2018 PG Need some feedback | Syracusefan.com

2018 PG Need some feedback

memcorsu

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So, here I am having left CNY and now teaching in SFl, and coaching/working with athletic programs. Was scorer for a middle school tourney last few weekends and noticed a quick silky smooth 6'1" point over the last few weekends (kids 8th grade so not done growing). I am not really interested in being a WWW, but the one thing that stuck out is that this kid averaged about 10 assists a game (2 12 minute halves). From my humble experience, I have found it rare to see a kid want to pass first and not be Mr. Buckets so young especially in tourney play.

After watching the first game, I thought he saw the floor very well and had a high bball IQ but he didn't stick out much other than a passer/distributor (not just passing around but getting his teammates great passes for easy lay ups) until the final game when they played a tight game. This young man noticed that the other team was closing the lanes and his game went from distributor to scorer. He was able to slash and knock down a whole range of shots including mid and three point range.

After the tourney, him and I sat and had a serious talk about grades/effort in the classroom. I laid it on the table very clearly that he could either make something or be another statistic. Told him that the best NBA/NFL talent is sitting in prison right now and has never seen a field/court since HS other than that behind barb wire and chain link fence ( teach in a economically depressed area). I also let him know that a few of us will be keeping an eye on him over the next few years.

I guess after all that my question is; is there any way to inform the staff that there is a player they might want to keep an eye on? Should I even attempt to bother the staff?
 
At this point, IMO it's too early. As an 8th grader, he has so many things that can happen to him going forward, unless he is an absolutely transcendent talent (or 6'10 already) colleges wont look at him yet. As he gets to be a sophomore, you can reach out to schools on his behalf, and if he is still talented, doing things the right way, and improving his game (and hopefully taller) as a junior, you can really start pounding the table for him.
 
I guess after all that my question is; is there any way to inform the staff that there is a player they might want to keep an eye on? Should I even attempt to bother the staff?

Of course you should. Reach out to Hop, his email is listed on the athletic staff directory. The staff might already be aware of this kid, but probably not. One thing that has always been succesful for Syracuse is getting on their targets early and they know what they are looking for. The odds of this kid making it to that level is slim but you never know.
 
As he gets to be a sophomore, you can reach out to schools on his behalf, and if he is still talented, doing things the right way, and improving his game (and hopefully taller) as a junior, you can really start pounding the table for him.
I have to disagree with you slightly as most of the top 9th graders nowadays are already on the radar unless he isn't playing AAU. I don't think it's ever too early but obviously kids develop at a much different rate. I remember when I was in 5th grade one of my teammates averaged 40 ppg but that was the peak of his athletic success.
 
Oh and the kid told me that he is kin to Aaron Gant and Dionte Allen of OSU football. I spoke with his coach that verified that his kinfolk have some D1 pedigree.

PS
I also have the nephew of "The Fridge" as a 6th grader. Kid is huge. Fridge has a home down this way and spoke with the family, great people. Small world.
 
I have to disagree with you slightly as most of the top 9th graders nowadays are already on the radar unless he isn't playing AAU. I don't think it's ever too early but obviously kids develop at a much different rate. I remember when I was in 5th grade one of my teammates averaged 40 ppg but that was the peak of his athletic success.
Well, it's one thing if the kid is clearly a blue blood program future d1 player. It's another thing if he is a borderline upper D1 and below player (like 80%) of D1 players.
 
Well, it's one thing if the kid is clearly a blue blood program future d1 player. It's another thing if he is a borderline upper D1 and below player (like 80%) of D1 players.
True but sometimes kids do "blow up" their last two seasons so sometimes it's tough to make that differentiation. We know Hakim Warrick is the poster child for that.
 
True but sometimes kids do "blow up" their last two seasons so sometimes it's tough to make that differentiation. We know Hakim Warrick is the poster child for that.
Well that's what I mean. If he is a clear top notch d1 talent, they already know about him. If not, then in a few years they will know. Then you can pound the table for the kid to get him a a scholly.
 
Sounds like he needs to get on the AAU circuit. Seems like that is how a lot of kids get known.
 
