ORU recruiting class....

[TeaJackrabbit]

It appears they are done and it appears to be a very impressive class, probably easily the best in the Summit....

Damen Bell-Holter (6'9/245 Ketchikan, Ak)
Attending New Hampton (NH) Prep.
As a Senior in Alaska averaged 28ppg 17rpg 4.5bspg....as a Junior averaged 30ppg 10rpg 5.4bspg.
Originally signed with Missouri State, then was let out of his commit. Kentucky, Indiana and Gonzaga among others showed interest.
Was rated #31 center for the class of
Pretty versatile big who is a decent passer and can even step out and hit an occasional three....will most likely contribute right away. A real good get for ORU.

Hunter McClintock (6'2/180 Durham, NC)
Played at the prestigous Patterson Prep School (Lenoir, NC) a school who is a factory for D1 talent.
Patterson was #1 in the nation last year (34-3) and five of Hunters teammates will play D1 next year. Averaged 11.3ppg and 5.4apg at Patterson while shooting 58% from the 3pt line.
As a Senior at Durham he averaged 27ppg 6.7apg 4.5 rpg while being named First Team all-state in N.C.
Finished his high school career second in North Carolina in in career three pointersand free throws.
Recieved interest from Washington St, St. Mary's, Charlotte, Hawaii and TCU, among others.
Looks like this kid could come in and also play right away, possibly starting at the point which was one of the Eagles biggest weaknesses last year. Like Bell-Holter, an impressive signing for ORU.

Michael Craion (6'5/205 Kansas City, MO - Independence CC)
Played the last two years at Independence CC in Kansas where he averaged 17.5ppg 9rpg 44.6% from the field, 32% from 3-pt and 65% on free throws.
Shot 34.6% (53-153) at Independence after not attempting a three pointer in high school.
More of an inside player and a slasher along w/ being a pretty strong rebounder.
Looks like he'll be a role player who should provide decent depth off the bench.

Javier Nassare (6'10/225 F/C Barbastro, Spain - Northern Oklahoma CC)
Averaged 8.9ppg, 5.4rpg and 2.1bspg last year at NOCC.
Kind of a late developer and a guy who didn't get alot of interest despite his size.
Not going to set the world on fire but is another big off the bench.

ORU players gone:
G Jarvis 5'11/185 (17.2ppg)
PF Lewis 6'8 255 (13.3ppg 7.2rpg)
G/F Sango 6'3/200 (4.1ppg 2.2rpg)
F Andre Hardy 6'6 230 (7.5ppg 5.5rpg) a sophmore starter who is transfering

[FargoBison]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

Not really seeing how this is easily better than NDSU's or SDSU's class. I think Bell-Holter and McClintock are good gets, but I like how NDSU and SDSU signed four high school kids, I'll take a great high school recruit over a JUCO every time.

[Kemo]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

I tend to agree with FargoBison here, high school seniors > Juco's in my opinion.

Hunter seems to be an impressive point guard and Bell-Holter has some pretty impressive high school stats, but the knock on him is that he isn't all that athletic for a 6'9" 4/5, so it'll be interesting to see if his strength and footwork can make up for this at the college level... especially on defense.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

It appears they are done and it appears to be a very impressive class, probably easily the best in the Summit....

Damen Bell-Holter (6'9/245 Ketchikan, Ak)
Attending New Hampton (NH) Prep.
As a Senior in Alaska averaged 28ppg 17rpg 4.5bspg....as a Junior averaged 30ppg 10rpg 5.4bspg.
Originally signed with Missouri State, then was let out of his commit. Kentucky, Indiana and Gonzaga among others showed interest.
Was rated #31 center for the class of
Pretty versatile big who is a decent passer and can even step out and hit an occasional three....will most likely contribute right away. A real good get for ORU.

Hunter McClintock (6'2/180 Durham, NC)
Played at the prestigous Patterson Prep School (Lenoir, NC) a school who is a factory for D1 talent.
Patterson was #1 in the nation last year (34-3) and five of Hunters teammates will play D1 next year. Averaged 11.3ppg and 5.4apg at Patterson while shooting 58% from the 3pt line.
As a Senior at Durham he averaged 27ppg 6.7apg 4.5 rpg while being named First Team all-state in N.C.
Finished his high school career second in North Carolina in in career three pointersand free throws.
Recieved interest from Washington St, St. Mary's, Charlotte, Hawaii and TCU, among others.
Looks like this kid could come in and also play right away, possibly starting at the point which was one of the Eagles biggest weaknesses last year. Like Bell-Holter, an impressive signing for ORU.

