Hopson and Evans

thanks for the info! anything about hoops recruiting is appreciated. the portion regarding scotty hopson is not old news to me at all. i didn't know texas was really after him, even though he's in the top 2-3 guys in this class left unsigned. i wonder what this means in regards to witherspoon, assuming that texas is holding a spot for hopson?
 
Witherspoon is now part of the most talented class of players Texas has purposefully passed on, along with Sylvan Landesberg and Anthony Jones.

Usually I wouldn't hold out much hope for a kid that committed to Mississippi State in the first place, who lives in Kentucky, and has MSU, Kentucky, and nearby Tennessee (where former high school star Chris Lofton has done exceptionally well) as his favorites.

However, Texas does have an "in." Scotty Hopson's high school and home town also happens to be where Greg Buckner is from.

I think I mentioned this on here at some point in time a month or two back, because Buckner exceeds Ivey as Barnes greatest success story of a player who came in to his program (in this case Clemson) underrated, who through sheer effort turned himself into a long time NBA player.

Needless to say, Buckner is a big time believer in Barnes.

It looks like Texas is going to get Hopson in on a visit. After that, anything can happen.

Evans is visiting Villanova one last time. That's bad news and good news. The obvious bad news is that 'Nova and Jay Wright get one last chance to give their best sales pitch to woo him to stay home. The good news is that they obviously feel like it's necessary to close the gap at this point. With whom, I couldn't say, although I do think Texas has a better chance at this kid than people are giving them credit for. They've done an amazing job recruiting him.

There's another highlight reel interested in Texas as well, in Devin Ebanks, who will likely visit after he's released from his LOI by Indiana.

In addition, things look good for Jeff Taylor, who should be announcing his decision in two or three weeks, then signing in the early period. He's not the uberstar the other three are, but he's still a very talented and athletic 6'7/6'8 combo forward with handles, good passing skills, and can jump out of the gym. Not much of an outside shooter, but a tremendously prolific scorer in high school.

I have no idea what the Texas staff plans to do about scholarship limitations. Fishes and loaves, I guess.
 
I don't think it's a slam dunk that either DJ or Damion leave for the NBA after this season.

I just don't think anyone knows for sure what's going to happen regarding any of this, other than it looks like Texas is in the kind of tough place anyone would want to be when it comes to recruiting. It's still a tough place, though.
 
interesting that you're hearing taylor as still being a possibility, but that we've now passed on witherspoon. i haven't seen either guy, but witherspoon is the more highly rated. they are both swingmen, about the same size.

it's hard to imagine that we get more than one (if any) of the ebanks, evans, hopson trio. but even if that's true, it would still be more than what a lot of us were fearing a month ago: that we'd only bring in j'covan brown for this class.
 
Taylor never played AAU ball, moving back home to Sweden every summer to play with the national team.

Witherspoon is a very good player. He has a better shot than Taylor, and they're both good off the bounce.

Taylor is much more athletic.

Texas hasn't taken a commitment from anyone, yet, so we really have to see how it pans out. Heck, for all I know, they're recruiting Witherspoon as hard as they always have, but that doesn't appear to be the case, just like it didn't appear to be the case with Landesberg and Jones before him. J'Covan still might be the only player in this class. Shoot, if no one transfers or leaves for the NBA, there's only room for one player in this class.

Don't get too caught up in the rankings. Either Witherspoon or Taylor would be a great addition for any program in the country. For Texas, they'd be good multi year players, which is important, since it looks like Texas is trying to bring in some early entry types as well.
 
Don't mean to derail the thread but I kinda get the feeling that DJ and Damion both stay. I think DJ not being a Naismith finalist is gonna make him think twice about the NBA. And Damion has not had the offensive games lately. What do you think SLX?
 
Not SLX of course, and not really saying anything new either, but these decisions are not necessarily made based on hard data.

I'm not saying you're wrong or you're right... I just don't think there's any way to know.

Both DJ (9) and Damion (25) are in the LA Times mock first round that was published on Sunday. If that turned out to be the real deal, that's a strong push to go, of course.
 
I know what you mean Bob but DJ really reminds me of VY in that he seems like he would feel snubbed and want to prove everyone wrong. I think if we had lost that NC even if VY had the same game I think he would have come back to prove people wrong. DJ reminds me of VY in that way. I think he feels snubbed.
 
Ya, I think they are both gone. DJ for sure, D. James....coin flip

But I will trade a national championship for the 2 DJs..
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DJ is kind of in the same situation as TJ was....sticking around probably wont improve his draft status much at all. He's not gonna get any taller or faster, and his skill-set is pretty well understood. If he wants to come back for another year, it will probably be to achieve individual and team goals.

Damion on the other hand, could probably still improve his status considerably. I'm not gonna criticize anyone for taking NBA money, so if he leaves for late first round $'s, I will wish him well. But there are areas of his game that could still improve, and another year in college might allow him to show a more polished offensive game to go with his obvious athletic body. The guy would be a beast with another offseason working with Todd Wright.
 
So... we passed on Witherspoon
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I hope Barnes can reel in 1 or 2 of these big fish.

I think Devin Ebanks would be a very good fit if Barnes can get him in.
 
Does academics and DJ's family's attitude about academic pride not have something to do with his staying. DJ clearly has a lot of pride in his academics. It would be a whole lot easier to get his degree with just his senior year to go than to be looking at two years just in summer school.
 
I have no inside info or anything, but I'm pretty sure at this rate DJ could graduate next year (which would be 3 years) if he decided to stay one more year.
 
How does Jeff Taylor compare to, say, Dion Dowell? When I hear 6'7" athlete with suspect shot, I think of Dowell...or, worse case, Marshall Brown. Although I admit that I thought a similar concern about Damion, at first.
 
Jeff Taylor isn't a perimeter shooter.

He does have a lot of athleticism, but he's also a good ball handler and distributor. There's no way to know exactly how he projects to the next level until he gets there.
 
DJ is gone baby gone. But there is major room for Damion to increase his draft status if he stays. We need evans to take DJs place, but even if DJ stays I think we have a good chance at Evans. Guarannteed PT, a school known for good SFs recently (TJ & DJ), and a system designed around him, how could you say no.
 
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