Class of 2017 PG Marcus Keene to NBA Draft

[Edfromsodus]

Is this kid on the staff's radar?


D-I scoring leader Marcus Keene is 5' 9" and fearless

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

5'9"??? Ughhh, not another Gillon














Edit:

 

[Cuse House]

I was thinking about this guy when I saw his highlights. Wonder if he has any eligibility left after this season?

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

I was thinking about this guy when I saw his highlights. Wonder if he has any eligibility left after this season?

He's a 4th year Junior so if he graduates this year, he has a grad year remaining after sitting out 2015-16 as a transfer.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Nah. He only wants to play for Tony Bennett.

 

[Dcuse]

5'9"??? Ughhh, not another Gillon

Yeah because God forbid we get another Gillon.
Is this serious?












Edit:

 

[Jasoncuse]

There will be some very, very good and interesting possible grad transfers this spring...Keene, Matt Mobley, Egor Koulechov. The latter two would be fine fits, good enough size and 40%+ 3pt shooters. Keene is just a scoring machine, too bad he's 5'9". But then again, Gillon is basically the same height and Keene is a far better creator of his own shot.

Other possible grad transfers include:
Randy Onwuasor (Southern Utah, 23ppg, not a great shooter though)
Jonathan Stark (Murray St, 21ppg, Tulane xfer, 40% from 3, only listed at 6')
Rob Gray Jr. (Houston, 6'2" PG, from NC, 20pp, 39% from 3, 82% FT, great #'s against better opponents)
Jairus Lyles (UMBC, 6'2", 20ppg, 23ppg last yr, started at VCU, 33% from 3)
Elijah Brown (New Mexico, Butler transfer, 6'4" guard, solid 3pt shooter, great FT shooter)
Torian Graham (Arizona St, former top 100 player, followed Hurley from UB, 6'5" G, Carolina kid, 40% 3, 18ppg, probably will stick w/Hurley)
Phillip Carr (Morgan St, not sure about his status, played at Mohawk Valley CC, 6'8" Brooklyn kid, good 3 pt shooter in low volume, great FT and good rebounder, would be nice frontcourt depth)

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Keene is one of the 20 nominees for the Wooden Award as the nation's best college basketball player. He wasn't on any of the other lists but got added as the season has progressed. He would be a nice addition.
John R. Wooden Award Presented By Wendy's Announces 2016-17 Late Season Top 20

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

Phillip Carr (Morgan St, not sure about his status, played at Mohawk Valley CC, 6'8" Brooklyn kid, good 3 pt shooter in low volume, great FT and good rebounder, would be nice frontcourt depth)

First Policelli from New Hartford, now a former MVCC Hawk. People are finally beginning to appreciate the Mohawk Valley for the fertile recruiting ground that it's always been

 

[44Warrior]

ESPN Article

Wooden Watch: Central Michigan's Keene can't be ignored

 

[pfister1]

Keene is one of the 20 nominees for the Wooden Award as the nation's best college basketball player. He wasn't on any of the other lists but got added as the season has progressed. He would be a nice addition.
John R. Wooden Award Presented By Wendy's Announces 2016-17 Late Season Top 20

But he's too short to play for us.

 

[TheGov3304]

Reminds me of a right-handed Isaiah Thomas (Boston Celtics not Detroit Pistons).

 

[jordville]

 

[iommi]

This dude continues to go off. If he becomes available, I say we go all in for him. Scoring machine. I wish he were taller for the zone but this guy would light up the Dome. Our pitch to him is simple after Gillon.

 

[orangefog]

This dude continues to go off. If he becomes available, I say we go all in for him. Scoring machine. I wish he were taller for the zone but this guy would light up the Dome. Our pitch to him is simple after Gillon.

I agree. Height is great at the top of the zone, but being active can be enough as long as he can run an offense and, when things break down, he can create something in the waning seconds of the shot clock.

 

[Jasoncuse]

This dude continues to go off. If he becomes available, I say we go all in for him. Scoring machine. I wish he were taller for the zone but this guy would light up the Dome. Our pitch to him is simple after Gillon.

If he were taller, he wouldn't be a possible 5th year grad transfer.

In fact, now that I think about it, why would he go the 5th year route? Why not just try to play professionally now? This kid isn't getting any bigger and probably not going to get any better playing a 5th year in college. Some NBA team will bring him in and I'm sure he'll be great in the D-League, or can go be a monster overseas.

 

[iommi]

If he were taller, he wouldn't be a possible 5th year grad transfer.

