2011 PF Hopkins Has UM Connection

[CHRISTOPHER STOCK]

Recruiting article on a top prospect considering UM...

http://insidetheu.com/news/viewnews.php?v=4ba9791f3d232

[mmilotte1@aol.com]

Alex Thanks for the GREAT Article ..... It raised a couple of questions though. Unless someone leaves we look to have only 1 scholarship in 2011. Thats AT's. What is going on with Ishmal Dauda reclassifing to a 2011 recruit? When did Jake Morton play at Gonzaga with Hopkins uncle???? He played 4 years at Miami 1988 - 1993, Israel 1993 -1999 Professionally and Coaching from 1999 -through Present

[northstar]

As for the Morton question, he might have meant Gonzaga Prep, which is a high school in DC from near DeMatha. Gonzaga is DeMatha's biggest rival. I will check it out with some people I know in that area.

As for scholarship numbers, many things can happen over the next year and a half. Transfers are always a possibility and since Ryan Quigtar was originally a walk-on I do not know how the coaching staff will approach his scholarship year-by-year.

[mmilotte1@aol.com]

As for the Morton question, he might have meant Gonzaga Prep, which is a high school in DC from near DeMatha. Gonzaga is DeMatha's biggest rival. I will check it out with some people I know in that area.

As for scholarship numbers, many things can happen over the next year and a half. Transfers are always a possibility and since Ryan Quigtar was originally a walk-on I do not know how the coaching staff will approach his scholarship year-by-year.

Quigtar's Scholarship is the one Knight was getting or possibly Jack or someone else unknown to us at this time. If it isn't filled this year that would leave 2.

[northstar]

Right, so if 2 are available, it gives the staff a bit more freedom. In addition, as I believe I posted in another thread...a coach once told me that you're not out of scholarships until you want to be. If a school wants a player badly enough, they can make it happen.

I know Miami is involved with a number of quality prospects in 2011, including a number of top 100 players, so maybe the staff is in a wait and see mode. Also, do not discount the possibility that if the numbers do not work, maybe the staff would keep Dauda in 2012, though that is just a wild thought!

You mentioned Jack, and he seems to be the primary target left in 2010. Knight is out of the picture, though players such as Tashawn Mabry & Cleveland Melvin are also possibilities.

[mmilotte1@aol.com]

Right, so if 2 are available, it gives the staff a bit more freedom. In addition, as I believe I posted in another thread...a coach once told me that you're not out of scholarships until you want to be. If a school wants a player badly enough, they can make it happen.

I know Miami is involved with a number of quality prospects in 2011, including a number of top 100 players, so maybe the staff is in a wait and see mode. Also, do not discount the possibility that if the numbers do not work, maybe the staff would keep Dauda in 2012, though that is just a wild thought!

You mentioned Jack, and he seems to be the primary target left in 2010. Knight is out of the picture, though players such as Tashawn Mabry & Cleveland Melvin are also possibilities.

Tashawn Mabry while from NC is a small forward being recruited by Mid-Majors except for NC State. IMO we have enough of those and better. Not saying he couldn't be coached up to be a better player but on paper I would say I hope not.

Cleveland Melvin A Post Grad plays AAU ball for Cecil Kirk and considering Coaches ties with the Coach of Cecil Kirk I feel if he had HIGH MAJORS potential coach would of been on him and already have offered him since our need for BIGS.

[RUDY RODRIGUEZ-CHOMAT]

Dauda is not that good. He plays small school ball against lousy competition. He's simply bigger than everyone else. I would prefer they drop him and look for someone else in that spot. Just my take.

I am just tired of watching this program go out of state to find players. There are some big time kids in this area and we constantly go away from the area. Why is it that Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Kansas State like kids from here, but we don't? Makes no sense. We have missed out on so many guys from this area that it makes no sense.

I don't know what the 2011 class from this area brings, but it's really just a general statement about looking past the guys down here.

Why we would give a scholarship to a kid that never plays and would never sniff the floor is beyond me. That baffles me when you could give that to a real player who might contribute at some point.

South Florida is kind of thin in 2011 in terms of big time talent for say an ACC school, but we can't get away from South Florida.

Forget about Brandon Knight who we really went hard after...

Over the past five years, including this year, you are looking at guys like Khyle Marshall, Kenny Boynton, Ray Shipman, Bryan Bynes, Martavious Irving, Xavier Martin, Javi Gonzalez, Zach Peacock, Ray Taylor, Rakeem Buckles, Terrance Saintil, Jonathan Rodriguez, Alonzo Gee, Ryan Reid, Sam Mills, Kore White, Jelani Hewitt, Amir Celestine, T.Y. Hilton, Tim Hardaway, Charles Hankerson. I am sure there are more, but that's just a quick list and I can look at the current 'Canes roster and there might be one guy on that team better than the guards on this list and that's Durand Scott. If there is a second, it's Malcolm Grant, but that would be a reach based on what I saw this year. Outside of Reggie Johnson, I would gladly put the post guys listed against any post guy on the roster now.

I am not saying don't recruit nationally, but don't forget where you are and where you came from. Your program is the University of Miami and recruiting guys from North Carolina that UNC, Duke, Wake and NC State didn't want isn't the way you beat those teams. I don't get trying to turn guys who are clearly mid-major guys and think you can make them stars down here. Jack McClinton's come across once every 20 years. Just my thoughts.

