Charlotte Decommit Ebuka Izundu 6'10 PF (Miami commit)

#277
#277
Izundu hot prospect once again
Izundu hot prospect once again
Dunk.

Sprint.

Rebound.

Sprint.

Post.

Dunk.

Sprint.

Blocked shot.

Sprint.

Post.

Soft touch turnaround jumper. Score.

Sprint.

Repeat.

Welcome to a typical game from Ebuka Izundu of the Charlotte Aces at the Atlanta Jam. The 6-foot-9 big man from Victory Christian (NC) was the best big man at Suwanee Sports Academy and arguably the best big men at a non shoe event during the first live evaluation period event in April.

Izundu was, for all intents and purposes, trending. The class of 2015 big man was released from his National Letter of Intent with the University of North Carolina Charlotte prior to the event and was an instant priority guy for schools still looking for a 15-minute (or more) a game freshman at the college level.

Head coaches from Charlotte, Cincinnati, Boston College and Georgia came in to see him in person. Tennessee was also on hand to watch Izundu, too. That’s an important note to the story. Desmond Oliver was the lead recruiter for Izundu when he was at Charlotte. Now Oliver is on board at UT and has the Vols very much involved with the big man.

Assistant coaches from Memphis and Arkansas were also in town to see Izundu play at the Atlanta Jam.

According to Charlotte Aces big man Kevin Lignon, Michigan, Western Kentucky and Tulsa have also asked to recruit the big man.

Izundu will retake the ACT this Saturday and could take a couple of visits in April and May.

The athletic big man isn’t a flash in the pan or instant hot recruit. He is a top 75 prospect in the class of 2015, according to 247Sports.com. Izundu was one of the best big men we saw in the fall.
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-Justin Young
 
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#278
#278
Sounds like he'd be a great addition and would fit the missing piece.. If we can get Izundu and Collins AND Ennis, that would be an NCAA tournament team if the rest of our team can develop their game further.
 
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#279
#279
iKrager said:
Sounds like he'd be a great addition and would fit the missing piece.. If we can get Izundu and Collins AND Ennis, that would be an NCAA tournament team if the rest of our team can develop their game further.
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I'm very curious if Barnes is trying to land Ennis & Collins, or if he's just playing it safe and trying to recruit both hard hoping he gets at least one of them. Collins is a PG, that's it, he isn't playing the 2, Ennis wants to play the 1, that's why he's leaving Nova, so it would seem like a tough sell, but who knows.

I do agree though, if they pulled those 2 and Izundu, they could do some damage. The post would still worry me, and for the sake of just having a body I would like to see a grad transfer big added, Izundu can not be playing 35-40 minutes a game at the 5, and ideally Carmichael and mcghee are at the 4.
 
#280
#280
bleedingTNorange said:
I'm very curious if Barnes is trying to land Ennis & Collins, or if he's just playing it safe and trying to recruit both hard hoping he gets at least one of them. Collins is a PG, that's it, he isn't playing the 2, Ennis wants to play the 1, that's why he's leaving Nova, so it would seem like a tough sell, but who knows.

I do agree though, if they pulled those 2 and Izundu, they could do some damage. The post would still worry me, and for the sake of just having a body I would like to see a grad transfer big added, Izundu can not be playing 35-40 minutes a game at the 5, and ideally Carmichael and mcghee are at the 4.
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I'd say it's the "recruit both, hope you get one" strategy. Mainly because I can't see both guys going to the same school. They both want to run the show and only have one year to do it.

As for Carmichael and McGhee, I still think you'll see Armani at the 4 next year. He just isn't quick enough to guard 3s on the perimeter and his handles and shot aren't strong enough to play 3 on offense. That being the case, you'd have him and McGhee at the 4 and Carmichael/Reese and Izundu would be at the 5. Still hope they somehow snag a grad transfer 5.
 
#281
#281
germanicus said:
I'd say it's the "recruit both, hope you get one" strategy. Mainly because I can't see both guys going to the same school. They both want to run the show and only have one year to do it.

