Spring recruiting for the basketball team

[Lefty]

This is going to be an important couple of weeks for Sean Miller. He has the scholarships available and hopefully he can bring in three players for the upcoming year.

Those that could wind up at the UofA:

Solomon Hill-I have read the chances of landing Hill are pretty good. It looks like it's going to come down to the UofA, USC and Kentucky.

Kyryl Natyazhko-it looks like he will choose between the UofA and ASU. This would be a big steal if Miller can get him.
http://www.imgacademies.com/basketball-academy/news-and-results/pac-10-battle-for-natyazhko/

Jarrid Famous-getting this big JC center to replace Hill would be big.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2009/04/recruiting-could-miller-lure-famous-to-arizona.html

 

[DWKB]

Quintrell Thomas just announced his transfer from KU. He's out of NJ and didn't have Xavier or AZ on his original list, but was a 4* PF with a lot of potential. Should be somebody Miller might have some inroads with out in Big East country.

 

[arthurracoon]

Well, thats 2 of the 3 in one weekend!

 

[overseascardfan]

Well, thats 2 of the 3 in one weekend!

Most likely Famous signs after his visit on the 17th, there isn't much competition for him and Richardson has been recruiting him for awhile.

I am just curious as to the status of Kevin Parrom, conventional wisdom says that with Hill, Natayazhko & Famous we'd be done but if Parrom wants to come here then by all means let him. There are no PG prospects to offer other than Thames who met with the new WSU coach yesterday.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

Hill and Kyryl are two huge pieces to this class. I havent heard one word about Parrom though and if he were to come to UA Miller essentially would be taking a player from his assistant/friend (should he get hired at Xavier) and he doesnt seem like the kind of guy to pull something like that.

Either way if we eventually land Famous, which I dont think is as sure a thing as everyone makes it out to be, that will be huge for our rebuilding because we would have two skilled big men where as last week we had Alex Jacobson and DJ Shumpert.

I think Thames would be a nice get if he eventually leaves WSU because from what I have been told he can put the ball in the hole and that is something we are definitely going to need.

As far as a replacement for Wise after this year you have to think Gary Franklin is going to strongly considering decommitting from SC and opening things back up since UA was hot after him and will be needed a PG next year.

 

[Russ Smith]

Thames stuck with WSU. Memphis is recruiting Famous now so it's Miller against Pastner there.

On Franklin he's really similar to Lamont Jones, undersized 2 playing PG. I have no idea how firm his commit to USC is, you never really know that with SC, the fact that they're recruiting Jones so heavily may bother Franklin. I don't think SC expected to lose Hackett this year and they're just panicking now. Also SC is probably losing Donte Smith, the claim is he'll transfer to a lower division so he can play right away. So that's why they're so anxious to get Jones even if it might bother Franklin.

 

[Renz]

Kevin Parrom
By Denny Conroy
Associate Editor
Date: Apr 18, 2009

Kevin Parrom, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound shooting guard / small forward from New York City and South Kent School in Conn., has been granted his release from the National Letter of Intent he signed with Xavier this past November.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbc...b3b4-c23e0e0ec08b&sid=sitelife.cincinnati.com

The LA Times is reporting that Lamont Jones has signed with USC, but supposedly he still has visits set up w/Florida nd Arizona.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-usc-basketball20-2009apr20,0,4456508.story

 

[Renz]

Famous supposedly chose South Florida over AZ and Missouri.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I guess Sean Miller is human. Two 4 star impact kids in three weeks is very good though, at this point I'd just as rather see them save the scholarships for the potentially huge 2010 class instead of doling out rides to mediocre players for the sake of filling out the roster.

 

[Renz]

Kevin Parrom has trimmed his list down to Arizona, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and Xavier.

He has visits set up at Pitt (4/26) and UofA (5/2).

 

[Russ Smith]

Take it with a grain of salt since I have no idea about the source but there's a guy on BRO who claims his daughter goes to school with Tyler Lamb and Lamb is talking about decommitting from UCLA to go to UA. It's one guy and nobody has in any way confirmed it, and when Lamb committed he said that he had offers from a bunch of schools including UA but UCLA "was the one I was waiting for."

Interesting if it turns out to be true, you have to figure there were some kids who verballed to other schools because of Lute's situation and may now change their minds. Hill was first bolting USC for UA.

 

[Renz]

This guy is reporting the same thing. His source might be the same, I don't know.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Rumor regarding Elite West Coast Guard
Take it for what it is worth, but elite 2010 SG Tyler Lamb (UCLA commit) is rumored to be wavering on his commitment. The new school said to be in the mix is none other then Pac 10 rival Arizona. Stay tuned as I try to confirm if this is indeed true.

http://www.coast2coastrecruiting.net/

 

[Russ Smith]

This guy is reporting the same thing. His source might be the same, I don't know.



http://www.coast2coastrecruiting.net/

Yeah that's the problem with rumors from someone who's never posted on BRO before, you have no idea if they're starting the rumor or passing it on as they said. But once something appears on the pay side of BRO it usually starts hitting free sites quickly which I would guess is the source for that link.

