2012 recruits

[AKCoach]

Re: 2012 recruits

I'm one of Connor Devine's coaches up here in Alaska and you guys are getting a great player and even better kid. I'm impressed how many little things you were able to pick up on in just a short YouTube video. A lot of those characteristics were instilled in him early or have been things he's worked tirelessly at improving. They are little things that we coaches preach, he's listened, but usually go unnoticed by casual fans. Best thing about the kid, one of the few that has always improved year to year and during the season and I can say, having worked with him for 3 years now, still will get a lot better. His best basketball is ahead of him. I look forward to him being part of your family a short year from now, anything you guys ever want to know, don't hesitate to ask.

[NoVaJack]

Re: 2012 recruits

I'm one of Connor Devine's coaches up here in Alaska and you guys are getting a great player and even better kid. I'm impressed how many little things you were able to pick up on in just a short YouTube video. A lot of those characteristics were instilled in him early or have been things he's worked tirelessly at improving. They are little things that we coaches preach, he's listened, but usually go unnoticed by casual fans. Best thing about the kid, one of the few that has always improved year to year and during the season and I can say, having worked with him for 3 years now, still will get a lot better. His best basketball is ahead of him. I look forward to him being part of your family a short year from now, anything you guys ever want to know, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks for the info! And welcome to the board.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: 2012 recruits

Kind of surprised not to find more excitement on here about the 3 players we've recently added. I'm not one to get overly excited abt any and everyone we sign, but man, seems like we're getting some quality kids. The 2 incoming guys look like they can contribute rt away and allow the two Zachs to redshirt. I was nervous about relying on the Zachs much this yr anyway. Obviously we all want more size, but, size alone doesn't equate to success. Remember the Wyoming team we crushed 2 years ago? Had more size then 90% of D1 teams. I like the fact that Nagy said they've looked at bigs but frankly none have been good enough to offer. And our new recruit Francis is compared to Moss, only a better shooter? Oh boy!

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: 2012 recruits

And...welcome AKCoach. Despite his inferior size, how does Devine compare to Ketchikan AK. And ORU player, Damen Bell-Holter? (Differing styles of play, I know)

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: 2012 recruits

I'm one of Connor Devine's coaches up here in Alaska and you guys are getting a great player and even better kid. I'm impressed how many little things you were able to pick up on in just a short YouTube video. A lot of those characteristics were instilled in him early or have been things he's worked tirelessly at improving. They are little things that we coaches preach, he's listened, but usually go unnoticed by casual fans. Best thing about the kid, one of the few that has always improved year to year and during the season and I can say, having worked with him for 3 years now, still will get a lot better. His best basketball is ahead of him. I look forward to him being part of your family a short year from now, anything you guys ever want to know, don't hesitate to ask.

The kid looks like an absolute stud. If he can grow into his body a little bit and hold his own against the other bigs in the league, he's going to be a big time player for State. You don't see kids that tall that can do that very often. I was very impressed how he ran the floor and wasn't afraid to put it down over people in traffic. Super excited for him and I wish he was coming in this year already.

[AKCoach]

Re: 2012 recruits

Bell-Holter and him have different periods of growth, styles, and therefore, careers. We played against Bell-Holter before Connor"s time, they were a 2.5 hour flight from us, so lucky we ever matched up. DBH was as developed as physically as Carlos Boozer was in high school, I mean a real physical specimen, and in control of his body. He could bounce it like he developed that game and then grew bunch. He was a good but not great shooter, and had a tendency to float on the perimeter. He wasn't a big intimidator defensively either. Was underdeveloped on the mental part of it, would get frustrated with teammates, etc, and that was all that held him back. Comparatively Connor is taller, a lot longer, and way more agile than Damen was in HS. Connor was still being taught how to run in 7th grade, was always a little goofy growing up. His athleticism has only come on in the last couple years as he's grown into his body and gotten stronger. Connor has shown a huge improvement with the ball in his hand. We went to the Pete Newell Big Man Camp in August, more footwork and his confidence with the ball has shown now that he has the steps right. Connor is a better shooter than DBH was, close to 40% from 3 as a junior, and has been the best defender in the state since he was a sophomore in my opinion. As you guys have noticed in video, really learned to keep his arms up and stay on his feet as long as possible, rarely leaves the floor if he can't block it. Funny that you guys have noticed him finishing on people, I am always giving him crap about not doing this, loves the layup. You may want him this year, but give him this season to develop a bit more, get better with the ball and continue to adjust to his athleticism, and if he starts playing with a little attitude, watch out, you'll be getting a much better player than he is now.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: 2012 recruits

Really great to have your posts on our fan board AKCoach!! We're excited to have him join the Yellow and Blue at SDSU, and think he will find a great home here for his talents.