Michael Craion (6'5/205 Kansas City, MO - Independence CC)
Played the last two years at Independence CC in Kansas where he averaged 17.5ppg 9rpg 44.6% from the field, 32% from 3-pt and 65% on free throws.
Shot 34.6% (53-153) at Independence after not attempting a three pointer in high school.
More of an inside player and a slasher along w/ being a pretty strong rebounder.
Looks like he'll be a role player who should provide decent depth off the bench.

Javier Nassare (6'10/225 F/C Barbastro, Spain - Northern Oklahoma CC)
Averaged 8.9ppg, 5.4rpg and 2.1bspg last year at NOCC.
Kind of a late developer and a guy who didn't get alot of interest despite his size.
Not going to set the world on fire but is another big off the bench.

ORU players gone:
G Jarvis 5'11/185 (17.2ppg)
PF Lewis 6'8 255 (13.3ppg 7.2rpg)
G/F Sango 6'3/200 (4.1ppg 2.2rpg)
F Andre Hardy 6'6 230 (7.5ppg 5.5rpg) a sophmore starter who is transfering

Easily the best in the Summit? What do you base that on stats?

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

The two juco guys, it appears, are really nothing special. I know that we'd sure take the 6'10 kid though. Bell-Holter and McClintock appear to very promising players.

None of us have seen them play. They are both prep school kids (at very good prep schools) so that means they are playing with and against some outstanding competetion right now. We've discussed star-rating and I am in agreement that it doesn't guarantee success one bit, but they are both 2-star kids on rivals.com. Heemstra, White, Fiegen, Felt, etc are 0-star kids. I know that location has alot to do w/ that. The numbers McClintock put up, in North Carolina no less, for his career are mighty impressive. Lastly, the schools who were interested in them says alot also.

If we had inked these guys this board would be going crazy.

[Kemo]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

If we had inked these guys this board would be going crazy.

I personally wouldn't be that excited for 2 stars coming in, I'm a 3 star and above kind of guy!

In all serious though, I think prep school guys get slightly overrated because of the exposure they get at those schools. Our recruits would have at least been 2 stars had they gone to these schools; plus, I think a lot of prep school kids have a low ceiling in terms of development compared to average high school players, as they have already been exposed to some high quality coaching and many are specialist who focus primarily on basketball and getting recruited. You won't find many kids at these prep schools like Heemstra who chose to play baseball in the summer over spending the entire summer on the AAU circuit.

I don't want to give off the impression that I think all prep school guys are overrated, as there are some very talented ones who are there for a reason, I just think a lot those "2 star ratings" come from where they played over their actual ability and potential.

I definitely would not trade our recruiting class for ORU's even though they do have a good one on paper... and the video of McClintock is fun to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLuMoxhKDdc

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

Did just a little sniffing around and found a Kentucky board where there were 4 pages of discussion about McClintock. UK invited him to their Elite camp and there was alot of speculation if he would be offered a schollie. Alot of UK fans wanted the kid. *This was all last year when he came out of HS and was first team all-state in No Carolina.

[Roy]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

The 2009 NCAA Div I Academic Progress Rate Report ruled that ORU will be limited to 12 MBB scholarships going forward. Does this impact the 2009 class or is it a problem for them next year?

[NoVaJack]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

[quote=TeaJackrabbit;120647]The two juco guys, it appears, are really nothing special* I know that we'd sure take the 6'10 kid though. Bell-Holter and McClintock appear to very promising players.

None of us have seen them play.** They are both prep school kids (at very good prep schools) so that means they are playing with and against some outstanding competetion right now. We've discussed star-rating and I am in agreement that it doesn't guarantee success one bit,*** but they are both 2-star kids on rivals.com. Heemstra, White, Fiegen, Felt, etc are 0-star kids. I know that location has alot to do w/ that. The numbers McClintock put up, in North Carolina no less, for his career are mighty impressive. Lastly, the schools who were interested in them says alot also.

If we had inked these guys this board would be going crazy.****[/quote]


*observation #1
** observation #2
***observation #3
**** how do you draw this conclusion after observations 1, 2 and 3?

I like Jacks' chances with the homegrown blue chips.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

*observation #1
** observation #2
***observation #3
**** how do you draw this conclusion after observations 1, 2 and 3?

Simple - it's b/c of the other schools that had interest in these kids.

