How good is next years recruiting class?

[bleed yellow]

I heard the announcers say during the game last night that WSU's recruiting class next year is supposed to be the best recruiting class in WSU history?? Is this true? I really hope it is. That would be exciting!

[Shox1979]

I heard Bruce say that too and if Bruce says it, it has to be gospel. He's the smartest guy he knows. In all seriousness on paper it looks to be excellent. Throw in Ron Baker and if these guys play up to potential and the skies the limit. If Henry U pans out it could be downright scary.

[pinstripers]

No...........the best recruiting class of Marshall's career. Big dif.

[ShockerEngr]

No...........the best recruiting class of Marshall's career. Big dif.

This.

It should still be an impressive recruiting class tho.

[wufan]

I do believe Carr, Levingston, and Ozell Jones was a pretty good class. 2 years later we grabbed 2 McDs AAs and some guy named X. Even the addition of Perry Ellis this year wouldn't make this class as good as those two. Most likely, this will be ranked as the best MVC class in the past three or four years, so not chicken scat.

[forevershockerfan]

Yes, I heard that same comment and that Had to be a reference to Marshall's tenure here at WSU. Speaking of this class, did I read somewhere that this Class is rated in the top 50 in the Country so far? Losing 5 Seniors last Season and another 5 this Season will be a hit. I am glad D-Will, Carl Hall, EO, Cotton and White all played solid last night. Baker, Armstead, and Mitchell are practicing with our Squad to join these prized recruits we have coming in. If a few other spots are needed later, bring me in another big man that can play like Carl Hall.

[shocks02]

I think since the beginning of ShockerNet, this class has by far the most accolades of any recruiting class we've seen. I'd say 3 of these recruits (Hawkins, Van Vleet, Early) are among that elite group of recruits.

If I remember correctly Murry and Kyles, both coming out of the Dallas/Houston area, weren't talked about very much. Which leads me to believe Derail Green might pan out the same way.

Same goes for Uwadie. If we wouldn't have experienced the growing pains of EO we would probably all be talking up this kid, but we've been humbled with our 7-footers.

There is good reason to get excited about all 5 of these recruits, it's a great day to be a Shocker fan!

[Aargh]

During the time that ShockerRadio went dead, I heard Bruce say "Murry's shot comes up short - off the glass". What? Was it supposed to go PAST the glass? I have no problems with Bruce as a sportscaster, where he's reading a prepared and rehearsed script. In a live situation, sometimes his mouth moves a lot faster than his brain - and then ANYTHING might come out of that mouth.

Some consider VanVleet the most underrated player in the country. The criticisms he has gotten are his size (5'11") and his quickness. I've watched about 4 or 5 of his games - and he's not the quickest PG in the nation. FVV uses trickery, skills, and some incredible ball-handling to achieve the same things the quicker guys do with quickness. When I saw FVV against the #1 and #3 PG's last summer, they were quicker, but they absolutely could not stay in front of him and he was able to disp=rupt their use of their quickness. FVV is averaging about 5 steals a game again this year. That quickness criticism might be accurate but it doesn't seem to be affecting his effectiveness.

Early has been called an NBA prospect at SG. That's hyperbole. He's not a great outside shooter, but he's putting up some incredible numbers at a D3 juco. The competition he's up against there isn't the level we'd expect from Chipola or some other JuCo's we're familiar with, but Early was very highly-rated out of HS and has done nothing to make that appear wrong. I'd expect him to take a little longer than Hall to adjust to D1, but he should be a significant contributor next year.

I think those two are the gems of the class. If it weren't for them, I think we'd be drooling over Hawkins and Green. Both seem to be a 6'7" type player who can play SF. I don't have that much info about Hawkins, other than a LOT of schools were after him. You can check the recruiting forum . I'm a little higher on Green than most. Green isn't putting up great numbers, but he's playing on a team that spread scoring and rebounds out among the team, and the word is that Green has ne fear of playing D and is effective. That gets early PT with Marshall.

Uwadiae was considered a "borderline" high major prospect. He will be a project, but it seems he won't be nearly as raw as Orukpe when he got here. He's considered a defensive specialist, a shot blocker, and a rebounder. Sound familiar? Just as a guess, I'd guess his basic skills and fundamentals are somewhere around where Orukpe's are now. For an incoming FR, that probably means a RS year would be best. With Orukpe, Hall, Early, and White in the front court, a RS year can be afforded. Too bad we couldn't get the same for Stutz. Imagine having him next year after what he's doing this year.

[60Shock]

Good breakdown, Aargh. Very sensible and not over the top. Sometimes in the past, we have gotten caught up in the hype and we get our expectation up much too high which leads to nothing but disappointments.

[calfan]

Hawkins and Dayton Dunbar are doing well so far.
He is averaging 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds a game.

Dayton Dunbar is 11-0 and nationally ranked in the top 50.

For those who are worried about the MVC dealing with us, let's not forget
that their point guard, Andre Yates is headed to Creighton to possibly
join Doug McDermott and company. They could be tough again next year.

[pinstripers]

they'll be even better next year, won't they?

[wufan]

Probably. They lose Young, but bring everyone else back. They have a very talented freshman class (including a very good PG) that is just getting it's feet wet.