Go ahead and send Hop a message. May not do anything but no harm done. AAU is deifinitely the best way to get these kids noticed broadly. As much as we like to think that the coaches know all the players and we can't possibly have seen a kid the coaches are unaware of that is not always the case. During a golf event I spent some time with an assistant at one of our local colleges (new BE) and asked about a kid that plays for one of our top rivals. He'd never heard of him or his name. He could have been playing the "I can't talk about recruits" game but he was more than willing to talk about others. I was kind of shocked how he could not of heard of a kid in our own town especially cosnidering the kid made ESPN for one of his dunks (against us). This player has multiple D1 offers though not "high level" D1, Several MAC schools along with East Carolina, Winthrop type schools. He may not be good enough for high D1 but to make that evaluation a coach at least needs to know his name to eliminate him. I have heard they are now looking at him. Player is 6'3" shooter with unlimited range but his athletcism is kind of freakish. Bottom lione is there are so many players out there its hard for a coach to have heard of everyone. Odds are an SU assistant with be near your area to watch somebody else. If he has this kids name it can't hurt.
 
never too early to get names out. Email, send tapes... NEVER too early. Most dumb phrase inrecruiting is that "If youre goood enough, you will be found." BS... Email all division one schools and get him on radar and continue to stay in touch with schools that he is interested in and actually good enough to play at.
 
So, here I am having left CNY and now teaching in SFl, and coaching/working with athletic programs. Was scorer for a middle school tourney last few weekends and noticed a quick silky smooth 6'1" point over the last few weekends (kids 8th grade so not done growing). I am not really interested in being a WWW, but the one thing that stuck out is that this kid averaged about 10 assists a game (2 12 minute halves). From my humble experience, I have found it rare to see a kid want to pass first and not be Mr. Buckets so young especially in tourney play.

After watching the first game, I thought he saw the floor very well and had a high bball IQ but he didn't stick out much other than a passer/distributor (not just passing around but getting his teammates great passes for easy lay ups) until the final game when they played a tight game. This young man noticed that the other team was closing the lanes and his game went from distributor to scorer. He was able to slash and knock down a whole range of shots including mid and three point range.

After the tourney, him and I sat and had a serious talk about grades/effort in the classroom. I laid it on the table very clearly that he could either make something or be another statistic. Told him that the best NBA/NFL talent is sitting in prison right now and has never seen a field/court since HS other than that behind barb wire and chain link fence ( teach in a economically depressed area). I also let him know that a few of us will be keeping an eye on him over the next few years.

I guess after all that my question is; is there any way to inform the staff that there is a player they might want to keep an eye on? Should I even attempt to bother the staff?
Really? Yes and Yes and not to be ambiguous YES!!!6' 1" IN THE 8TH GRADE? Send them a vide of some sort. Probably not VHS . I think even these guys are beyond tape.
 
At this point, IMO it's too early. As an 8th grader, he has so many things that can happen to him going forward, unless he is an absolutely transcendent talent (or 6'10 already) colleges wont look at him yet. As he gets to be a sophomore, you can reach out to schools on his behalf, and if he is still talented, doing things the right way, and improving his game (and hopefully taller) as a junior, you can really start pounding the table for him.
really. Bob Knight took a commitment from 8th grader Damon Bailey. call the staff. I guarantee someone will talk to you or get back to you. Once, they gave me Hopkins' cell phone.

Sent from my SCH-I200 using Tapatalk 2
 
Really? Yes and Yes and not to be ambiguous YES!!!6' 1" IN THE 8TH GRADE? Send them a vide of some sort. Probably not VHS . I think even these guys are beyond tape.
You realize 6-1 in 8th grade isn't THAT tall, right? I'm 6-2, and I was already closing in on 6-0 when I was in 8th grade. My brother (now 6-6) was at least 6-1 in 8th grade, considering he was 6-3 by his freshman year.

That said, memcorsu, please don't let us forget about this thread. I feel like it's the Syracusefan version of Hoop Dreams and I'm curious to see if this kid becomes Arthur Agee/William Gates down the line.
 
