Tuesday, March 9, 2010

2011 Potential Recruits

Lots of down time while we wait for the SEC Tourney to start. Thought I'd take some time to talk about who CKS's staff is looking at for the future of the program. So here are the 2011 prospects that according to ESPN.com and Rivals.com have potential of becoming Commodores.

1) Kendren Johnson (PG) 6'4, 180. This Tennessee product has been getting alot of pub lately. Was supposed to go to the Vandy/UK game supposedly but ended up not going due to a conflict with a game. He is a 4-star recruit according to Rivals and gets a 90 grade from ESPN.com. He has offers from Vandy, UT, Bama and Memphis so far with interest from Florida and Louisville among others. While this kids game is supposedly very impressive I have my doubts we will be able to get him because he would be behind Brad (would be a senior) and Kyle (would be a sophomore). My guess is we have a better shot at a PG in 2012.

2) Levi Randolph (Small Forward on Rivals, shooting guard on ESPN), 6'4, 180. Interesting that the two sites can't decide whether this kid from Alabama will play the 2 or 3 in College. These are the type of kids who seem to flourish in the Vandy system (Foster, Byars, Jenkins). Again another spot that we have alittle of a log-jam at (Gouldbourne, Jenkins, Rod Odom coming in). But I don't think Jeff Taylor makes it past his junior year in Black and Gold so maybe we get him. ESPN ranks him as the 29th rated #2 guard and as a 92 overall. Rivals has him as a 4 star. Along with an offer from Vandy he has offers from Bama, Auburn, Baylor, FSU, Georgia, Miami and Mississippi (pretty impressive number of offers).

Interestingly enough both these guys play their AAU ball for the Nashville Celtics (which seems to be the big time AAU program in Nashville right now). Casey Prather who I really wanted this year (ended up going to Florida) is also a Celtic.

3) James Siakam (Power Forward), 6'6, 210 - He is listed as having an offer on Rivals but not in the "considering" category on ESPN.com whatever that means. He is a 3-star recruit (gets an 88 grade from ESPN.com). Has offers from Vandy and Southern Illinois.

Should be an interesting recruiting period. If AJ comes back next year (which I expect) him and Darshawn will be the only seniors on the roster (Keegan and Charles Hinkle transferred, Festus and Andre red-shirted from that same HUGE recruit class). But as I said before I expect Taylor to be leaving early for the NBA after next year. So I guess between 2-4 spots depending on who stays, transfers, etc. If anyone else gets offers I'll pass that along.

So what position do you think we NEED to get in this recruiting period? (keep in mind we have a PG (Fuller), Small Forward/Wing (Odom) and a Center (Henderson) coming in next year.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good discussion Doug.

The problem with next years recruiting class, is that the team will be stacked with Veterans, so any of these guys who want immediate playingtime and alot of it, are going to have to fight for it. After a year the PT will be wide open and plentiful. So if they are prepared to sit a bit as freshman, it will payoff for them in the longrun. Convincing guys of that is another matter. Levi said in an interview recently that immediate pt was important so Im not sure what to think.

Specifically speaking about guards, we are in immediate need of a guard. Perhaps even next year. Yes Fuller is comming in, but Odom is a 3/4 so he will not play at the 2. If one guy is injured, we will only have 2 guards on the team. That is dangerous. So Kedren would immediately come in and get alot of PT his freshman year, at least 15 mins a game in my estimation. I have a good feeling about him actually. We shall see.

-SoCalDore

Douglas James said...

While agree we will be in immediate need of a guard I think it will be at the 2 position behind Jenkins not at the 1. Thats why I think Randolph is more likely than Kendren.

Anonymous said...

Kedren plays both positions. He has also visited Vandy many times. I suspect Kedren will play the 2. Him or Levi both would get some PT right away. Hell we could probably use both. Not sure their timeframes, both seem like they will be waiting until the end of summer.

-SoCalDore

VandyGold28 said...

What? How come no one thinks we need a 1? Beal is leaving! Tinsley is not a very good true PG. He's much better at the 2 position and when he's at the 1 he needs a lot of help from Jenkins and Walker. We need a true PG and Fuller isn't necessarily that. Also more of a 2 guard. Hopefully he can act as a 1 b/c that's what we need but if he doesn't a true PG will flourish and have many opportunities.

Anonymous said...

Fuller is a PG. He can score too. He is going to play a ton. I will wager a year from today he will be starting our first rd SEC T game this week.

-SoCalDore

Drubaru said...

Yeah, every bit of footage I've seen of Fuller involves prototypical point guard skills. Yes, he looks to score and does, but he also has excellent court vision and makes beautiful passes. He is also a natural leader, a basketball quarterback kind of guy.

Anonymous said...

It's worth noting Rivals actually has Johnson officially at SG now, not PG. He's also bulked up from 180 to 200, which is a good sign.

Given the 3, I'd like to him Johnson the most, if everything about his game is accurate. I'd really have another big coming in. No offense to Henderson, I'm sure he'll fill out, but 6'11", 220 is pretty freaking lanky. I certainly wouldn't complain landing one of these guys though. And I don't think the depth chart makes it much of a longshot to get Johnson -- 3 deep in the backcourt is really not enough.

Plus, how awesome would it be to have a backcourt of kids from Lewisburg and Gallatin? Heck, that would beg for Meriwether to get in for a couple minutes to complete the middle Tennessee extravaganza. (Has anyone ever assembled an all-time midstate Commodore squad? I'd like to see that.)

Anonymous said...

H.S. junior Cedric Williams (Murf. Siegel High) 6-9 power forward had a 15/13 dbl dbl last night to get his team into the state tourney.

Hop CKS knows about him.

Anonymous said...

By the way Kyle Fuller once again lit it up last night (led all scorers) and his team went on the road and won at the CIF San Diego Sectional Winner.

Kyle now has a rematch against Mater Dei tommorrow night. His team got ran over 2 weeks ago by them in the CIF Southern Sectional Semis.

-SoCalDore

Alex said...

I agree about needing another guard, especially someone who can play the point. I would like to see one of these athletic point guard type guys who can play good defense so that we don't get continually eaten up by guys like Devon Downey. I would say that we need a defensive player much more than another scorer right now because our guards are not very good on D. Anyone like that would get instant playing time. Anyone know how these two stack up?