How many on here have seen Wolter's play? Yet when he signed people were giddy. Heck, how many have seen Chad, Tony or BC play? I'll bet not many. Holter-Bell and McClintock are great recruits for ORU. They were GREAT high school players. So great that schools like Kentucky, Indiana, Gonzaga, Missouri State, St Marys, Washington State, among others were interested in the kids. Now, does that mean they'll turn out to be great college players? Absolutely not. But I'd be more excited about a first team kid from North Carolina playing at one of the most elite Prep schools in the country than I would a first teamer from SD.

And for the record, I love the fact that we get local kids. I love that I can drive 10 minutes and go watch a future Jack recruit play almost any given week. I've ever said before that I'd even sacrifice a few wins every year just to have local kids. I love SD and this region and love the type of athelete, not to mention tyoe of person, we produce.

[FargoBison]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

Interest doesn't mean a whole lot, if those schools offered than it would be a big deal. I'm not saying they are not good recruits because they are, but in my book interest is nothing but a lot of hype. If you want to impress me that these guys are big time recruits, well beyond the caliber our schools have brought in, show me the big time offers.

[NoVaJack]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

Interest doesn't mean a whole lot, if those schools offered than it would be a big deal. I'm not saying they are not good recruits because they are, but in my book interest is nothing but a lot of hype. If you want to impress me that these guys are big time recruits, well beyond the caliber our schools have brought in, show me the big time offers.

My point, exactly. In the case of the recruit from Durham. Not taking anything from him, and he might be the next Chris Paul, but Duke, NC State, UNC and Wake Forest are all approximately Brookings to Sioux Falls or Fargo to Grand Forks distance, or closer, from Durham. UNC-Asheville, UNC-Wilmington and East Carolina are all very good mid-majors a coupe hours' drive away. There may be other than Top 25 aspiration reasons a North Carolina prep school player will play for a mid-major in Oklahoma, but the fact that none of these backyard North Carolina schools made offers should say something. Also, prep schools aren't always the best bb schools. The better public schools in Virginia regularily stomp all but the top 5 percent of the prep schools around the DC area, and most of those top preps import kids from all over the world.

[Kemo]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

Speaking of competition, though there are definitely good competition where McClintock came from, think about Wolters on our end; He played and belonged on the same court as Hopkins in the Minnesota state tourney, a team who has 4 players going to DI schools, and very notable ones at that (U of Minnesota, Arizona St, Notre Dame, and Santa Clara) and were ranked as one of the the top high school teams in the nation. I agree that McClintock is a good point guard, but I wouldn't trade him for the one we got.

I would agree with the assessment that ORU had the best Summit League recruiting class on paper via national accolades, but people around this area who know basketball realize just how good of class we got ourselves. It'll be interesting to see what the verdict is 4 years down the road.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

If you want to impress me that these guys are big time recruits, well beyond the caliber our schools have brought in, show me the big time offers.

Fine.....at least schools like Kentucky invited McClintock to their elite camp. What did our recruits get? I'm not sure about NDSU, but what did the three SoDak kids here from major programs? Not a word. Wolters had an offer from CSU b/c their coach knows the area and CSU is far from a big time program. UK, Gonzaga, IU etc might not have offered, but they had these kids on their radar, which is a heckuva lot more than we can say.

And for the record, if you think a school like Iowa, Minny, Creighton etc backed off of a kid like Fiegen or White b/c they verbaled to SDSU then you're off your rocker...with all due respect. They might back off a kid that verbaled to an equal or better program, but not one who has lost 20 games every year they've been D1.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: ORU recruiting class....

[quote]Speaking of competition, though there are definitely good competition where McClintock came from, think about Wolters on our end; He played and belonged on the same court as Hopkins in the Minnesota state tourney, a team who has 4 players going to DI schools, and very notable ones at that (U of Minnesota, Arizona St, Notre Dame, and Santa Clara) and were ranked as one of the the top high school teams in the nation. I agree that McClintock is a good point guard, but I wouldn't trade him for the one we got.[quote]

Eh, Wolters played one game against a top team. McClintock PLAYED on a top team and played against far more superior competetion darn near every night. Wolters wasn't even first team in Minnesota.....MINNESOTA!!!

McClintock was all first team No. Carolina.....and that's before he enrolled at one of the top prep schools in the country. I was thrilled when we got Wolters, but to take him over McClintock????

I'm just trying to be honest and rational guys. No way can we compare anyone we have, RIGHT NOW, with the top two kids ORU got, no way.