I've stated often this class was a home run in many respects.
It will probably never go down as one of UT's best classes, simply because under Barnes recruiting has been so phenomenal, and there's a good chance it's going to get better.
The one it compares to the most is Barnes' first full class of Boddicker/Ivey/Thomas/Mouton/Klotz. However, that one not only had a McD AA in Boddicker, but also Thomas was a top 20 type recruit by some services.
The way it's similar, is that all four are four year types. For all the screaming and bitching that goes on on this board because of early entries (and Texas is one of the country's leaders in the number of early entries) it's important to me to note how crucial of a foundation this class is going to provide.
The thing is, no program can count on competing at the highest levels with all four year players. The last time a team won the national championship without an early entry player on their roster was the 2nd of the back to back Duke national champions in 1992. Unless something changes on the college basketball landscape, it might not ever happen again.
However, it's disastrous to go in the other direction as well. First of all, no program can recruit enough early entry players to field a top notch team. Playing time is too crucial, and recruiting too competitive.
Second, early entry players won't have enough experience, which is critical in terms of mental and physical preparation, and playing overall defense.
Third, it's too disruptive to constantly have players rushing through the program in one or two years. There have to be some four year players to keep the culture intact, and provide leavening.
The best way to do all this is to use recruiting acumen to snag the most talented players in the country --- the playmakers, the potential NBA all stars, the early entry candidates --- and then use evaluative and development skills to bring in a foundation for the long term.
This class represents the latter. Well, that, and some luck to go along with it.
Gary Johnson is obviously the bellcow. I love this kid. He is one of the easiest people to root for, and after watching him in high school I would have been a huge fan whereever he chose to go to school. He had a lot of pressure to attend Arizona, but turned down that opportunity. If Duke or North Carolina had come calling, there's a good chance he would have gone to either one of them, and while North Carolina sniffed around a bit, neither one of the two ACC powerhouses ended up offering.
What people see is his athleticism, his energy and effort, his rebounding. What people don't see is how unbelievably hard he works off the court. Those 12 foot shots he's hitting from the baseline or the free throw line were not a part of his arsenal in high school. That's a part of his game he's developed since coming to Texas. I realize he started off extraordinarily slowly with his free throw shooting, which was unfortunate given how much work he put into it in the offseason, but now we're starting to see it come to fruition. That's something else he couldn't do for crap in high school.
He's a HUGE part of UT's improvement on defense. He's the best hedge/recover defender on the team. For an undersized true freshman forward, he's good at pushing his opponent off the low block. He'll get better, but he's a real plus in that department on this team right now. He's by far the best player on the team in blocking out. He's relentless.
He has a nice jump hook move on the low block already, although obviously it can still use some improvement, and I don't like seeing it against the bigger bodies like Darnell Jackson and Bryan Davis as much as I do against weaker defenders like Kevin Rogers.
The biggest thing Gary Johnson is going to bring to this program will be off the court. The kid is a born leader. He leads by example, holds his teammates accountable, but knows how to do it in a way that has everyone believing in him and respecting him. He won't allow bad attitudes to pervade the locker room. He'll be an extension of Rick Barnes when Rick Barnes isn't around.
What we're seeing from Gary Johnson, in terms of improvement, production, and contributions to the team is just the tip of the iceberg. I have no idea if an NBA career is in his future, but I do know it won't be a lack of effort that keeps him from it.
Clint Chapman had an interesting path to Texas. In many years, Chapman would have been the best player coming out of the state of Oregon, but this past season the state had two top 5 national talents that tended to soak up the headlines in UCLA's Kevin Love and Duke's Kyle Singler. Like Gary Johnson with the two ACC schools, Chapman, too had someone other than Texas as his favorite. His mom is a UCLA grad, and the kid was a Bruin fan all the way. It was only when they told him they ran out of scholarships that his successful recruitment was even a possibility.
The fun thing about 4/5 year types is watching them develop over the course of their career. Even in his limited minutes, we're already seeing flashes of what Chapman can bring. He has a good feel for rebounding, and he has some really nice moves in the post. He also has a perimeter game, although it's not needed on this team. He's not much of a shotblocker --- and might never be --- and he's not 7 foot, but other than those two salient details, I think he's going to remind us of a poor man's Chris Mihm. I feel confident he'll be an All Conference for Texas before his career is through.
Alexis Wangmene's story has been well documented. Discovered by Spurs GM R.C. Buford while in Africa on a Basketball Without Borders tour, Wangmene was brought back to live with Buford's family.
Another example of Texas being the beneficiary of another team not recruiting a player, Wangmene was a lock for Kansas if they'd decided to offer.