As for Carmichael and McGhee, I still think you'll see Armani at the 4 next year. He just isn't quick enough to guard 3s on the perimeter and his handles and shot aren't strong enough to play 3 on offense. That being the case, you'd have him and McGhee at the 4 and Carmichael/Reese and Izundu would be at the 5. Still hope they somehow snag a grad transfer 5.
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You always hear coaches say "get your best 5 on the floor", that's where my Armani at the 3 if possible comes from. Ennis, Hubbs, Armani, Izundu and grad transfer are probably your best 5...Punter, Mostella, Baulkman, Mcghee, Carmichael, Reese, Schofield and Phillips off the bench.

All depends on improvements too, maybe Punter's light comes on and we get him out there at the 2, Hubbs the 3 and then you're right, Armani at the 4. I'm sure Barnes will love the way Moore rebounds so he's gonna be out there starting you'd think. Put Ennis or Collins at the 1, and Izundu and a grad transfer at the 5, and I like our chances with that lineup.
 
#283
#283
bleedingTNorange said:
You always hear coaches say "get your best 5 on the floor", that's where my Armani at the 3 if possible comes from. Ennis, Hubbs, Armani, Izundu and grad transfer are probably your best 5...Punter, Mostella, Baulkman, Mcghee, Carmichael, Reese, Schofield and Phillips off the bench.

All depends on improvements too, maybe Punter's light comes on and we get him out there at the 2, Hubbs the 3 and then you're right, Armani at the 4. I'm sure Barnes will love the way Moore rebounds so he's gonna be out there starting you'd think. Put Ennis or Collins at the 1, and Izundu and a grad transfer at the 5, and I like our chances with that lineup.
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SMH at Cuonzo for recruiting Armani as his future PG. he was right on the player but terrible at picking the position
 
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#285
#285
Nashvegas31 said:
SMH at Cuonzo for recruiting Armani as his future PG. he was right on the player but terrible at picking the position
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Cuonzo seemed to think 6-5, 6-6 guys were Swiss Army Knives, multi-faceted tools, adaptable to any situation.

Instead, he fairly often wound up jamming round pegs into square holes.
 
#292
#292
It was a old tweet,my bad. But I found this gold nugget on a cincy board

"The Bearcats are a basketball machine right now poised for a Final Four run next season, as opposed to Tennessee who would be adding Izundu as a mechanism to rebuild the program."
 
#293
#293
Dallasbowlin said:
It says Clemson on the tweet lol and Im pretty sure I saw a tweet earlier today.
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It doesn't say he's visiting clemson, it says he's a Clemson target. Again, I'm sure it's Clemson & Tennessee seeing as how it's on a Clemson site, but the tweet doesn't say that
 

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#299
#299
It may be wearing us out as fans, but I admire a prospect who takes it slowly and tries to find the best spot for him.

Separately from above, what do we know about this guy? I poked around online, trying to find out some history, and came up with pretty much nothing. Where's his mom? Where's his dad? Where's his Auntie Dee? He looks a lot older than your basic high school junior. Please tell me that he's not one of these African kids who are suckered over to the USA by someone * cough AAU cough * who recruits potential players for college but gives them pretty much nothing else. God bless them if and when they do get signed by a college, but it seems like a modern-day slave trade to me.

[Report] | American Hustle, by Alexandra Starr | Harper's Magazine --don't tune this out because of its length; it's a great article

African Victims of Basketball's Global Push - Bloomberg View

--and it's been a long-ass day, and while Googling about, I might very well have missed a nice long warm-fuzzy article about Ebuka and his fam, so apologies in advance if everyone else knows this except me. :hi: He just seems to be awfully alone out there from what I could see. Best wishes to him wherever he winds up, and I'd be delighted if it were at UT.


eta: sorry all, the Harper's article is pay-only, and I can't figure out how to get past the paywall. If you find yourself in a library at some point, it's a good read.
 
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