Class of 2014 Dakari Johnson

[EastCoast2]

Rak leaving or not will have absolutely no influence on Dakari's decision.

No, it definitely will. Does Rak get minutes at the center position? Yes. This = more competition for Dakari. Rak was a top 3 center coming out of high school.

 

[FLorange]

Jahlil Okafor vs. Dakari Johnson. Whitney Young vs. Montverde

 

[SWFLCUSE]

I'll be watching Dakari @ The City of Palms Tournament tonight at 11pm. Just finished watching Huntington Prep w/ an all D1 starting 5 including our (hopefully) very own Andrew Wiggins. He seemed disinterested followed by flashes of freak athleticism. Showed a few NBA moves and almost hit his head on a few ally oops. Still ended up with 31. I'd love to watch him when challenged.

I was there all day yesterday, and you are dead on about wiggins he was just toying with his opponent the whole game. In respect to the dakari vs jahlil matchup I would give the edge to dakari, even though he jahlil out scored him dakari made him work for every basket. Neither of them were that good from the line and missed quite a few free throws. On the glass dakari just dominated, he easily had fourteen or fifteen rebounds. He gets great position under the rim and times his jump perfectly. All in all I want him more now than I did, he would look great in the middle of the zone, even if it was for only a year.

 

[ORRange]

No, it definitely will. Does Rak get minutes at the center position? Yes. This = more competition for Dakari. Rak was a top 3 center coming out of high school.

DC and Rak co-exist, so would Dakari and Rak. Dakari isn't going to even try to split time with DC.

 

[Francis03]

I was there all day yesterday, and you are dead on about wiggins he was just toying with his opponent the whole game. In respect to the dakari vs jahlil matchup I would give the edge to dakari, even though he jahlil out scored him dakari made him work for every basket. Neither of them were that good from the line and missed quite a few free throws. On the glass dakari just dominated, he easily had fourteen or fifteen rebounds. He gets great position under the rim and times his jump perfectly. All in all I want him more now than I did, he would look great in the middle of the zone, even if it was for only a year.

How did Dakari look offensively working against Okafor in the post? Was he a factor blocking and altering shots inside?

 

[SWFLCUSE]

How did Dakari look offensively working against Okafor in the post? Was he a factor blocking and altering shots inside?

By my count he had three blocks and altered a few others. On offense he showed good back to the basket moves, but when ever he faced up and drove from the high post or short corner he would fall away from the hoop thus he ended up taking some lower percent shots.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

I also should note that neither player was afraid of contact and banged all night in a, for the most part, loosely reffed game. Dakari is built to bang down low and Okafor is no stick he gave just as well as he received.

 

[Francis03]

By my count he had three blocks and altered a few others. On offense he showed good back to the basket moves, but when ever he faced up and drove from the high post or short corner he would fall away from the hoop thus he ended up taking some lower percent shots.

Good stuff, thanks. When I've watched Dakari, he always impressed me with his low post skills and ability to score around basket. My only negatives were the lack of lift, shot blocking, and poor conditioning. He has reportedly loss a lot of weight, so I would assume his conditioning and lift should be much better now.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

I also should note that neither player was afraid of contact and banged all night in a, for the most part, loosely reffed game. Dakari is built to bang down low and Okafor is no stick he gave just as well as he received.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

Good stuff, thanks. When I've watched Dakari, he always impressed me with his low post skills and ability to score around basket. My only negatives were the lack of lift, shot blocking, and poor conditioning. He has reportedly loss a lot of weight, so I would assume his conditionin and lift should be much better now.

He did look like a lean mean fighting machine but he had a brace on his right knee that seemed to limit his jumping ability. He defiantly wasn't the best leaper but use his size and timing to his advantage so he really didn't need to jump much.

 

[ClamOtto]

Any insights on why we've got another UK/SU/Gtown fight for a big man? Seems like strange coincidence. I understand SU and UK are both heavy hitters, and we seem to be recruiting against them frequently (Noel, DCII, Dakari, off the top of my head) but very rarely against places like Duke, UNC, or Kansas. And I have no idea how Georgetown gets into the mix, especially when they're about to be a mid-major.

 

[themorey]

Any insights on why we've got another UK/SU/Gtown fight for a big man? Seems like strange coincidence. I understand SU and UK are both heavy hitters, and we seem to be recruiting against them frequently (Noel, DCII, Dakari, off the top of my head) but very rarely against places like Duke, UNC, or Kansas. And I have no idea how Georgetown gets into the mix, especially when they're about to be a mid-major.

JAB and Coach K are buds. They probably identify their top targets and agree not to recruit against each other.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

Any insights on why we've got another UK/SU/Gtown fight for a big man? Seems like strange coincidence. I understand SU and UK are both heavy hitters, and we seem to be recruiting against them frequently (Noel, DCII, Dakari, off the top of my head) but very rarely against places like Duke, UNC, or Kansas. And I have no idea how Georgetown gets into the mix, especially when they're about to be a mid-major.