In fact, now that I think about it, why would he go the 5th year route? Why not just try to play professionally now? This kid isn't getting any bigger and probably not going to get any better playing a 5th year in college. Some NBA team will bring him in and I'm sure he'll be great in the D-League, or can go be a monster overseas.

I agree but maybe he'd like the uptick in college competition and all that?

 

[Madbiker]

Looks like DeMarcus Cousins. Facially.

 

[Jeremy L.]

Going to follow this closely...

 

[Footey04]

You think he's coming here?

 

[jordoo]

He looks like a more aggressive John Gillon to me. He shoots it very well off the dribble and its an actual jump shot as well so he shouldn't have as many issues getting shots off IMO. That said he looks even shorter than Gillon and it took Gillon a while to adjust to the different system and competition. Still it looks like he could be a plug in replacement for Gillon, same type of player but with more upside as a scorer.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I agree but maybe he'd like the uptick in college competition and all that?

In the Feb 24th article by Mike Rutherford about his scoring, at the end he included a quote from Keene saying "For an NCAA game against Duke, Georgetown, anyone like that, I'll trade all of it. I just wanna play in the national spotlight one time."

Got to figure Keene saw some of our Duke game, and if so, could easily envision himself here - the Gillon role. He sounds like a competitive guy, a zero star recruit out of high school, who wants to take down the 5 stars. He doesn't sound like someone who would want to head out into the relative obscurity of the D league or foreign leagues. Sounds like he wants a shot at the big time! What better way than taking the reins of JB's swan song. And don't forget JB knows the coach of CMU, the old Providence guy Keno Davis.

I think SU has a real shot. I think the staff knows it and is keeping the roster to show it (ie not offering H Washington). And this time they will tell FH that Keene is coming in to start from day 1 and if FH doesn't like it or want the 3rd guard role he is free to go.

 

[RF2044]

In the Feb 24th article by Mike Rutherford about his scoring, at the end he included a quote from Keene saying "For an NCAA game against Duke, Georgetown, anyone like that, I'll trade all of it. I just wanna play in the national spotlight one time."

Got to figure Keene saw some of our Duke game, and if so, could easily envision himself here - the Gillon role. He sounds like a competitive guy, a zero star recruit out of high school, who wants to take down the 5 stars. He doesn't sound like someone who would want to head out into the relative obscurity of the D league or foreign leagues. Sounds like he wants a shot at the big time! What better way than taking the reins of JB's swan song. And don't forget JB knows the coach of CMU, the old Providence guy Keno Davis.

I think SU has a real shot. I think the staff knows it and is keeping the roster to show it (ie not offering H Washington). And this time they will tell FH that Keene is coming in to start from day 1 and if FH doesn't like it or want the 3rd guard role he is free to go.

I think that BOTH the on-court success and the fact that they garner such extensive playing time are going to make the Andrew White / John Gillon examples easy for the staff to sell on the recruiting trail with 5th year transfers down the road.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I think that BOTH the on-court success and the fact that they garner such extensive playing time are going to make the Andrew White / John Gillon examples easy for the staff to sell on the recruiting trail with 5th year transfers down the road.

I think SU's situation is very attractive for two 5th year players (the pg and the 3 - Gillon/AW3's roles), even moreso than last year. I think this is by design. I have mentioned before I believe they employed a go big or go grad strategy. It is crystal clear SU could use these two, and as you say should just about sell itself.

However, I don't know if this is a long term strategy. I think it is being used in large part because of sanctions. It is riskier. JB's rolling the dice a little in his twilight years. And once SU shows success with it the NCAA probably won't be far behind to outlaw it.

 

[Oráiste]

is Keene really a good fit for SU, though? He is a super high usage player and, really, his scoring is more a product of his usage rate than his shooting ability:
% Possessions used 36.8 (4th in nation)
% Shots 35.5 (8th in nation)
Effective FG% 53.2 (443rd)
True shooting % 58.2 (319th)

I don't think the comparison with Gillon is good. Gillon is not now and wasn't at CSU a high usage player (20.9 possessions/18.5 shots at SU and 21.7 possessions/19.6 shots at CSU).

Keene does have a much higher assist rate now than Gillon did last year at CSU.

If Battle and Lydon are both back to team with an improving Thompson, and if we land a quality SF like Koulechov - do we really need a ball dominant point who hunts for his own shots?

of course, when all is said and done, Boeheim knows a hell of a lot more about basketball than I ever will, so if he decides to go with Keene then its probably the best choice available. but as an armchair college GM, I'd want to go in another direction