[HoboJack]

Re: 2012 recruits

Kind of surprised not to find more excitement on here about the 3 players we've recently added. I'm not one to get overly excited abt any and everyone we sign, but man, seems like we're getting some quality kids. The 2 incoming guys look like they can contribute rt away and allow the two Zachs to redshirt. I was nervous about relying on the Zachs much this yr anyway. Obviously we all want more size, but, size alone doesn't equate to success. Remember the Wyoming team we crushed 2 years ago? Had more size then 90% of D1 teams. I like the fact that Nagy said they've looked at bigs but frankly none have been good enough to offer. And our new recruit Francis is compared to Moss, only a better shooter? Oh boy!

I'm curious why you feel that the 'Zachs' need to redshirt, but that these new recruits will obviously be ready 'right away'? I'm not trying to take away anything form the newly added guys, but think we will need Horstman's length & leaping ability in the lineup. Sure he is a pretty thin & could use a year in the weight room, but I don't see why he wouldn't contribute some right away. I would be shocked if any of the incoming freshman average 20 mins per game, but surprised if at least 2 don't average between 5-10.

Very few teams consistently redshirt basketball players at the D1 level. By giving them an official redshirt season, you a) take away a sense of urgency for improvement, b) * run the risk of them losing a year of actual elgibility*, c) cut down on the quality depth of your team, d) keep them from getting actual game experience. I think true big men could gain an advantage by redshirting a year by getting stronger, but for most guards/wing players an extra year would have minimal impact on their college career.

*Chad White was hurt after 8-10 games of his true freshman season. Since he had not taken a red-shirt year he was granted a medical hardship year, and was therefore a freshman this past season. This would have been the same case whether he had been injured in years 2-4 rather than year one. It seems that 6th years are rarely granted in division I basketball for medical hardships.

[joeboo22]

Re: 2012 recruits

I'm curious why you feel that the 'Zachs' need to redshirt, but that these new recruits will obviously be ready 'right away'? I'm not trying to take away anything form the newly added guys, but think we will need Horstman's length & leaping ability in the lineup. Sure he is a pretty thin & could use a year in the weight room, but I don't see why he wouldn't contribute some right away. I would be shocked if any of the incoming freshman average 20 mins per game, but surprised if at least 2 don't average between 5-10.

Very few teams consistently redshirt basketball players at the D1 level. By giving them an official redshirt season, you a) take away a sense of urgency for improvement, b) * run the risk of them losing a year of actual elgibility*, c) cut down on the quality depth of your team, d) keep them from getting actual game experience. I think true big men could gain an advantage by redshirting a year by getting stronger, but for most guards/wing players an extra year would have minimal impact on their college career.

*Chad White was hurt after 8-10 games of his true freshman season. Since he had not taken a red-shirt year he was granted a medical hardship year, and was therefore a freshman this past season. This would have been the same case whether he had been injured in years 2-4 rather than year one. It seems that 6th years are rarely granted in division I basketball for medical hardships.

I think the reason people would think the Zachs need to redshirt is because they appear to be able to utilize it both physically and mentally more then the two recent signings. They are thinner, could put muscle on and so on. Of the two recent signings 1 has played for his national team and the other played at a prep school. Some could argue that those would lead to an easier transition to life as a small D-I basketball player.

Now I disagree with the mentality that the fans should decides who redshirts and who doesn't. 1 injury, or 1 observation not of the freshman but of the upper classmen could cause the coaches to say we need X freshman to play now. The coaches made it known last year that they would have liked to have redshirted Heemstra but couldn't do to lack of depth in the post position.

My mentality is if they can play and help they shouldn't be redshirted. No matter what the physical or mental make up of them is. The facts are if you can play you play. Kevin Durant still looks like he could use a redshirt, and is one of the best players in the NBA. So I think that the decision is up to the players themselves and the coaches. I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 of the scholarship freshman redshirt and wouldn't be surprised if none of them do.

