Class of 2025 SF Aaron Womack (WI) COMMITTED TO SYRACUSE (9/30/24)

[baggerbob]

He’s a program player. Not gonna be asked to contribute day one. He’s a 2/3. His freshman year well still have likely Bell, Sadiq White, Westry, possibly Freeman at forwards.

At the 2 we’ll still have likely Starling, Moore, Kiyan

Doesn’t include any transfer guards or forwards we bring in. He needs some work but nothing terrible. Handle needs some work, will definitely need to hit the weight room, will need to rebound a bit better, and not super physical.

He’s a really good shooter, good athlete, solid defender. Potential to be a really good all around player. But will take 2-3 years in my opinion which is fine with the pieces we will have in front of him.

Autry knows what he’s doing. He’s getting a couple guys per class that will be here a year or two because they are stud NBA players and mixing them in with a couple 3-4 year program guys to build a culture. I get what he is doing. And this is a program guy right here

Need to have Atheletic players who might take a couple of years to develope, to have yearly depth.

 

[Niastri]

Did the staff get news on Abaev that led us to Red accepting a commitment from a much lower rated SF?

Or is it thought that they can play together, or Abaev is so much better that he won't be impacted by a lower rated player at the same position?

Edit: crossposted from Abaev thread.

 

[OrangeFoo]

No shade on this kid at all, but weren't we getting this caliber of recruit when JB stopped trying to recruit?

 

[cuseinseattle]

View attachment 245409

What a great movie. Why didn't we give him a trip to Tahiti while we were at it.

 

[grepal]

This just seems desperate. I know nothing about the kid and hope he's amazing but that offer/interest list is trash.

Need to trust the staff liked what they saw and hopefully like the attitude and commitment. Some kids need to wait a couple of years and he may be one of them. If we do not trust in our coaches what the heck are we as a fan base even doing.

 

[satsuma]

YouTube has two highlight videos from last season. I can embed one of them below. Aaron Womack is in the white/green Dominican Knights #24 jersey.

December 2, 2023: Dominican 109, Oak Creek 68 (box score, video highlights)



October 28, 2023: Dominican 73, Oshkosh North 60 (video highlights)

I couldn't find a box score, but the opposing team featured Xzavion Mitchell, Wisconsin's top player in the 2025 class, #65 overall according to RSCI, and an Iowa State commit.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Did the staff get news on Abaev that led us to Red accepting a commitment from a much lower rated SF?

Or is it thought that they can play together, or Abaev is so much better that he won't be impacted by a lower rated player at the same position?

Edit: crossposted from Abaev thread.

I think both. I don't think Abaev is coming here personally but it wouldn't be impacted by Womack

 

[Cusefan69]

So I agree with the takes that let's see what happens here. 6'5 and can shoot, that's a foundation you can start with. Not every player will be a 5 star and we have gotten 2 5 stars in two years. Anthony still expected to sign and you can argue is damn close to being another 5 star.

 

[sutomcat]

He looks very skilled and has great shooting form. He needs to get stronger and he will. He’s smooth and active. Not just a stand still shooter. Has good potential.. I’m happy to hear Alex Cline was very involved in his recruitment.

I think one thing the staff has not been great about is pivoting quickly when we lose our top target for a specific spot in a class.

You wait too long or pivot to a long shot that is going to take a long time to decide and probably won't pick you, it is really bad.

Might be the first real impact Alex has had on the program.

It appears we had a backup plan and executed it quickly. I think that is a good sign.

Wish we got Frost. But we clearly needed a shooter in this class and now we have that.

 

[Lukeyloo]

He’s a program player. Not gonna be asked to contribute day one. He’s a 2/3. His freshman year well still have likely Bell, Sadiq White, Westry, possibly Freeman at forwards.

At the 2 we’ll still have likely Starling, Moore, Kiyan

Doesn’t include any transfer guards or forwards we bring in. He needs some work but nothing terrible. Handle needs some work, will definitely need to hit the weight room, will need to rebound a bit better, and not super physical.

He’s a really good shooter, good athlete, solid defender. Potential to be a really good all around player. But will take 2-3 years in my opinion which is fine with the pieces we will have in front of him.

Autry knows what he’s doing. He’s getting a couple guys per class that will be here a year or two because they are stud NBA players and mixing them in with a couple 3-4 year program guys to build a culture. I get what he is doing. And this is a program guy right here

Can honestly use the word "likely" when talking about retaining players from year to year anymore?

 

[crank]

Can honestly use the word "likely" when talking about retaining players from year to year anymore?

Agreed. There’s no predicting rosters anymore. At all.

 

[jr4750]

That list is... horrific. Period.

