New Tennessee head basketball coach Rick Barnes is in just his third day on the job but he already is significantly upgrading the Vols recruiting efforts. He appears to have a good shot at landing three highly touted players when the spring signing period commences April 15.
They are:
-Ray Kasongo, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound junior college power forward from College of Southern Idaho.
-Kobie Eubanks, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound shooting guard from Elev-8 Sports Institute in Delray Beach, Florida.
-Marcus LoVett, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound point guard from Morgan Park High in Chicago.
....Scout
Honestly I think Kasonga and McGhee Would be money down low.
I see that Kasongo is being pursued hot and heavy by Coach Howland down at MSU. I hope CRB and staff get down there as soon as dead period is over.
Do we have room for both Kasongo and Mike Thorne Jr? PF and C knowing we also need a PG and scoring? With the two freshman coming in and losing Richardson and Owens do we have 2 spots left? Or 3? Sorry, losing track of how much "space" we have to fill.
Something I've thought about, I feel like how the remaining scholarships are distributed is key, the current roster makeup is...
Freshman: McGhee (RS), Phillips, Schofield
Sophomore: Carmichael, Mostella
Junior: Hubbs
Senior: Punter, Baulkman, Reese, Moore
Adding 1 or 2 JUCO's, and a grad transfer would be optimal IMO, if we take just 2-3 grad transfers, all of a sudden we've got 6-7 spots to fill in the 2016 class which could be difficult for Barnes and staff in that short time.
Just a thought.
Is there any legitimate contact between Barnes and any recruits right now? It seems like there is little to no chatter about any actual recruit who is seriously in the mix. I know we are coming out of dead period, but any word on a visit, in-home, offer, etc.?
Dylan Ennis seems to be some mutual interest with, obviously Anthony Collins as well or he wouldn't list us in the top 3. Sounds like staff has made contact with Gray to let him know where things stand as well. Seems like VQ has heard enough about Shonn Miller also to think that there's likely been some talks there.
BTO or anyone: Do you think Barnes will be having a much narrower focus than we are accustomed to, with the expectation of a much higher success rate, when it comes to recruiting?
BTO or anyone: Do you think Barnes will be having a much narrower focus than we are accustomed to, with the expectation of a much higher success rate, when it comes to recruiting?
Absolutely, not to bring him up, but it'll be more like Zo imo. Tyndall offered approximately 5,201,679 recruits a scholarship while employed by Tennessee, I expext Barnes and staff to cast a much smaller net.
This is the way i see barnes recruiting. He will consistently get the top talent out of tennessee, because there is no excuse for not getting some homegrown talent in here.(Blackwell, Ado) I think he will be able to consistently reel in guys like that in-state. The other big states i think he will recruit are kentucky, georgia, north carolina, and texas to probably a lesser extent. He has a proven record of recruiting excellence, and he brought his best recruiters with him from texas.(Lanier, Ogden) The real test IMO is how he can finish up this recruiting cycle. We are being mentioned with Dylan Ennis, Anthony Collins, Rob Gray, Kyle Alexander(6'10" big with a 7'3" wingspan), and another bunch of guys already. I hope we can get three more solid guys that can at least help us to 17-18 wins next year. If we can do that i have high hopes for Rick Barnes here.
Who's this Alexander guy?
