bleedingTNorange
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I'm bored this morning and thought providing some of my thoughts, along with a bit of a summary on where things currently stand might be beneficial to some people, or possibly just for me to pass time lol.
It's hard to imagine that it has already been about 3 1/2 weeks since Tennessee made arguably the best resume based hire in its basketball programs history when they appointed Rick Barnes as the man in charge. Barnes did not take over the best situation, he inherited a team that went 15-15 during the regular season, failed to reach any post season play which in this day is not easy to do and lost by far their best player. He did not inherit a top 20 signing class, or even top 75 for that matter, and on the returning roster he was left with 2 top 150 ranked players, needless to say the man has his work cut out for him.
He has lost only one player to attrition so far, but that player was definitely one who appeared to have a bright future, that left Barnes with at least 3 scholarships to fill for the 2015 class. As if the above scenario wasn't pressing enough, Barnes inherited a bit of a handcuffing situation for anyone, nevermind a staff trying to improve the talent level in a hurry. The previous staff had used up many of the evaluation days and official visits, leaving Barnes and staff with 21 days and 5 official visits left until July 1st, basically the entire 2015 class.
Barnes and his staff have used their Canadian connections to at least get them into the door with a few very good recruits, Kyle Alexander and Ray Kasongo, and are using a prior connection with a now Tennessee assistant to get in the door with big man Ebuka Izundu. The staff was out last recruiting period 2 weeks ago, can likely assume the 3 assistants used 3 days a piece, Barnes stayed in Knoxville, meaning they were left with 12 evaluation days. We know Desmond Oliver was in Florida checking on Lamonte Turner, and Barnes (and possibly Lanier) tracked to Canada last week, so the number of days left is somewhere in the 7-9 range probably at this point, which leads me to my main point.
If Tennessee is able to salvage a 2015 class with say 2/3 of those post guys, and Turner or Brown as a PG, things will be ok. However, if Tennessee misses on these guys, and is left with either 6-7 scholarships to fill next class, or just taking bodies to fill a spot, they are going to be behind the 8 ball already for the 2016 class. You see, 2 weeks ago was the first live period, this weekend is the 2nd live period, most staffs are already evaluating and making their presence known for 2016 and 2017 recruits, Tennessee and staff are trying to salvage a 2015 class.
As I said, if they land those guys for 2015, and only have 3-4 spots to fill for 2016, they'll be ok. They can hit the ground hard in July and then again in spring, however, if they miss on some guys and either hold open spots, or just take a few warm bodies, the lack of early work being done on the 2016 trail will likely hurt the 2016 class, pretty much making this a 3 year rebuild.
Now, I'm not trying to place any excuses ahead of time for the sake of bailing out Barnes, he is a vet and knew the situation he was taking on, these things are talked about, I am simply pointing out the significance of this weekends visits. That does not mean if we don't hear of commitments by Monday to freak out, what it means is that we are using 3/5 of our official visits on Kasongo, Alexander and Izundu this weekend, realistically we probably need to land 2 of those guys or wasting precious evaluation days and official visits will come back to haunt us.
With that said, for those that maybe haven't been keeping up with it all, here's a little summary of recruiting for the 2015 class:
Ray Kasongo: currently on an official visit to Tennessee, had already OV'd to Mississippi State, LSU and Arkansas also in the mix. Is a JUCO big man (6'9" 240lbs) that will have 3 years left to play, that's part of the attraction with him. He has been compared to Jordan Mickey, in that he plays bigger than his height, he has great timing and a 40+" vertical, the guy is a big time rebounder and shot blocker which typically translates immediately from JUCO the D-1
Kyle Alexander: currently on an official visit to Tennessee also, has visited Rice and Dayton already iirc. This guys a bit more of a project, ideally he doesn't have to play much at all his freshman year and can focus on development. He's 6'10" 200lb with a 7'3" wingspan, his father played in the NBA and his sister plays in the WNBA, he however only started playing basketball 2 years ago. Right now he's a solid rebounder and shot blocker and runs like a dear, his offensive game and strength are a weakness but he has a lot of potential, think Tariq Owens.
Ebuka Izundu: is scheduled to visit Tennessee either Sunday night or Monday morning, likely an official visit, but hasn't been decided yet. This is one of the hottest names around right now with schools like UCONN, KENTUCKY and KANSAS all getting involved as of lot. He's 6'10" 210lbs with a 7'3" wingspan, high energy guy who loves to play defense, rebound the ball and block shots, offensively has a bit of a jumper as well. Tennessee is benefiting from hiring Desmond Oliver from Charlotte, Izundu committed there when he re-classified last fall largely because of Oliver, after a coaching change there he opened things up and Tennessee hired Oliver, that's helping but is far from a sure thing.
Lamonte Turner: not much here at this point, was 2016 but reclassified to 2015, is a top 100 player and a PG, Tennessee was in to see him last week, unclear whether that was to talk about a reclass, or was because we had word he was looking to, regardless, Tennessee will look to be a player there.
Tookie Brown: former Mississippi State commit who opened things up after the coaching change, top 200 PG, would likely be rated higher if he wasn't 5'10". Barnes has had success with small guys though so that likely doesn't eliminate him like it would've our previous coaches.
Andrew Rowsey: visiting unofficially this weekend, transfer from UNC-Asheville, he will have to sit out a year is the negative here. He's a 5'11" point guard who can absolutely light it up, averaged 20ppg his freshman and sophomore seasons, easily the best shooter we've had since Chris Lofton.
Anthony Collins: graduate transfer from USF, PG, would be eligible immediately. Probably the best option left out there at PG, being pursued by Baylor, Tennessee, A&M and Georgetown. Has yet to set a visit to Tennessee, will be interesting to watch, has visited Baylor and A&M.
