to make my point. In particular, there aren’t really any good defensive statistics out there. However, I don’t really need statistics to tell me that Grant standing straight up in poor defensive position every play of every game makes him a bad defender. Also, lets stop using the excuse that he doesn’t get spacing and ball movement because of the changing offenses. Whether you love it or hate it (and around here it appears to be “hate it”), the Princeton Offense is all about spacing and ball movement. If anything, Gavin should know better than most after 2 years of that, but he doesn’t. You can say all you want about his confidence and his hard work, but it has to translate to good play. Really, lets be honest, which of our players are you going to say didn’t work hard and play their heart out last year? That’s right, none of them. I don’t hate Gavin Grant, I’m criticizing his game, which is what a fan is supposed to do, not just be blindly defensive.

  24. redfred2 06/01/2007 at 11:14 AM #

    Grant, just like:

    Bennerman, Simmons, Brackman, blah, blah, blah, even Hodge,…and on down a list a mile long…is a very capable athlete and should have been much more of an asset throughout his years in Raleigh. Not saying that he hasn’t been, given the boundaries in which he spent 75 percent of college career. Hopefully in this last season he’ll get to enjoy and be appreciated for just playing hard all through some of the most rediculous circumstances anyone could ever imagine.

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  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » Spotlight on CJ and Beyond - 06/01/2007

    NQljTn I loved your article. Much obliged.

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