I didn't see anyone yesterday but I heard from a friend who worked in the concession booth the day before he served a white male that mentioned he was down from Upstate NY, I showed him a pic of both Hopkins and McNamera and he said that the man he served looked more like hop. This was the night Dakari went 11-11 with 23 points and 10 rebounds

 

[Francis03]

http://247sports.com/Article/Dakari-Johnson-Devin-Williams-play-strong-107978
"A West Virginia recruit, Williams, who has put together a strong tournament. rang up 17 points while Johnson matched him in points while pulling down 17 rebounds and blocking seven shots. Johnson gathered that same amount of rebounds the prior night against Chicago Whitney Young."

Johnson has always been strong on the boards but it's good to read that he's making an impact defensively blocking shots as well.

 

[Francis03]

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/d_ntGh...de-academy-captures-city-of-palms-classic.htm
Dakari gets MVP honors after Montverde wins the tourney. He averaged 14ppg, 14rpg, 4bpg, in the 4 games.

 

[jgeorge322]

I saw the finals of the city of palms. Dakari didn't play great but he wasn't bad either. He was guarded by a byu recruit who was good. That opened up his teammate who is a wvu recruit. Dakari doesn't force anything, is a good defender and rebounder, and is a skilled passer. He knows to kick it out when guards double down on him instead of forcing up a shot. After the game I spoke to his mom. They said they went on an unofficial visit to syracuse and really liked it. They like the academics (said he wants to do communications) and his grandparents still live in Brooklyn so the location is good. Dakari and mom were really nice. I said whatever they do no georgetown an they laughed.

I also spoke to wiggins. Nice kid but cuse has no shot.

 

[Francis03]

I saw the finals of the city of palms. Dakari didn't play great but he wasn't bad either. He was guarded by a byu recruit who was good. That opened up his teammate who is a wvu recruit. Dakari doesn't force anything, is a good defender and rebounder, and is a skilled passer. He knows to kick it out when guards double down on him instead of forcing up a shot. After the game I spoke to his mom. They said they went on an unofficial visit to syracuse and really liked it. They like the academics (said he wants to do communications) and his grandparents still live in Brooklyn so the location is good. Dakari and mom were really nice. I said whatever they do no georgetown an they laughed.

I also spoke to wiggins. Nice kid but cuse has no shot.

I heard Wiggins is a really nice dude as well. Signed autographs for nearly everybody in attendance last night, I was told.

 

[tee1222]

I heard Wiggins is a really nice dude as well. Signed autographs for nearly everybody in attendance last night, I was told.

Francis, are we completely out of the loop with Wiggins? Kid's a beast on both ends of the court.

 

[jgeorge322]

Wiggins signed everything. I had him sign a program for my brother and thanked him for providing the cheapest Christmas gift ever. He got a kick out of that. I asked how is cuse looking and the response was "ehhhh". And then he laughed. It was a clear indication we are not being considered currently. He was a good sport though. His teammate is going to fsu and Leonard Hamilton was at every game. I like the fsu guard a lot. Although the most impressive guard was TJ haws from lone peak. He's not an nba player but will do well at byu. Just a real gritty white guy. Was schoolin the mont verde guards.

 

[tee1222]

Wiggins signed everything. I had him sign a program for my brother and thanked him for providing the cheapest Christmas gift ever. He got a kick out of that. I asked how is cuse looking and the response was "ehhhh". And then he laughed. It was a clear indication we are not being considered currently. He was a good sport though. His teammate is going to fsu and Leonard Hamilton was at every game. I like the fsu guard a lot. Although the most impressive guard was TJ haws from lone peak. He's not an nba player but will do well at byu. Just a real gritty white guy. Was schoolin the mont verde guards.

That's cool, thanks for the honesty. Even though he probably isn't coming here, it's respectful that he's honest about Cuse and not a drama queen and stringing us along.

 

[Francis03]

Francis, are we completely out of the loop with Wiggins? Kid's a beast on both ends of the court.

He has always been a longshot and the staff has hardly shown any interest in him over the past few months. It's always been a UK/FSU battle with UNC being the sleeper lately.

 

[tee1222]

He has always been a longshot and the staff has hardly shown any interest in him over the past few months. It's always been a UK/FSU battle with UNC being the sleeper lately.

2 ACC teams and UK.
Triple D'oh!

 

[SWFLCUSE]

I heard Wiggins is a really nice dude as well. Signed autographs for nearly everybody in attendance last night, I was told.

I can attest to him signing for everyone, I waited for 25 minutes and he signed a Mitchell wiggins(his dad) 89-90 basketball card I brought he just laughed and said in a few years hopefully I'll have my own

 

[Francis03]

I can attest to him signing for everyone, I waited for 25 minutes and he signed a Mitchell wiggins(his dad) 89-90 basketball card I brought he just laughed and said in a few years hopefully I'll have my ownView attachment 1678

I like that. Really cool that he's very humble and hasn't let the hype get to his head.

 

[EastCoast2]

This Dakari Johnson thread has been hijacked