[Nidaros]

Re: 2012 recruits

Now I disagree with the mentality that the fans should decides who redshirts and who doesn't. 1 injury, or 1 observation not of the freshman but of the upper classmen could cause the coaches to say we need X freshman to play now. The coaches made it known last year that they would have liked to have redshirted Heemstra but couldn't do to lack of depth in the post position.

My mentality is if they can play and help they shouldn't be redshirted. No matter what the physical or mental make up of them is. The facts are if you can play you play. Kevin Durant still looks like he could use a redshirt, and is one of the best players in the NBA. So I think that the decision is up to the players themselves and the coaches. I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 of the scholarship freshman redshirt and wouldn't be surprised if none of them do.

In addition, I likwise disagree that fans should determine who redshirts and who does not. If our program sinks that low, then all of Jack Nation is in bad shape. I think this board is pretty much opinions, and often they don't set well with me and allegedly I go into an attack mode in offering a counter balancing arguement. Sometimes I end up in arguing with people who are young enough to be my grandchildren as you are Joe. Its not really worth it. The bottom line is express your opinions as you might want to, but you really are not going to decide spit.

I think TeaRabbit is basing his comment more so on the Youtube videos which do suggest some quality recruits in Prince and French, who might deepen our roster to the point where maybe two of them could red shirt and you have elequoently express this opinion. I know so little about any of the new recruits that I hesitate to comment further. I like the depth of this year's roster and with the lad from Alaska coming in, it only gets better.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: 2012 recruits

So we sign two late guards, who have YouTube videos, and all of a sudden they are our "best" recruits? How many of you have watched Zach Monaghan's or Zach Horstman's YouTube videos and done an analytical comparison?? We thought enough of Hortstman to get him to verbal as a sophomore. And Coach Nagy's comments on Monaghan have been very positive. I guess my point is that when they are all on board, the coaches themselves will be better able to sort out and rank the newcomers. I'm with the earlier post in that it would not surprise me to have no redshirts, or several.

[Nidaros]

Re: 2012 recruits

So we sign two late guards, who have YouTube videos, and all of a sudden they are our "best" recruits? How many of you have watched Zach Monaghan's or Zach Horstman's YouTube videos and done an analytical comparison?? We thought enough of Hortstman to get him to verbal as a sophomore. And Coach Nagy's comments on Monaghan have been very positive. I guess my point is that when they are all on board, the coaches themselves will be better able to sort out and rank the newcomers. I'm with the earlier post in that it would not surprise me to have no redshirts, or several.

This is why I was being cautious in offering further comments. I recall the videos of Cam Hornby and how impressive they looked. Our luck in Canada has run extremes from Cam who did not pan out at SDSU to Kia Williams, a great player in my opinion. I dont doubt your comments about Horstman. He no doubt will leave mark at SDSU.

[bigticket1]

Re: 2012 recruits

I think I'll take a wait and see position on these two new players. They do look impressive on the videos,but the fact that they were still available at this point in time makes me a bit of a skeptic. Let's hope that they have great careers as Jacks.

[jackmd]

Re: 2012 recruits

I think I'll take a wait and see position on these two new players. They do look impressive on the videos,but the fact that they were still available at this point in time makes me a bit of a skeptic. Let's hope that they have great careers as Jacks.

Agree, I am not one to give a lot of merit to a highlight video as it is just that. Much more can be learned about a player by watching them play basketball not just shoot, dribble and score. Our coaches bet paid to select players based on their ability to play the whole game not just one part of it. I am most excited for our returning players as well as our earlier recruits. Adding these two is important but doesn't intrigue me all that much.

[smoothjack]

Re: 2012 recruits

I also agree that it is hard to judge a player by his highlight video. For example, take a look at my favorite youtube highlight video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLuMoxhKDdc. Yes that is Hunter McClintock formerly from Oral Roberts who just recently transferred out because he couldn't find playing time. But seriously, how crazy is this tape?

Agree, I am not one to give a lot of merit to a highlight video as it is just that. Much more can be learned about a player by watching them play basketball not just shoot, dribble and score. Our coaches bet paid to select players based on their ability to play the whole game not just one part of it. I am most excited for our returning players as well as our earlier recruits. Adding these two is important but doesn't intrigue me all that much.