Class of 2024 Damarius Owens (OH) Offered

[orangefog]

I would agree - athleticism & basketball IQ are optimal.

This kid could end up developing a jump shot and be a Top 100 player. His athleticism for a 2024 is that level and he could get there.

I just don't see it from the film right now, unless there's something he hasn't shown that the coaches have seen.

And to offer a 2024 this early, who is not even ranked and close to a Top 100 player, I guess I just don't get it considering what I've seen and what other offers he has.

Yeah, I have lost my confidence in this staff in identifying talent. For me, I get offering this kid. I think he will be really good.

 

[Sbucketball]

I haven't found any shooting percentage stats for Owens, but Primetime585 said he can drive, has a jumper and can shoot 3s. Other sources called him bouncy, extremely athletic, special talent, just getting started, three level scoring threat, offensively gifted, etc. Not a ton of analysis or tape, so I don't know about his weaknesses. You can immediately tell he has good positional size and athleticism, and the unknown is shooting. Even if he needs work on shooting, it's encouraging that he's at least shooting the ball and isn't a guy who doesn't even try to shoot. That gives him a good chance to improve over the next two years. Not a bad gamble given that he appears to possess the things you can't teach.

 

[Cusesky8214]

How does this change anything from what I said? These are all dunks and layups.

Kid is an athlete - there's no doubt. And maybe he can develop a jumper and/or skill. But this video shows nothing but dunks.

I'm guessing the coaches know he has a serviceable shot with a few years to keep developing. Probably not much tape on a 2024 kid that has dealt with 2 years of covid.

 

[cusefan88]

I'm FB friends with some people involved with City Rocks and apparently the offer moved him to tears. So really nice to see a kid putting in hard work and getting rewarded.

 

[Melancer46]

If this is a committable offer, this seems pretty likely to happen. No inside knowledge or anything but just reading the room.

 

[JRDCuse]

That highlight video reminds me a lot of this one.

 

[rrlbees]

Wearing orange sneakers. Hope he doesn’t blow up too much.

 

[rrlbees]

Only a sophomore.

 

[GooseMutt]

Only a sophomore.

View attachment 216680

Man he gets up

 

[Melancer46]

Wearing orange sneakers. Hope he doesn’t blow up too much.

Oh interesting. An old friend of mine I believe runs the Rochester’s Keepers. I’ll see if I can get any info from him here.

 

[ORRange]

What's not to like. He takes it with authority, dunks like a machine and ends up on the floor alot. Can he make FT's yet?. Get a commitment quick.

 

[Sbucketball]

Wearing orange sneakers. Hope he doesn’t blow up too much.

I hope he blows up, and then still chooses Cuse.

 

[Melancer46]

Oh interesting. An old friend of mine I believe runs the Rochester’s Keepers. I’ll see if I can get any info from him here.

Not too much to go off, but he said he believes Owens will ultimately be an NBA prospect. Said he's currently 6'7" and still growing, finishes everything inside and can shoot the 3 too. And obviously you all saw the athleticism on display in the videos.

 

[Trueblue25]

Want this kid.

He’s been added to the collection of kids over the year that I’ll root for, Cuse or elsewhere.

 

[Melancer46]

Some full game film of him and Autry at WRA. Owens is #12 and Autry is #0.

 

[Melancer46]

Not the full game but a pretty good amount here

 

[Melancer46]

Their game starts 1:33:00 into this video (hopefully I've set up the link to automatically start there but it was the second game of a double-header).

Kiski ultimately beat Autry/Owens' team but Autry and Braden Appelhans (committed to New Mexico) led a double digit comeback in the final 5ish minutes and briefly took the lead before losing it down the stretch. Owens technically plays C for WRA, handling the opening tip and manning the middle of their 2-3 zone, but he operates on the perimeter in their 4 out offensive system with their other big man living in the paint. He sets a lot of screens and both flashes out to the 3 point line and rolls to the hoop depending on the situation. Autry generally operates as their primary ball-handler, which is nice to see since he's mostly relegated to being a spot-up shooter with City Rocks.

Owens unofficially finished with:

• 11 points on 2/7 two pointers (2/5 at the rim and 0/2 from mid-range), 1/3 three pointers, and 4/4 FT shooting for a TS% of 46.8%.
• 2 rebounds
• 3 assists to 4 turnovers
• 1 steal and 4 fouls

The results weren't very pretty in this one for Owens but I like his game a lot. Hopefully will see him making more of his shots/finishing better in future games, but he's a very good athlete with some creativity off the dribble, pretty solid shooting form and very good elevation. Seems to fall away on his free throws but it worked for him in this game at least. Probably more hunched over in his defensive stance than you'd like, but he does a pretty good job of trying to get in his stance and contests jumpers well. He bit on a few pump fakes/closed out out of control, but he could turn into a very good defensive player IMO. If he's truly still growing as my friend in Rochester said, this kid could really blow up as he hones his skills. There's certainly developing to be done; he puts too much mustard on his pocket passes, definitely would like to see him bulk up a bit and become more disciplined defensively,
but he has star potential if he can pull it all together. He should be a priority recruit for us IMO.