Murray State, William & Mary. Legit 16 seeds who definitely make a run every 10-15 years. Don't hate.

 

[Bayside44]

IF he doesn't transfer. That's what we were trying with Patterson and we saw how that worked out.

Patterson cannot play. JB was just taking guys at the end.

 

[RF2044]

He looks very skilled and has great shooting form. He needs to get stronger and he will. He’s smooth and active. Not just a stand still shooter. Has good potential.. I’m happy to hear Alex Cline was very involved in his recruitment.

Suggests that in addition to skill set, they like his advanced metrics.

 

[orangenauburn]

I presume Kiyan is going elsewhere (USC)

 

[SUOrangeSU]

I presume Kiyan is going elsewhere (USC)

Absolutely not

 

[CuseMan4]

I presume Kiyan is going elsewhere (USC)

Nope. This has no correlation

 

[RF2044]

Did the staff get news on Abaev that led us to Red accepting a commitment from a much lower rated SF?

Or is it thought that they can play together, or Abaev is so much better that he won't be impacted by a lower rated player at the same position?

Edit: crossposted from Abaev thread.

I think that's what we can read between the lines.

Our staff loved Abaev. He was versatile, and would have been a really good player for us. We had him on campus numerous times, and the staff felt that a commitment was imminent.

Then, he blew up a little bit, and decided to cast his nets elsewhere for bigger NIL.

And in the meantime, we had slightly de-prioritized two other highly rated SFs to go all-in on Abaev [Frost and Jemison]. Both of them were highly rated guys with plenty of other options. And while we tried to shift focus to get back in with them late, they both opted to look elsewhere.

So this player is clearly fourth on the recruiting board. But he's a good shooter, a solid athlete, and he plays for a powerhouse HS team. He's no slouch.

I agree 100% that he doesn't have impressive offers. But the staff must see something that they like -- versus this being a Howard Washington-esque settle.

 

[CuseMan4]

I will say, a lot of people are overreacting a bit. Is this kid NBA talent? A stud? Gonna score 20 ppg? Nope.

Is this kids good? But might take a year or two to get everything developed, get stronger? Yes

Every player we get isn’t going to be a Sadiq White, Donnie Freeman, Kiyan.

You need guys like a Petar, Cuffee, Moore, McLeod, Etc…that are going to be here a few years. Or at least hope they will be. All of these guys are talented but not one and dones or two and dones. You need players that are talented enough but hopefully stick around 3-4 years. That’s what this guy is and that’s how you build a culture this day and age. We aren’t gonna get classes like Duke, UNC, Kentucky and now Arkansas. So we have to take 1-2 studs a year we can get and sprinkle in 2-3 program guys a class that will be contributing year 2, 3 and/or 4. We’ve seen how being a mature and older team has lead to championships like the last 10 years even with the way the landscape is changing. A good culture with an older team will get you far

 

[DanielAngel]

Could it be the kid is underrated? We have been on guys who were underrated and then blew up and we lost them

 

[Scott11]

It’s nice to see someone commit but honestly I really only care about Kiyan and TJack at this point lol

you will not be seeing Jackson

 

[albanycuse]

Woody Newton 2.0

 

[Trueblue25]

This board’s negativity has really dampened things

Excited for a program kid to come in and hopefully build a nice career in the dome.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I will say, a lot of people are overreacting a bit. Is this kid NBA talent? A stud? Gonna score 20 ppg? Nope.

Is this kids good? But might take a year or two to get everything developed, get stronger? Yes

Every player we get isn’t going to be a Sadiq White, Donnie Freeman, Kiyan.

You need guys like a Petar, Cuffee, Moore, McLeod, Etc…that are going to be here a few years. Or at least hope they will be. All of these guys are talented but not one and dones or two and dones. You need players that are talented enough but hopefully stick around 3-4 years. That’s what this guy is and that’s how you build a culture this day and age. We aren’t gonna get classes like Duke, UNC, Kentucky and now Arkansas. So we have to take 1-2 studs a year we can get and sprinkle in 2-3 program guys a class that will be contributing year 2, 3 and/or 4. We’ve seen how being a mature and older team has lead to championships like the last 10 years even with the way the landscape is changing. A good culture with an older team will get you far

This is fair, but seeing Notre Dame sign a top 10 guy and 3 four stars in the last 10 days has me a bit concerned. Couple that with the fact kids lose patience after sitting the bench for a year I think a few of us need to see it before we believe it.

 

[cusefan88]

Not sure how accurate this is but I heard the staff has had quite a few visitors over the last few weeks with only White and Smith being publicly known ahead of time.

Seems like this guy was one.