FanPost

Hoops Recruiting looking forward- 2018 and 2019

I posted this in the last McCoy thread, but whoever said that it needed to be a FanPost was 100% correct. Mea Culpa, but here it is-


Mark Smith is probably announcing his intentions to go to Illinois as I'm typing this, and Brian Bowen hasn't been intending to come here since February. Lets look forward, then, as the 2017 cycle is seeming to end in a resounding THUD. 2018 is viewed as the gap year to the uber talented 2019 class, and Tom Izzo might have a few more spots to fill than initially thought, which is probably a great thing going for us seeing as how we’re better when there’s a good mesh of experience and talent. Tum/Schilling/Bridges are definitely gone, JJJ is probably 75% gone, Ward is probably closer to 25% gone (contrary to some odd beliefs that he can fix all of the holes in his game in one summer), and if Ahrens doesn’t see much tick this year I could see him leaving just so he can get two years elsewhere (either that or he becomes Alvin Ellis III, II). If all except the Ward thing happens (I honestly believe the Ahrens theory, FWIW), that would open up five scholarships for 2018. We already have Loyer and Kithier locked down, and are very high on Brandon Johns, Trevion Williams, and (a possibly reclassifying) Tyger Campbell. I think we get Johns and Williams due to the available PT for them (plus they’re huge in state targets, Izzo rarely misses out on those, especially when they finish their prep careers in state), and Campbell too, assuming he’s 2018 and not 2019.

Loyer is going to be fantastic. Kid’s a Spartan through and through. Has a high IQ, shoots the lights out and, most importantly, makes his free throws. The only knocks on him are size and lack of athleticism, which can absolutely be masked by the other three. He can finish in traffic and isn’t afraid to put the ball on the floor to get to the rim. He’s gonna be a good one. Admittedly, I don’t know much about Kithier other than that Izzo sold him on saying he plays like Draymond Green. Anyone have any additional input on him? Just from the few clips I’ve seen, he looks like he’ll be more of a Matt Costello than a Draymond Green. Having watched a fair amount of Day Day and Matt in high school, I can say that the film on all three look sort of similar, but the competition for the first two wasn’t exactly great (Day Day was on a good Saginaw High team in a league that they usually dominate and Matt was on an okay BCW team in a conference with three, maybe four, good teams including Saginaw).

What about the targets, though? Brandon Johns could be a one and done talent in the right conditions. He’s really athletic, shoots it well, and finishes well in traffic/with contact. If he plays good defense, he could start day 1 for a team in dire need of a wing player (with Bridges gone). I dont like the Crystal Ball, but he’s 100% to MSU and has been for awhile, probably because he lives in EL and has visited campus a handful of times. It helps our cause that he played for the Indy Heat with Xavier Tillman and Tyger Campbell, so Tillman could be recruiting both of them to come here. With that said, though, WOTS is that his parents are huge UM fans and Brandon "doesn’t like that he’s considered an MSU lock" (got that from an article on 24/7). All in all, I think Johns stays local. The allure of instant playing time with very talented pieces around him would be very hard to say no to, plus his family and friends could come to literally every home game and not break the bank getting there… the CATA costs just $1.10 and walking is free, if it came to those things. Trevion Williams would be a Derrick Nix/Nick Ward reincarnate. At 6’8, 250, he’s already a mountain of a young man. From catching a few glimpses of film, he has a very similar game to DN/NW in that he’s a good low post scorer and uses footwork to create an advantage for himself. He passes well and looks like he has a little handle, which never hurts. Defense remains to be seen (limited film on him) but at his size, he’s probably blocking a ton of shots/grabbing an insane amount of boards due to the talent/size of the guys he’s playing against. Michigan doesn’t appear to be kicking the tires on him yet and the only other real threat of note right now is Kentucky, but we offered and they haven’t. Getting in on him early might pay dividends as I think we land him as well. This guy is gonna get to learn from Nick Ward AND Xavier Tillman, which will pay off bigly down the road. PT might not be there from day 1, but a front court of Ward/Tillman/Kithier/Williams/KENNY G (and a small ball 4 in Johns) would be very formidable.