It makes some sense, traditionally UCLA does not recruit well from Mater Dei and UA does, the problem is Lamb was only at Mater Dei one year, and Lamb's coach Gary McKnight has a son on UCLA's staff(video coordinator) so you would assume Gary isn't going to badmouth his son's staff. In the old days it was pretty well known McKnight disliked Jim Harrick and any kid he had he tried to push away from UCLA. After Harrick left UCLA slowly rebuilt a relationship with McKnight ultimately getting Ced Bozeman, but that's the only MD kid UCLA has gotten in ages.

We'll see so far it's a rumor that nobody who's an "insider" has confirmed but it certainly wouldn't shock me. One thing you have to consider is with the slow years from Jrue and the injury plagued year from Malcolm Lee, there is suddenly a situation where 2 kids who Lamb probably assumed would be "out of his way" might not be. If Jrue comes back it'll probably reduce the minutes
Lee plays which may reduce the odds of him blowing up and turning pro. So when Lamb is a freshman it's now more likely Lee as a junior would be the 2.
Jrue would be gone by then of course but with Anderson and Lee as juniors it would cut Lamb's available PT.

Too early to worry and even if it happened I wouldn't necessarily panic, it's just inevitable that some kids who committed while the UA job was in limbo may now rethink their commits, that's just common sense.

 

[Lefty]

Lance Stephenson to the UofA?

http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/04/26/lance-stephenson-to-the-pac-10/#more-15695

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Landing Born Ready basically ensures Nic coming back and Arizona extending the Streak to 26. We'll see if he schedules a visit, if he does we should be in pretty good position to land him. Everyone seems to think he'll end up in Europe or at St. John's.

 

[Russ Smith]

Landing Born Ready basically ensures Nic coming back and Arizona extending the Streak to 26. We'll see if he schedules a visit, if he does we should be in pretty good position to land him. Everyone seems to think he'll end up in Europe or at St. John's.

He seems like the type of kid to me who's more trouble than his talent is worth? He's one of those guys that doesn't get along with players on his team, he's very emotional and apparently selfish. talented but I'm also not sure how good he'll be in colege, he basically overpowers kids in HS with his size and strength, he's not overly quick nor is he a "great" athlete, and he's not a great shooter. I think he may have issues adjusting in college when he can't just bull his way to the basket.

His dad insists he's not going to Europe but nobody really believes they haven't at least looked into it.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

No, he's worth it because assuming he has a good experience in his one year in Tucson then he basically opens up the NYC-area floodgates to Arizona with Book Richardson's connections and pretty much sews up Arizona surpassing UNC's Tournament streak and college basketball glory.

Yeah, Richardson's a bit of a headcase but his talent is undeniable. If I was a college coach I wouldn't have passed on any of the recent NYC legends (Starbury, Telfair, Ron Ron, Lamar Odom) despite their attitude problems.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

No, he's worth it because assuming he has a good experience in his one year in Tucson then he basically opens up the NYC-area floodgates to Arizona with Book Richardson's connections and pretty much sews up Arizona surpassing UNC's Tournament streak and college basketball glory.

Yeah, Richardson's a bit of a headcase but his talent is undeniable. If I was a college coach I wouldn't have passed on any of the recent NYC legends (Starbury, Telfair, Ron Ron, Lamar Odom) despite their attitude problems.

The chasm in talent is significant no doubt but Parrom does the same thing with none of the headache as well.

At the same time I am all about the streak and getting guys to the NBA so if he wants to come I have open arms waiting for him.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The chasm in talent is significant no doubt but Parrom does the same thing with none of the headache as well.

At the same time I am all about the streak and getting guys to the NBA so if he wants to come I have open arms waiting for him.

Miller would probably take both Parrom and Lance. I'm not super-amped to get the kid because there are drawbacks but if he wants to come to Arizona we'd gladly take him and chalk up #26. Should know in the next couple weeks one way or the other, I'm guessing when all is said and done he ends up elsewhere.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

Head case or not Arizona needs someone who can score the ball. Should UA land him and the staff keep him under control UA would have a very strong chance at making it 26. Also, I like Parrom, but he isnt Stephenson.

Right now Arizona has Nic Wise as their primary offensive weapon. UA needs to land someone who can put the ball in the basket and Stephenson is about the only legit prospect left UA can go after who can do that.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Parrom's a definite top 100 player and probably an impact Pac-10 player once all is said and done but Arizona needs help next year with all the dead weight on their roster. Stephenson fits that criteria.