I have to say I don't like how Barnes' handled Wangmene earlier in the year, but it's Barnes' team, and at this point of the season it's looking more like nitpicking than legitimate criticism, but I really felt earlier on Barnes was getting contributions out of Wangmene that has faded over the course of the season.
Still, the kid is long, athletic, and strong. He's intimidating when he properly handles the double off of ball screens. He's a very good shotblocker, a good rebounder. He doesn't get enough credit for his low block offense. The two shots he made late against A&M are examples of what he'll provide in the future. He's another guy who has worked really hard on his free throw shooting, and as he demonstrated early in the year, he's capable of getting to the line a bunch when Texas is ready to develop that part of his game.
This has been a good baseline for Wangmene. It's going to be fun to see how he develops.
The last guy, but certainly not the least, is Dogus Balbay. It's a shame he hurt his knee before the season began, because he's the one missing piece on this team. The Texas coaches have some connections with an NBA scout who saw Balbay while watching European national players, and alerted the Longhorns to him. Balbay is from a wealthy family that doesn't need his potential earnings from basketball, and values education, so they gave their blessing for him to pursue college in the United State. He never considered another school, although once coaches saw him competing for Brewster Academy, they certainly asked about him.
Dogus is a ****** outside shooter at this stage of his career. Maybe TJ Ford bad...maybe worse. His game isn't about top end quickness the way it would be for many poor outside shooting point guards. Instead, it's about athleticism. Wait until you guys get a chance to see him on the court, because he's going to be a jaw dropper. The dude is a walking posterizer waiting to happen. He has lateral quickness on defense akin to Justin Mason, and the same kind of feel for rebounding. And I'll say it again, he is an explosive dunker. It's shocking seeing it from a 6'1 white kid. Oh, and he's also a shotblocker, as wacky as that sounds.
He's used to playing with competition at a very high level, and he's been the floor leader for nearly every team he's been on for years. It's going to be exciting to see what he eventually brings to Texas. I will say his recovery from his injury has gone amazingly well. Not to say he'll play this year, because it doesn't look like he will, but there won't be any lingering after effects, which is important for a guy who depends on his athleticism the way this kid does for a competitive edge.
Anyway, it's been a fun season in many ways, but one of the things I love is seeing kids develop while they're on campus. It's something we've come to take for granted under Barnes, so we can expect to see it with these four as well. This season will provide a good baseline for 3 of them. We've already seen flashes at different levels that bode well for the future. I'm excited to see how their careers turn out 4 years down the road.
It will probably never go down as one of UT's best classes, simply because under Barnes recruiting has been so phenomenal, and there's a good chance it's going to get better.
The one it compares to the most is Barnes' first full class of Boddicker/Ivey/Thomas/Mouton/Klotz. However, that one not only had a McD AA in Boddicker, but also Thomas was a top 20 type recruit by some services.
The way it's similar, is that all four are four year types. For all the screaming and bitching that goes on on this board because of early entries (and Texas is one of the country's leaders in the number of early entries) it's important to me to note how crucial of a foundation this class is going to provide.
The thing is, no program can count on competing at the highest levels with all four year players. The last time a team won the national championship without an early entry player on their roster was the 2nd of the back to back Duke national champions in 1992. Unless something changes on the college basketball landscape, it might not ever happen again.
However, it's disastrous to go in the other direction as well. First of all, no program can recruit enough early entry players to field a top notch team. Playing time is too crucial, and recruiting too competitive.
Second, early entry players won't have enough experience, which is critical in terms of mental and physical preparation, and playing overall defense.
Third, it's too disruptive to constantly have players rushing through the program in one or two years. There have to be some four year players to keep the culture intact, and provide leavening.
The best way to do all this is to use recruiting acumen to snag the most talented players in the country --- the playmakers, the potential NBA all stars, the early entry candidates --- and then use evaluative and development skills to bring in a foundation for the long term.
This class represents the latter. Well, that, and some luck to go along with it.
Gary Johnson is obviously the bellcow. I love this kid. He is one of the easiest people to root for, and after watching him in high school I would have been a huge fan whereever he chose to go to school. He had a lot of pressure to attend Arizona, but turned down that opportunity. If Duke or North Carolina had come calling, there's a good chance he would have gone to either one of them, and while North Carolina sniffed around a bit, neither one of the two ACC powerhouses ended up offering.
What people see is his athleticism, his energy and effort, his rebounding. What people don't see is how unbelievably hard he works off the court. Those 12 foot shots he's hitting from the baseline or the free throw line were not a part of his arsenal in high school. That's a part of his game he's developed since coming to Texas. I realize he started off extraordinarily slowly with his free throw shooting, which was unfortunate given how much work he put into it in the offseason, but now we're starting to see it come to fruition. That's something else he couldn't do for crap in high school.