As of now that's really it, there may be more guys pop up depending on how things go this weekend, but right now that's where things stand.
It's hard to imagine that it has already been about 3 1/2 weeks since Tennessee made arguably the best resume based hire in its basketball programs history when they appointed Rick Barnes as the man in charge. Barnes did not take over the best situation, he inherited a team that went 15-15 during the regular season, failed to reach any post season play which in this day is not easy to do and lost by far their best player. He did not inherit a top 20 signing class, or even top 75 for that matter, and on the returning roster he was left with 2 top 150 ranked players, needless to say the man has his work cut out for him.
He has lost only one player to attrition so far, but that player was definitely one who appeared to have a bright future, that left Barnes with at least 3 scholarships to fill for the 2015 class. As if the above scenario wasn't pressing enough, Barnes inherited a bit of a handcuffing situation for anyone, nevermind a staff trying to improve the talent level in a hurry. The previous staff had used up many of the evaluation days and official visits, leaving Barnes and staff with 21 days and 5 official visits left until July 1st, basically the entire 2015 class.
Barnes and his staff have used their Canadian connections to at least get them into the door with a few very good recruits, Kyle Alexander and Ray Kasongo, and are using a prior connection with a now Tennessee assistant to get in the door with big man Ebuka Izundu. The staff was out last recruiting period 2 weeks ago, can likely assume the 3 assistants used 3 days a piece, Barnes stayed in Knoxville, meaning they were left with 12 evaluation days. We know Desmond Oliver was in Florida checking on Lamonte Turner, and Barnes (and possibly Lanier) tracked to Canada last week, so the number of days left is somewhere in the 7-9 range probably at this point, which leads me to my main point.
If Tennessee is able to salvage a 2015 class with say 2/3 of those post guys, and Turner or Brown as a PG, things will be ok. However, if Tennessee misses on these guys, and is left with either 6-7 scholarships to fill next class, or just taking bodies to fill a spot, they are going to be behind the 8 ball already for the 2016 class. You see, 2 weeks ago was the first live period, this weekend is the 2nd live period, most staffs are already evaluating and making their presence known for 2016 and 2017 recruits, Tennessee and staff are trying to salvage a 2015 class.
As I said, if they land those guys for 2015, and only have 3-4 spots to fill for 2016, they'll be ok. They can hit the ground hard in July and then again in spring, however, if they miss on some guys and either hold open spots, or just take a few warm bodies, the lack of early work being done on the 2016 trail will likely hurt the 2016 class, pretty much making this a 3 year rebuild.
Now, I'm not trying to place any excuses ahead of time for the sake of bailing out Barnes, he is a vet and knew the situation he was taking on, these things are talked about, I am simply pointing out the significance of this weekends visits. That does not mean if we don't hear of commitments by Monday to freak out, what it means is that we are using 3/5 of our official visits on Kasongo, Alexander and Izundu this weekend, realistically we probably need to land 2 of those guys or wasting precious evaluation days and official visits will come back to haunt us.
With that said, for those that maybe haven't been keeping up with it all, here's a little summary of recruiting for the 2015 class:
Ray Kasongo: currently on an official visit to Tennessee, had already OV'd to Mississippi State, LSU and Arkansas also in the mix. Is a JUCO big man (6'9" 240lbs) that will have 3 years left to play, that's part of the attraction with him. He has been compared to Jordan Mickey, in that he plays bigger than his height, he has great timing and a 40+" vertical, the guy is a big time rebounder and shot blocker which typically translates immediately from JUCO the D-1
Kyle Alexander: currently on an official visit to Tennessee also, has visited Rice and Dayton already iirc. This guys a bit more of a project, ideally he doesn't have to play much at all his freshman year and can focus on development. He's 6'10" 200lb with a 7'3" wingspan, his father played in the NBA and his sister plays in the WNBA, he however only started playing basketball 2 years ago. Right now he's a solid rebounder and shot blocker and runs like a dear, his offensive game and strength are a weakness but he has a lot of potential, think Tariq Owens.
Ebuka Izundu: is scheduled to visit Tennessee either Sunday night or Monday morning, likely an official visit, but hasn't been decided yet. This is one of the hottest names around right now with schools like UCONN, KENTUCKY and KANSAS all getting involved as of lot. He's 6'10" 210lbs with a 7'3" wingspan, high energy guy who loves to play defense, rebound the ball and block shots, offensively has a bit of a jumper as well. Tennessee is benefiting from hiring Desmond Oliver from Charlotte, Izundu committed there when he re-classified last fall largely because of Oliver, after a coaching change there he opened things up and Tennessee hired Oliver, that's helping but is far from a sure thing.
Lamonte Turner: not much here at this point, was 2016 but reclassified to 2015, is a top 100 player and a PG, Tennessee was in to see him last week, unclear whether that was to talk about a reclass, or was because we had word he was looking to, regardless, Tennessee will look to be a player there.
Tookie Brown: former Mississippi State commit who opened things up after the coaching change, top 200 PG, would likely be rated higher if he wasn't 5'10". Barnes has had success with small guys though so that likely doesn't eliminate him like it would've our previous coaches.
Andrew Rowsey: visiting unofficially this weekend, transfer from UNC-Asheville, he will have to sit out a year is the negative here. He's a 5'11" point guard who can absolutely light it up, averaged 20ppg his freshman and sophomore seasons, easily the best shooter we've had since Chris Lofton.
Anthony Collins: graduate transfer from USF, PG, would be eligible immediately. Probably the best option left out there at PG, being pursued by Baylor, Tennessee, A&M and Georgetown. Has yet to set a visit to Tennessee, will be interesting to watch, has visited Baylor and A&M.
As of now that's really it, there may be more guys pop up depending on how things go this weekend, but right now that's where things stand.
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