Remember - Sean Miller has said he's only going to recruit kids who he thinks will help him win Arizona a national championship so there's not going to be any more scholarships wasted on non-contributors. You're not going to see us offer this year's version of Garland Judkins, DJ Shumpert or whoever late just to fill scholarships. Assuming Nic stays and both freshmen go against the odds and contribute we have at the very most five players capable of contributing consistently at a Pac-10 level (Wise, Fogg, Jamelle). We could definitely use both Parrom and Lance.

 

[Russ Smith]

No, he's worth it because assuming he has a good experience in his one year in Tucson then he basically opens up the NYC-area floodgates to Arizona with Book Richardson's connections and pretty much sews up Arizona surpassing UNC's Tournament streak and college basketball glory.

Yeah, Richardson's a bit of a headcase but his talent is undeniable. If I was a college coach I wouldn't have passed on any of the recent NYC legends (Starbury, Telfair, Ron Ron, Lamar Odom) despite their attitude problems.

I guess I wonder if UA needs to take a chance like that rather than just take the down year this coming year and come back stronger? Stephenson was literally sent home from the recent national team tryouts he was at because of behavioral problems.

UA had some kids in the last years of Lute who were behavioral issues, I just am not convinced lance is good enough to be worth it, especially at just one year? Maybe thats not long enough to become a huge distraction. he can certainly play but he's not as good as the hype surrounding him.

I do think UA would be a better fit for him than St johns, he needs to get out of NY, I'm just not sure most of the people he needs to get away from won't just come with him.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I guess I wonder if UA needs to take a chance like that rather than just take the down year this coming year and come back stronger? Stephenson was literally sent home from the recent national team tryouts he was at because of behavioral problems.

How would the team come back stronger in 2010-2011 if we stayed away from Stephenson? He's going to the NBA whether Arizona struggles with him or they go to the Final Four. It's not like we're choosing between some solid four year player and Lance, we'd take both him and Parrom and at this point after them there's nobody really left on the board. Stephenson if Arizona lands him is a calculated gamble, a mercenary to give us a better chance at getting #26 and hopefully open up some sort of East Coast pipeline via Book Richardson.

UA had some kids in the last years of Lute who were behavioral issues, I just am not convinced lance is good enough to be worth it, especially at just one year? Maybe thats not long enough to become a huge distraction. he can certainly play but he's not as good as the hype surrounding him.

The last "headcase" kids at Arizona were probably Hassan and Chris Rodgers and those two guys won two Pac-10 championships and went to two Elite 8's. And I guess Marcus Williams but his teams weren't that bad considering his supporting talent. I was more upset with the program when the team was filled with the nice guys who couldn't play like Mustafa Shakur, Daniel Dillon, Brett Breilmaeir, Kirk Walters and Fendi Onobun.

Maybe thats not long enough to become a huge distraction. he can certainly play but he's not as good as the hype surrounding him.

How many times have you seen him play? He's top 15 on rivals, scout, hoopscoop, and espn which is good enough for me. I agree there might be some NYC favoritism at play but he's almost definitely a top 25 prospect at worst.

I do think UA would be a better fit for him than St johns, he needs to get out of NY, I'm just not sure most of the people he needs to get away from won't just come with him.

I don't see dozens of people moving for six months from Coney Island to Tucson just to sponge off Lance. It's not exactly on the beaten path.

 

[Russ Smith]

How many times have you seen him play? He's top 15 on rivals, scout, hoopscoop, and espn which is good enough for me. I agree there might be some NYC favoritism at play but he's almost definitely a top 25 prospect at worst.


I don't see dozens of people moving for six months from Coney Island to Tucson just to sponge off Lance. It's not exactly on the beaten path.

I've seen him several times on tape and twice on tv. He's not a good shooter, he's a "volume" scorer in that he takes lots of shots. Most of his points come in transition or drives to the basket, he's a very strong kid and just overpowers HS kids, but he's a very average shooter. He's not a bad athlete but not some jump out of the gym type, his game is more like a 3 or even a 4 than a 2 so I'm not sure where his ultimate position is. He's got an NBA build, but I don't think he's close to NBA ready. Not a great ballhandler and a very selfish player.

Now lots of kids who were selfish in HS don't play that way in college because in HS they were simply so good they felt it was stupid to pass, but Lance's rep is that he's very difficult to get along with.

He could be one of those guys that just causes more problems than he does good things or he might not. He's another kid that seems to have a problem father.

We'll see Arizona would be better for him than St Johns to get away from the posse for a year, you never know how a kid reacts to that, sometimes it's really for the better.

 

[Russ Smith]

FWIW Zagsblog now says Lance has dropped Maryland and St Johns so it's down to UA and MEmphis. He has not visited either school so it's an interesting final 2 but that's what Zagoria is reporting.