I find it odd that anyone would encourage you not to contact the staff. Worst case scenario they don't look at the kid or already know about him. Best case scenario they have an interest and check him out. I agree one hundred percent with the poster who said the saying "if you are good enough they will find you" isn't true. You have to promote yourself especially if you are from a smaller school and/or have a specific college in mind.
 
I find it odd that anyone would encourage you not to contact the staff. Worst case scenario they don't look at the kid or already know about him. Best case scenario they have an interest and check him out. I agree one hundred percent with the poster who said the saying "if you are good enough they will find you" isn't true. You have to promote yourself especially if you are from a smaller school and/or have a specific college in mind.
My thought would be if you contact a school, they may look at him and dismiss the kid this young. You absolutely have to promote yourself, but not necessarily so early.

Did he even talk with the kid? Perhaps he has a specific college he really wants to play for. That would be the place to start if that's what the kid really wants.
 
My thought would be if you contact a school, they may look at him and dismiss the kid this young. You absolutely have to promote yourself, but not necessarily so early.

Did he even talk with the kid? Perhaps he has a specific college he really wants to play for. That would be the place to start if that's what the kid really wants.
He said in the original post he sat down and talked with the kid. And if you don't think colleges start looking at kids when they are 13-14, you are foolish. There's a reason they have class rankings as far out as they do.
 
He said in the original post he sat down and talked with the kid. And if you don't think colleges start looking at kids when they are 13-14, you are foolish. There's a reason they have class rankings as far out as they do.

Of course they start looking. However, only the extremely elite talents get real attention that young. I'm merely suggesting the kid may not be an elite talent, or god forbid a kid who even has future D1 potential. If thats the case, drawing tons of attention to the kid could turn a program off to him before he has a chance to improve and become D1 caliber.

This may be hard to believe, but not every good HS basketball player can play D1 basketball. As far as those rankings go, I would bet that between the time kids are first ranked, and the final ranking of their HS senior season, about 5-10% of the original rankings stay the same, if that. so there isn't a damn thing about those that suggest it means a kid has to be noticed that young or he won't ever get a college scholarship. It's not like I said never contact anybody, I simply said wait a year or two.

Yes he did say he talked to the kid, but he did not say if he asked him if he had any schools that he would really like to play for. He just asked whether he should contact Hop/Someone else at SU about the kid.
 
Kid has some interest in OSU because his cousins played fball there. The thing that really stood out about him was that, in a tourney where kids are looking for them and theirs, he was interested in making the pass first. Again, the first game was assist after assist with hard slashing drives and dump offs for his teammates for easy layups. The second game they decided to close the lane on him and he caught on after a couple of tip passes on some extremely tight passes which still got through to their target, and started dropping 15" jumpers and hit a couple of threes (was keeping the books and he was perfect 5 for 5 including 2 threes). Has a very nice stroke.

We are in probably the lowest socioeconomic district in Florida so not getting a ton of attention for athletes. We have a few football players going D1 from the district. What really got my attention was his pg skills at this level were high above average. We had a long discussion about grades and behavioral aspects. I will see him again this weekend as I'm running the board/books for championship tourney. Planned on talking to him a bit about the AAU circuit.

I'll try to get some video if I can.
 
Kid has some interest in OSU because his cousins played fball there. The thing that really stood out about him was that, in a tourney where kids are looking for them and theirs, he was interested in making the pass first. Again, the first game was assist after assist with hard slashing drives and dump offs for his teammates for easy layups. The second game they decided to close the lane on him and he caught on after a couple of tip passes on some extremely tight passes which still got through to their target, and started dropping 15" jumpers and hit a couple of threes (was keeping the books and he was perfect 5 for 5 including 2 threes). Has a very nice stroke.

We are in probably the lowest socioeconomic district in Florida so not getting a ton of attention for athletes. We have a few football players going D1 from the district. What really got my attention was his pg skills at this level were high above average. We had a long discussion about grades and behavioral aspects. I will see him again this weekend as I'm running the board/books for championship tourney. Planned on talking to him a bit about the AAU circuit.

I'll try to get some video if I can.
He's good enough to go to OSU? holy smokes haha
 

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