Friday, September 19, 2003

Hoops Recruiting News

Got this off a discussion board (not sure of accuracy). Evidently this "RamblinRed" is somewhat of an insider of Tech recruiting and posts on some of the discussions:

We will be having 2 high profile players in this weekend for the Clemson game.

6'2, 180 NYC CG Russell Robinson - Russell's squad won three big AAU events this summer (Kingwood, Peach Jam, Super Showcase) and RR was MVP all three times. He is considered the best defensive guard in the class. He is also an excellent outside shooter and very good at drawing contact (shot 21 FT in one playoff game and shoots over 80%). Needs to improve his handling skills, but I love this kid and he is a [b]winner[/b]. Top 40 player nationally. GT, UConn(9/13), and KY (10/1 are the likely top 3 along with Kansas (9/27) with UConn looking to be ahead right now. Hopefully RR has a great time in Atlanta this weekend. Also a straight A student.

6'9, 250 SC PF/C Ra'Sean Dickey - Dickey is a big, athletic post player. Sort of in the Elton Brand mode. Excellent hops and strong. Good interior scorer and rebounder. Played inconsistently last spring but was much more consistent this summer. With what Hewitt did with Alvin, would love to see what he could do with Dickey. He plays on the same AAU squad as Zam Frederick (who visited GT 9/6) and they have talked about attending the same school. Top 50 player nationally. He is also considering Auburn and iowa State, but has postponed both those visits into unspecified dates in October, so it looks like we may have a chance to seal the deal first.

Two other notes.
1. Jason Rich will not be visiting this weekend and JR and the GT staff appear to have mutually decided to part ways. Expect Jason to commit to KY (he visits there next week).
2. Zam Frederick has cancelled his visit to Stanford this weekend. He has a trip to KY scheduled next weekend, no word if that has been cancelled as well. Rumors are Zam may be close to committing to GT. if he does that will help with Dickey.

I will be out of town until Tuesday, so others we will to keep the Hive up to date until then. Good news is that historically when I have left town in Sept good things happen. Both Muhammad and Bosh committed while I was out of town. Let's hope we have some more good luck in that regards.

RamblinRed

If things play out as you state and assuming that RM eventually commits, then right now it appears that our 4th 'ship would likely come from one of the following players.

SG/SF 6'6 Anthony Morrow (visits 9/27) - TN, NCSU, Charlotte are his other choices. We are his last visit. Currently he says it is too close to call among those 4.

SF/PF 6'6 Jeremis Smith (visited 9/6 with Zam) - AZ (10/11), OK are the other primary schools. If PF David Nwankwo can convince his parents to let him commit to AZ (he wants to go to AZ, his parents want him to go to Stanford) then AZ likely doesn't have a 'ship for Smith. GT is his current leader, AZ second.

CG 6'2 Russell Robinson (visits 9/20 with Dickey) - UConn(9/13), KU (9/27), KY (10/1 his other primary schools. UConn is his current leader with GT and KY hot on his trail.

CG 6'4 Justin Cerasoli (tentatively scheduled for 10/11) - Seton Hall (9/13), UGA(10/4), Villanova and Memphis his other primary schools. Seton Hall his current leader.

My gut says one of those 4.

PF 6'8 Brian Johnson is also scheduled to visit on 10/11, but i suspect if we land Dickey, then that will not happen. He is currently leaning to L'ville (9/27), and ND (9/20) over Cincy (10/4), GT and AZ (10/1 .

IMO Zam will commit before Dickey. i'd give it pretty good odds right now that it happens next week certainly by the end of the month.

Also, we are still involved and the favorite for Dwight Howard - though he is likely straight to the NBA. if Howard committed and showed up I bet we could find a 'ship for him. Otherwise I think we take 4.

the quote from his coach is:

'Sean Dickey is likely to follow his South Carolina Ravens AAU teammate, Zam Frederick, who is close to committing to Georgia Tech. Dickey is visiting Tech this weekend and has canceled scheduled visits to Auburn and Iowa State in the last couple weeks.

``If Zam commits to Georgia Tech, Ra'Sean will probably do the same," Ravens coach Dion Bethea said. "Ra'Sean's still going to take an official visit next weekend."


So, no, hasnt committed yet, but looks like just a matter of time, and Dickey will follow post-haste

GO DunkinJackets!!!