As for Autry, he unofficially finished with:

• 14 points on 3/5 two pointers (all at the rim), 1/4 three pointers (with the one make being a halfcourt shot), and 5/6 FT shooting for a TS% of 60.1%
• 8 rebounds
• 5 assists to 3 turnovers
• 2 steals and 3 fouls

Autry was kinda quiet for awhile but came up pretty big down the stretch in pulling WRA back into the game. Autry is a lot further developed physically than Owens at this stage; he's a strong 6'3" or 6'4" or whatever he is and uses that strength to mix it up inside and grab contested rebounds. He does a nice job of getting into his defensive stance. He can get blown by here and there, but his physical strength and technique are really good; I think he could be a really nice defender in the future. I wouldn't say he has great hands in terms of picking people's pockets, but he has strong hands; when he gets his hands on a 50-50 ball, he seems to come away with it almost every time. I continue to be pretty impressed with Autry; maybe because he's billed as more of a mid-major or small D1 prospect, but I don't think he's any worse than the guys we have coming in this year (granted I'm not as rosy on some of them as the recruiting services are, but still, I think Autry belongs. I wouldn't really say he's a priority recruit, but if he ends up being one of the final pieces to our recruiting class, I'd be pretty content.

If these guys end up at Syracuse, I really think we'd be doing them a disservice if we continued to play 100% 2-3 zone. If they continue their development, I think they can both be very good man-to-man defenders. They can certainly play in a 2-3, but I don't think it would be making the most of their skills.

 

[Melancer46]

About 27 minutes into this one

 

[Melancer46]

Some full game film of him and Autry at WRA. Owens is #12 and Autry is #0.

Watched this one as well as the Columbus Academy game this morning. Columbus Academy looks bad and just totally outmatched, so not too much to take away from that one. Life Christian Academy is decently well known/has athletes to hang with these guys, so that was a much more interesting watch.

Owens stood out in both games while Autry was pretty quiet in both. In total, Owens unofficially had (across the two games):

• 32 points on 12/17 two pointers (all but 1 of those coming at the rim), 1/2 three pointers, and 5/7 FT shooting for a TS% of 72.5%
• 11 rebounds
• 3 assists to 0 turnovers
• 1 block and 2 steals

Autry finished the two games with:

• 16 points on 2/3 two pointers (all at the rim), 4/4 three pointers, and 0/1 FT shooting for a TS% of 107.5%.
• 5 rebounds
• 3 assists to 2 turnovers
• 1 block and 2 steals

Owens didn't get to show too much off the dribble in these two games, though he had a couple nice drives down the stretch against Life Christian. He had a couple big dunks as well (I'm going to try to add those clips in here later). When WRA went to a 2-3 zone, he played on the wing this time around. I like the way he closed out when playing in the zone; he sort of funneled his opponent back into the heart of the zone instead of giving up the baseline. One thing that kinda stands out in the negative is that whether it's just his physical strength or it's his hands, he seems to fumble a lot of rebounds. Still though, the tools he has to develop these next couple years in high school are really impressive. You could hear parents in the crowd murmuring about how good he's going to be.

Autry was very efficient but as you can see, he just didn't do all that much. Against Columbus Academy, he was just kinda out there and that game got out of hand pretty quickly so probably not the end of the world. Against Life Christian, he didn't attempt a shot in the first half and ultimately finished with 0 assists as well, so needless to say, it was a mostly quiet night. He hit three 3 pointers in a couple minute stretch in the 3rd quarter and ended up getting a technical after the last of them (it seemed like he may have said something to the ref about a foul but not entirely sure as the camera panned away from him just as it happened). Autry was subsequently benched for the rest of the game (probably the last 10-12 minutes of game time) and you could hear his coach saying "I've been coaching for 15 years and never seen a kid get T'd up. You have two in the last three games." And one of the parents was overheard talking about Autry's bad attitude. I haven't really noticed anything standing out in that regard, but might be something to keep an eye on moving forwards.

 

[rrlbees]

We gotta get Damarius Owens. Has 18 with eight minutes to go in the U16 game. Seems very young but still really athletic and very good ball skills. Has a low release on his shot but is 3-5 from three right now.

 

[Niastri]

Wearing orange sneakers. Hope he doesn’t blow up too much.

Holy swagger!

I hate when kids feel the need to pose after every nice play.

On the other hand the one play where he has the ball on the break at about the three point line and just smiles at the defender as if to say "you want to get dunked on?" The kid playing defense just vacated the area. That is big time swagger.

 

[rrlbees]

20 points.

 

[cuseallday]

Star in the making!

 

[Giants1973]

Star in the making!

Sign him early!!!! Red first big get!!!!

 

[rrlbees]

In his second game of the day, Damarius Owens had 18 on 7-15, 2-3 from three, 7 boards, 4 assists. Hope we can get him before someone like Duke does.