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psychojoe
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 Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:04 pm Post subject: Basketball recruiting- 2009 class |
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We are at the beginning of a big recruiting period for hoops, which will culminate with the early signing period in November. As some of you may recall, we had early commitments from two point guards, Reger Dowell, from the Dallas area, and Cully Payne, from the Chicago area. Dowell has since retracted his commitment and said he wants his recruitment to continue, but we are still on his list.
Scholarship wise, we have twelve on scholarship now, and Ron Steele, Alonzo Gee and Brandon Hollinger will finish their eligibility this season, so we can sign four players and still be ok with the 13 limit.
Considering our needs, with Ron leaving and juco Anthony Brock having only one season after this one, we need to add a point guard. The above mentioned Cully Payne fits that description. He is a firm Alabama commitment at this point. Currently a 3 star player on Rivals, he has had a very good summer in AAU play. He brings great ball handling and passing skills, and is a solid defender, though he probably needs to add some upper body strength. (He is 6'0" and 160 pounds.) He can also hit the three pointer, as well as penetrate and finish or penetrate and kick out. Payne committed to his hometown school, DePaul, as a 9th grader, but after visiting Bama in late spring he committed to us.
Since Gee and Hollinger are both wing players we need to add a couple of wing players to our 2009 class.
We have offered Christian Wattford, from here in the Birmingham area. Wattford is impressive physically at 6'7" and 210 pounds, and shoots very well from the three point line, with range well beyond that. He is a four star player in the Rivals rankings. In addition to us, he has offers from Louisville, Memphis, Kentucky and Indiana, and my guess is that Indiana leads this battle.
We have also offered Rik Garcia of the Chicago area, an AAU teammate of Cully Payne. At 6'6" and 175 pounds he is on the thin side, but he has NBA range on his shot and is deadly from 3 point range. He also is a good passer, effective in transition and good on the dribble. He is a 3 star player according to Rivals. Besides Bama he has offers from Wake Forest, Miami and Southern Illinois (where his father played) among others. At this point Bama and Wake are in the lead.
At this point we don't have any "Bigs" out there, but all that is subject to change. I'll update this as I get new information.
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Last edited by psychojoe on Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tider27
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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Good stuff joe, thanks for the update. 
I would love for us to get a big body for Center. Someone in the 6'10 - 7'0 range with at least 210+ lbs. Who is on the radar for us at C? Also, who seems to be the heir apparent to take Gee's place once he graduates?
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:43 am Post subject: |
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| Tider27 wrote: | Good stuff joe, thanks for the update.
I would love for us to get a big body for Center. Someone in the 6'10 - 7'0 range with at least 210+ lbs. Who is on the radar for us at C? Also, who seems to be the heir apparent to take Gee's place once he graduates? |
We aren't really looking at any centers in the size range that you are talking about right now. Of course, as you can imagine, kids in that size range are not easy to find. Those that are that big and have good basketball skills tend to be "one and done" as far as college play goes. There is also the factor that all four of our inside players are underclassmen this year. My guess would be that we don't go after an inside player this time unless he is a special player because of that
Regarding your second question, Tony Mitchell of Swainsboro, Georgia is part of the class that starts school this month, and he would be my pick to replace Gee. There is a video of him linked in another post on this forum.
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Bama1966
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Appreciate the post.
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mongo4bama
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| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:56 am Post subject: |
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Thanx Joe for the update on recruiting.
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Last edited by mongo4bama on Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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No big news, but a couple of Birmingham area tidbits. We haven't offered yet, but we are looking at Woodlawn HS power forward Edward Daniel. He is a late bloomer. At 6'7" and 215 we'd obviously like for him to grow some more. He is related to DeMarco Cousins, though not a wide body like Cousins. His fundamentals are reported to be good, better than his welll known relative. Grades will not be an issue. Eric Bledsoe of Birmingham, Parker is a highly regarded PG. We aren't presently recruiting him because of past issues we've had with his HS coach. At the moment Minnesota seems to be in the lead for him, with UAB second. Should UAB land him that would be quite a coup for Mike Davis, a well regarded point guard to go with one of the best centers in the country in Cousins. No matter who else they get, if they get Cousins and Bledsoe it would easily be the most talented recruiting class UAB has ever landed.
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psychojoe
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rick4bama
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Godd stuf here. Thanks!!
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: |
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Add another name to the list:
Juco small forward Brad Reese. He is 6'6" and 200 lbs, currently at Gulf Coast Community College.
http://alabama.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=79955&sport=2
He enrolled at Southwestern Louisianna out of HS, redshirted there and transferred to the juco. Kentucky really wanted him for this year (2008 class) but he was not able to get his academics in order, and will return to juco for another year. We have offered for 2009, as have LSU and Kentucky.
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mongo4bama
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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Great to see those name on the list even bettter when they sign with us.
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"They have a name for the winners in the world and I want a name when I loose they call Alabama the Crimson Tide" Steely Dan
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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FWIW, former Bama commit Reger Dowell has now committed to Arizona. Only a couple of months until the early signing period. Who knows, he may change again.
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:38 am Post subject: |
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Bama prospect Christian Watford, of Shades Valley HS here in Birmingham, has verbally committed to Indiana. Besides Bama and Indiana he also had offers from Memphis, Louisville and Kentucky. He had been considered a strong Indiana lean since mid summer.
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TerryP
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm anxious to see how Tom Crean does at Indiana. He's a solid coach, probably the best hire they've made out of Davis and Sampson.
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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Terry, I think he will do very well there. The story around here is that prior to Watford committing, Crean and his entire staff were down this week to watch an open practice. That kind of presence really lets a kid know you want him. (I think he was going their way anyhow. Some IU folks thought he would commit to them right after their camp.) Crean should be able to recruit very well at Indiana, with their fan base and basketball tradition.
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psychojoe
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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Juco prospect Brad Reese visited Alabama this past week end and raved about his visit, per a BOL report. He talked about how he felt like he really blended in with the players he was hanging around with. (Mikhail Torrance was his official host, and the rest of the group was Ron and Andrew Steele and JaMychal Green.) He said that what stood out to him was "how comfortable I felt with the players and coaches".
Reese has already visited LSU, will visit Arkansas this week end, and plans on going to Texas Tech as well. At this point his favorites are Bama, Texas Tech and LSU, in no particular order. The vibes are pretty good that he'll end up in crimson.
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