Thats about it for the bonafide 2018 targets. Izzo and co. have been dropping in on Hameir Wright out of New York, but he is probably going to be staying out east with ‘Cuse and ’Nova splitting his CB (again, FWIW). Tyger Campbell could be reclassifying from 2019 to 2018, but I think he’s a take no matter what he is. He’s got a great game and makes everyone around him play that much better; its no coincidence that LaLu won the HS national championship with a Soph. PG. He can shoot, put it on the floor, and dish it; basically a quintessential PG, and he’s got plenty of time to get better. Plus his hair game is strong. He was on campus once already and allegedly nearly committed, so that tells me that its just a matter of time, but Izzo still needs to put in the time. He’s ranked as the third best PG in the class of 2019, so seeing how that translates to a guard-centered 2018 would be interesting. I think if the usual suspects (UK, Dook, UNC, Kansas) dont hop in before we get his pledge, we’re in great shape… especially if he reclassifies. This is the first 2018/19 target that playing time would be an issue for (splitting minutes with Winston/Loyer), but it shouldn’t matter. He wont be a day one starter (Cassius will either be a Jr. or Sr.), but probably would take the primary backup spot in due time. Plus, with Izzo’s propensity to run two-PG sets, he’ll get around 20 minutes a game somehow. A Campbell reclassification and commitment might mean a RS for Loyer, but I wouldn’t be surprised either way. Having 3 capable PG’s would be a luxury, especially when they all have different things to bring to the table.

2019 is too early to tell, but we are in on some very impressive recruits. Romeo Weems and Keion Brooks are two wings that Izzo and the staff are putting a ton of early work into, and deservedly so. Both are very highly ranked midwest guys that would fit the prototypical Izzo wing mold. They’re only HS Sophomores but they’re already regarded as a couple of the best players in the region regardless of class. Again, PT would look like it would be there to take both, as Brandon Johns and a senior Josh Langford may be the only players there (I’m sure if it was an issue we’d take on a project wing, but I think we’ll go with what we’ve got). Terry Armstrong, Jr. is another name to look out for in the coming years. He’s from Flint but recently went to a prep school somewhere down south, but came back and enrolled at Davison this past Fall. The good thing here is that, per an MLive article, he left because he hated playing so far away from home… what better place to play close to home than in East Lansing? The good news here is that we can take Armstrong, Weems, and Brooks and they’d all see a very fair share of playing time. A back court of Winston/Loyer/Campbell (1)/Langford/Armstrong (2)/Weems/Brooks/Johns (3) would be rivaled by very few, but at this point in time, has a low probability of happening. As of right now, we haven’t checked in on any 2019 big men but I’d assume that we’d be at least looking into taking one, as Nick Ward would be a senior, Xavier Tillman would be a junior, and Brandon Johns/Thomas Kithier/Trevion Williams would be sophomores. A big wouldn’t be a necessity, but adding one to replace Puddin’ wouldn’t hurt (especially if scholarship counts would allow and if Johns leaves early, which I think will happen).

The future is looking very bright with Izzo’s squad, especially if we land even most of the guys listed. Closing out 2018 with Johns and Williams would set the table for a very talented 2019 class that the coaching staff has already started to work on. This could be the renaissance of Izzo’s already HoF career, meaning winning more than just his second ring. If we have a squad of Winston/Loyer/Campbell/Langford/Armstrong/Johns/Weems/Brooks/Kithier/Williams/Tillman/Ward in 2019, I’d be hard pressed to find a better team with a blend of senior experience (Winston/Langford/Ward) with underclassman talent (Johns/Weems/Brooks/Armstrong). Of course, this is 100000% hypothetical and in no way is a definite thing. But, the fact that it very well could happen is exciting enough as it is. The scholarship situation could hold up on this as well, but I was only doing the math as I was doing analyses for each player, so I have little idea on the accuracy of it… but I think I’m only off by one scholarship, if anything.

TL;DR- I think we land:
2018: Johns, Williams (to go with Kithier and Loyer), 2019: Brooks, Weems, Armstrong, Campbell (if he doesn’t reclassify… there will be a scholarship for him either way). Izzo wins ring 3 at some point. BASELESS SPECULATION IS FUN.

Oh, and before anyone asks why I’d spend so much time on this- I love hoops recruiting. I don’t follow football recruiting much at all unless someone I know personally is being looked at (I used to throw with Andrew Maxwell, I played HS ball with a DE at CMU, and a kid I coached is WMU’s lone 2018 commit… thats really about the extent of it. Plus football recruits flip a lot more than hoops recruits do, which gets annoying.), it just doesn’t interest me as much because there are so many players year in and year out; the stakes are higher when there are only 13 available scholarships in a more limited talent pool. All of that, and I’m hopped up on adderall and coffee and went down the rabbit hole. I graduate in a week and a half and my procrastination levels could not be any higher… I suppose I should finish my 80 page history curriculum guide now.

This is a FanPost, written by a member of the TOC community. It does not represent the official positions of The Only Colors, Inc.--largely because we have no official positions.