He's a HUGE part of UT's improvement on defense. He's the best hedge/recover defender on the team. For an undersized true freshman forward, he's good at pushing his opponent off the low block. He'll get better, but he's a real plus in that department on this team right now. He's by far the best player on the team in blocking out. He's relentless.
He has a nice jump hook move on the low block already, although obviously it can still use some improvement, and I don't like seeing it against the bigger bodies like Darnell Jackson and Bryan Davis as much as I do against weaker defenders like Kevin Rogers.
The biggest thing Gary Johnson is going to bring to this program will be off the court. The kid is a born leader. He leads by example, holds his teammates accountable, but knows how to do it in a way that has everyone believing in him and respecting him. He won't allow bad attitudes to pervade the locker room. He'll be an extension of Rick Barnes when Rick Barnes isn't around.
What we're seeing from Gary Johnson, in terms of improvement, production, and contributions to the team is just the tip of the iceberg. I have no idea if an NBA career is in his future, but I do know it won't be a lack of effort that keeps him from it.
Clint Chapman had an interesting path to Texas. In many years, Chapman would have been the best player coming out of the state of Oregon, but this past season the state had two top 5 national talents that tended to soak up the headlines in UCLA's Kevin Love and Duke's Kyle Singler. Like Gary Johnson with the two ACC schools, Chapman, too had someone other than Texas as his favorite. His mom is a UCLA grad, and the kid was a Bruin fan all the way. It was only when they told him they ran out of scholarships that his successful recruitment was even a possibility.
The fun thing about 4/5 year types is watching them develop over the course of their career. Even in his limited minutes, we're already seeing flashes of what Chapman can bring. He has a good feel for rebounding, and he has some really nice moves in the post. He also has a perimeter game, although it's not needed on this team. He's not much of a shotblocker --- and might never be --- and he's not 7 foot, but other than those two salient details, I think he's going to remind us of a poor man's Chris Mihm. I feel confident he'll be an All Conference for Texas before his career is through.
Alexis Wangmene's story has been well documented. Discovered by Spurs GM R.C. Buford while in Africa on a Basketball Without Borders tour, Wangmene was brought back to live with Buford's family.
Another example of Texas being the beneficiary of another team not recruiting a player, Wangmene was a lock for Kansas if they'd decided to offer.
I have to say I don't like how Barnes' handled Wangmene earlier in the year, but it's Barnes' team, and at this point of the season it's looking more like nitpicking than legitimate criticism, but I really felt earlier on Barnes was getting contributions out of Wangmene that has faded over the course of the season.
Still, the kid is long, athletic, and strong. He's intimidating when he properly handles the double off of ball screens. He's a very good shotblocker, a good rebounder. He doesn't get enough credit for his low block offense. The two shots he made late against A&M are examples of what he'll provide in the future. He's another guy who has worked really hard on his free throw shooting, and as he demonstrated early in the year, he's capable of getting to the line a bunch when Texas is ready to develop that part of his game.
This has been a good baseline for Wangmene. It's going to be fun to see how he develops.
The last guy, but certainly not the least, is Dogus Balbay. It's a shame he hurt his knee before the season began, because he's the one missing piece on this team. The Texas coaches have some connections with an NBA scout who saw Balbay while watching European national players, and alerted the Longhorns to him. Balbay is from a wealthy family that doesn't need his potential earnings from basketball, and values education, so they gave their blessing for him to pursue college in the United State. He never considered another school, although once coaches saw him competing for Brewster Academy, they certainly asked about him.
Dogus is a ****** outside shooter at this stage of his career. Maybe TJ Ford bad...maybe worse. His game isn't about top end quickness the way it would be for many poor outside shooting point guards. Instead, it's about athleticism. Wait until you guys get a chance to see him on the court, because he's going to be a jaw dropper. The dude is a walking posterizer waiting to happen. He has lateral quickness on defense akin to Justin Mason, and the same kind of feel for rebounding. And I'll say it again, he is an explosive dunker. It's shocking seeing it from a 6'1 white kid. Oh, and he's also a shotblocker, as wacky as that sounds.
He's used to playing with competition at a very high level, and he's been the floor leader for nearly every team he's been on for years. It's going to be exciting to see what he eventually brings to Texas. I will say his recovery from his injury has gone amazingly well. Not to say he'll play this year, because it doesn't look like he will, but there won't be any lingering after effects, which is important for a guy who depends on his athleticism the way this kid does for a competitive edge.
Anyway, it's been a fun season in many ways, but one of the things I love is seeing kids develop while they're on campus. It's something we've come to take for granted under Barnes, so we can expect to see it with these four as well. This season will provide a good baseline for 3 of them. We've already seen flashes at different levels that bode well for the future. I'm excited to see how their careers turn out 4 years down the road.
