https://twitter.com/DanielFreitag_/status/1612536763892875265
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Duke game
All of this going off shows how much worse HS competition is vs. AAU
Also your HS team isnt stacked with 7-10 college prospects and you are the man so…
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I think that’s good for development though. You develop that dawg and alpha. Psychological development while one’s psyche is still super malliable. All the situations you get put in as the big man at high school help with having that experience for later on.
And also to be fair Freitag and Perry’s HS comp is way better than McKneely’s but it worked out for McKneely lol.
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How many AAU players/ teams really really play defense though? I think lots of HS teams atleast try and run some system on D
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About as many as guards in aau who look to feed their big men.
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To be fair to the kids and their dreams, though, being the best rebounder in college hoops is a good ticket to … becoming the best rebounder in college hoops the following year, too (except now you can pay legally, which would have really surprised 2015 Slick Rick). Guys that are becoming Thompson or Faried like role players at the NBA level were either (a) awesome at something else at a lower level, or (b) amazing raw athletes / physical speciments.
I feel like Pitino’s advice is better advice for how you stay there, not how you get there. If you want to get there, you’re better off trying to be Kobe.
Here are Kenneth Faried’s college stats. He was pretty much the Kobe Bryant of Morehead State.
https://kenpom.com/player.php?p=6617
The important thing to remember about college coaches is that their primary interest is in being good college coaches. When Rick Pitino says “it will be so great for Jaylen Johnson to be a great role player”, what he means is “it will be so great FOR ME if Jaylen Johnson is a great role player.” When college coaches extoll the benefits of redshirts for kids, what they really mean is … well, I’ll let the rest of you figure it out (Heck if I know…).
People aren’t cynical enough…
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And Thompson hurried up and left after one year at Texas before he could be exposed as just a role player … while he was still young with potential … and was drafted 4th overall … and became … a role player… who has made $118 million dollars in salary.
p.s. and hasn’t played a full season since 2017 … that NBA guaranteed money man … been out about 38% of the time his last 5 seasons.
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I dont think it’s lost on many that college coaches have their own selves to look out for.
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After watching the World Cup this year and seeing what is happening in the NHL there is an insane jump in talent in the younger generation of players in both sports. 3rd tier players are doing things stars couldn’t do 15 years ago. Do we think the same thing is happening in basketball? Definitely a jump in overall shooting level since the splash brothers burst onto the scene.
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Could this also explain the closing gap in parity during the regular season with mid majors/more midmajor players becoming pros?
Im sure the argument could be made against if one used the NCAA tourney as a metric as final performance lines up with rankings more often than not. But in terms of the increase in upsets in the early stages as well the increase in “buy game” upsets.
I would need the stats to see if that was actually the case (it feels that way but the truth could be completely different). To spare the winter recruiting thread from a 200 thread post (for those who only check in like every week or month), it would be super interesting to take a look into it.
I think in debating @norfolk_hoo the conclusion reached was that top 50-60 isn’t as important as being top 150 in general but being top 150 is still important in terms of hits compared to outside top 150, for a program like UVA (not universally or true for every team but for UVA).
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I hate the term “role player” as much as I hate “glue guy.” Every player in every sport at every level is a role player, in the sense that different people contribute different skills to a team. You can be a role player and still be well-rounded (as Ty and Malcolm are currently demonstrating).
And I think you can play and be successful in the NBA with only one elite skill – as long as you are really elite at the skill and at least truly competent at the others. Sam Hauser is a good example. Herb Jones is another good example, on the other side of the ball.
I do agree, though, that most college coaches care almost exclusively about wins. You see this even more in baseball, where coaches don’t mind burning out a pitcher’s arm and potentially ruining him for the rest of his life.
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https://www.on3.com/news/hot-topic-questions-from-the-2024-on3-150-ranking-update/
Which player are you higher on than others?
I immediately had two players pop into my head here, Tyler Betsey and Kon Knueppel.
Kon Knueppel has an argument as the most productive and efficient player in this class. The 6-foot-5 guard out of Milwaukee (WI) Wisconsin Lutheran averaged 21.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on Nike’s EYBL 16u Circuit this summer. He also shot 51.9 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from three, and 80.8 percent from the free throw line.
Knueppel has continued that type of efficient success during his high school season. He is ranked No. 18 in the 2024 On3 150 and No. 37 in the 2024 On3 Consensus.
Which player do you think could be in a position to make a big rise in the next update?
The answer to this question is typically reserved for high-upside bigs who are rounding into their games late. And bigs like Aiden Sherrell, Thomas Sorber, Donnie Freman, and Jesse McCullough could fit this bill. However, for this writing, it is two wings that immediately popped into my mind, Isaiah Abraham and VJ Edgecombe.
Isaiah Abraham is a 6-foot-7 wing with good length and a lot of straight-line pop. He comes from a basketball family with a dad who played at Marquette and an aunt in the George Washington Hall of Fame. Abraham has consistent, deep range on his shot and the ability to get to his spots off two and three dribbles. There is a natural feel he has to score. The next step is consistency, both in production and in playing time.
(throwing in the VJ Edgecombe segment cause I can lol. Manifesting it)
VJ Edgecombe is a player we started to hear some buzz on in July with his play with the SE Elite program on the Adidas 3SSB Circuit. He has been on an absolute tear with Long Island (NY) Lutheran to start the season, and that play has been consistent to this point. Edgecombe has good size with great length and athletic pop. He also has shown shooting touch. Tightening up the ball skills will only continue to enhance his scoring package.
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To that point - Purdue only has 3 top 100 on their roster and are a Final 4 fave … and only one of those is a top 5 scorer for them.. (Furst - 4th on team in scoring)
But 6 of their top 8 platers are from Indiana …
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https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/status/1613203863510589440
I remember him being on the EVAL list this Summer. He was at DME Academy at the time.
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