RE: No. 1 Basketball recruiting class ...
I'll bite, although the recruiting season isn't over with a lot of transferring still going on.
As a Toledo fan I can weigh in on our class. UT coach Kowalcyzk recently did a podcast interview with a long bit on recruiting. TK is not a cliche type of coach and is pretty open and forthcoming. toledo's class is built around 1) ryan rollins who was the top target and in the coach's words he "never wanted a recruit more". rollins is long lanky 6-4 guard who played on a top aau team in michigan. he came up as a pg, and his quickness, length and feel made him a coveted mid major recruit by his junior year. toledo signed him early last november. meanwhile, he began to really work on his shooting and scoring. as a senior he had a monster year and rose up the state rankings. similar size and quickness of roberts (who just left kent) and reminds a bit of bg great antonio daniels and the smooth longtime NBA role player shaun livingston (golden st). not assuming he will be as good as any of those players, but he's a guy who physically could play in any league and seems to be blooming as a scorer. next year, expect him to play backup pg when marreon jackson rests and probably a bit more with him on the court to give UT more playmakers on offense. long term has all mac talent. toledo's class is huge. UT sometimes brings in 4 or 5 players but 7 is rare. next most important recruit is probably seth millner. ut recruited him in high school but he went to cleveland st and started as a freshman. then, transferred to a juco where he was ranked #31 prospect by one service. so, he's an experienced recruit who at a solid athletic 6-6 210 can play forward in the mac, yet still has some guard skills. not a super flashy player or great at anything, but a good defender who is also aggressive on offense and should be in the rotation and improve bench play at the 3 and 4 position.
jonathon kumongum is a london, england kid that played juco in the US and is very aggressive and likes to dunk on people. around 6-8 or 6-9 with a huge 7-2 wingspan. high motor guy recruited to really athletically and competitively push UT's good young bigs, edu and maranka to get better. should see bench minutes at 4/5. some of his game is a little rough, but I predict he will have a highlight reel dunk on at least 1 mac team. raheim moss might be a partial qualifier academic rs but is a talented recruit. great athlete at 6-4 who also had major fb offers as a linebacker. can really defend. reminds me physically of buffalo's jayvon graves, not saying he has the same offensive game. but a physical athletic guy who plays fast and should at least be a good versatile mac role player as he develops. ut also signed a D2 all conference transfer stretch 4 from walsh in ohio. he and the staff agreed to a rs developmental year and ut hopes he can play 4 man minutes as a 4th and 5th year guy who is very accurate from range, career college 43% 3 point shooter. ut also signed a pg from outside chicago who didn't get a UT offer till winter of his sr year and it was his first D1 offer. he committed soon after and went on to be named most improved player in the state. athletic 6-3 pg with some moves and defensive talent. reminds me a bit of ohio player trevion kirk who was a late emerging taller pg from the same area who had some success in the mac, although jamele hill is a lefty. ut also signed an athletic juco wing named jones originally from detroit. wasn't a highly recruited kid, but fits with the class identity of long athletic guys who can score and are aggressive on defense. overall, the class means toledo will put a deeper more athletic rotation on the floor next season. rollins might be ready to have an impact and be a solid complementary player as a freshman. ut also is hoping last year's top recruit mattias acunzo can overcome a nagging foot injury that's kept him off the court for 3/4 of the past 2 seasons. if he can play expect him to be out of shape, although he was already a little soft and has a highly skilled game with size and flair that relies less on athleticism. if healthy, he should be in the rotation.
as for overall mac rankings i'd say ohio helped themselves, assuming both those bigs are immediately eligible they add 2 experienced 6-9 240 type guys who can compete in the mac. miguel is a juco big kinda chubby guy who plays low to the ground but can get up and down the floor. has some game and was very well recruited by mid majors. the jmu transfer wilson is solid. add those 2 to vanderplass and ou now has a deeper more physical frontcourt. they also added a couple of skinny freshman forwards who had a lot of D1 offers. wouldn't expect any of the 3 frosh to make an impact this year, but the key was getting tougher and more clever inside and they got that done.
buffalo got a juco pg with 3 years eligibility who had pac 12 sec big ten american mwc offers. he's coming off an injury but is a talented pg. also got a highly recruited freshman pg from down south early. robinson is a very athletic player who plays big for 6 foot and looks like he might develop into a good undersized mac combo guard. those 2 might be the highest ranked pair of recruits in the league. i think ub still has a scholarship available and could benefit from an impact guy in the frontcourt.
ball st got a couple good transfers including ex wmu guy reggie jones and a p5 shooting guard. they signed a pg from finland who actually looks like his got quick feet and a nice mid range game. perhaps, the finnish dylan frye.
cmu as usual got a bunch of transfers. a big one size wise is 5th year msu walk on braden burke. they got another juco big, a frosh pf, a juco sf and sg and a typically cmu short stocky guard with some game named rashad weekly-mcdaniels.
kent signed four jucos and a couple look real good. so, they might have the most impactful class. also signed the ohio poy, voncameron davis who should at least see some swingman minutes as a frosh.
bg didn't add any impact frontcourt guys which seemed to be the need but they still have a scholarship available. did add 3 freshman, 2 being pgs that can score and all look like legit mid major recruits.
and western's longtime assoc hc, now hc, came up big in the late signing session with 2 good hs guard recruits, a solid versatile juco forward and grad trans forward-expect both in the rotation. personally, i think daylan hamilton has all mac potential at guard. sg josiah freeman was as highly recruited as any guy coming into the league and should get off guard minutes as a frosh. this might be the best class in the league in terms of both short term help and long term potential, especially with how little time and other recruiting limitations the new staff had.
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