[mmilotte1@aol.com]

Rudy you have to admit the ones locally that Miami has signed, with a couple of exceptions, haven't been that good or were problems for/at Miami. Now I am not saying close the door to local talent but I am saying I can see why the coaches can be a little gun shy. Several that you listed above, about 8 or 9, I know we went after. They chose to sign elsewhere. I don't know if we didn't go hard enough or they just wanted to go elsewhere out of the area/state. Not everyone wants to stay at home. A couple of them Shipman and Buckles I recall reading several article about them just wanting to get out of the South Florida area.

Yes Some of those or most maybe better than what is currently on the roster. But don't assume we didn't try or check them out because, as in football, there may be reasons we don't persue a kid. Character and GRADES are a big eliminator of the pool. Do you know if any of those you mentioned couldn't get admitted?

Then there is one major thing also. You may look at a kid and see super player and coach may look at him as not as good as someone else we do have a legitimate shot at. Everyone has opinions because we don't agree that doesn't make either of us correct or wrong.

[northstar]

I'll go one by one on the three above posts:

1. I think Mabry has agood shot to end up at high-major school. I personally have not seen him play, but he has been getting high-major interest and many times the longer a kid draws out his recruitment and other kids come off the board his stock increases due to lack of other options.
I have seen Cleveland Melvin play a number of times. He is an absolutely phenomenal athlete, but he's not a great basketball player if you understand what I'm saying. He was committed to UConn and decommitted--no hard feelings either way--because he wants to be a 3 at the next level and UConn wants him at the 4. He's not a 3, as he does not have much of a perimeter game. He's an undersized 4 who would be a nice fit at the mid-major plus level. Could he go higher? Yes, if a school thinks it can work with him to develop his skill level. He definitely has potential and like I said, he is an elite athlete with phenomenal hops.

2. Rudy, I respectfully disagree on Dauda. I think he is a great get for UM. He's a kid who has been ranked as a borderline 5-star prospect in the class of 2012. Yes, he is now a 2011 kid so he won't be quite as high. He has a lot of potential and was fantastic last year when I saw him at the Jordan Brand Classic International Game. Maybe UM will redshirt him and let him develop, and thus basically have him as a 2012 kid. I think he is a good get.
As for in-state kids, I agree that it should be a focus, but not just for UM or for basketball. If a program has a a large talent pool in-state (any school, any sport) then I think the first place to look is in-state. There are some UM-level players in FL this year (Jelani Hewitt, Khyle Marshall, Charles "Junior" Hankerson, etc) that will not be coming to UM. Miami did recruit kids like Eloy Vargas (JuCo) and Brandon Knight, they just missed out, which happens. It seems like there might be more of a focus on getting 2011 in-state kids. Wayne Martin & Shane Larkin are targets who would both be nice gets for the Canes.

3. That's a good point about the issues that have come up. There were obviously problems with both Denis Clemente and Edwin Rios. I don't know how that has impacted the coaches' pursuit of FL kids since then, but it may have.

[mmilotte1@aol.com]

I'll go one by one on the three above posts:

1. I think Mabry has agood shot to end up at high-major school. I personally have not seen him play, but he has been getting high-major interest and many times the longer a kid draws out his recruitment and other kids come off the board his stock increases due to lack of other options.
I have seen Cleveland Melvin play a number of times. He is an absolutely phenomenal athlete, but he's not a great basketball player if you understand what I'm saying. He was committed to UConn and decommitted--no hard feelings either way--because he wants to be a 3 at the next level and UConn wants him at the 4. He's not a 3, as he does not have much of a perimeter game. He's an undersized 4 who would be a nice fit at the mid-major plus level. Could he go higher? Yes, if a school thinks it can work with him to develop his skill level. He definitely has potential and like I said, he is an elite athlete with phenomenal hops.

2. Rudy, I respectfully disagree on Dauda. I think he is a great get for UM. He's a kid who has been ranked as a borderline 5-star prospect in the class of 2012. Yes, he is now a 2011 kid so he won't be quite as high. He has a lot of potential and was fantastic last year when I saw him at the Jordan Brand Classic International Game. Maybe UM will redshirt him and let him develop, and thus basically have him as a 2012 kid. I think he is a good get.
As for in-state kids, I agree that it should be a focus, but not just for UM or for basketball. If a program has a a large talent pool in-state (any school, any sport) then I think the first place to look is in-state. There are some UM-level players in FL this year (Jelani Hewitt, Khyle Marshall, Charles "Junior" Hankerson, etc) that will not be coming to UM. Miami did recruit kids like Eloy Vargas (JuCo) and Brandon Knight, they just missed out, which happens. It seems like there might be more of a focus on getting 2011 in-state kids. Wayne Martin & Shane Larkin are targets who would both be nice gets for the Canes.

3. That's a good point about the issues that have come up. There were obviously problems with both Denis Clemente and Edwin Rios. I don't know how that has impacted the coaches' pursuit of FL kids since then, but it may have.

You say Yes he is a 2011 kid. IIRC your article on him said he was short on classes and they planned on taking care of this summer. How can he be reclassified as a 2011 for basketball and need classes for Academics.

From your December 22, 2009 article on here

"His new high school coach Joe Dawson said the move took place right at the beginning of school for the first day of classes. In addition, he is now considered a part of the class of 2011, whereas he was originally part of the 2012 year.

“Eligibility-wise he’s a junior in high school, but he’s a couple classes short of being a junior so we’ll be making that up over the summer,” stated Dawson."

[northstar]

I'm not exactly sure what you're question is. He's apparently taking the extra classes over the summer so that he will be set to be a 2011 kid.