The Holy Land of Hoops

Got to see these two up close at MSG yesterday. Very impressive Frosh in person. Both stuffed the stat sheets and played well. 14 pts, 5 reb, 2 steals and a block for Hart; 12 pts, 5 boards, 2 assts, 2 steals for Jordan. You can just see that each has an athleticism, poise and feel for the game that you don't see in most Frosh. Jordan looks like he loves to compete; very fiery. I like his game. Looking forward to these two locking horns for the next few years. It's fun watching these young guys start to grow into their roles and play with confidence with each passing game.

Interesting that Nova actively recruited Hart (a 4 star from DC), and pretty much ignored Jordan (a 5 star from Philly). Wright did the same thing this recruiting season when he passed on JaQuan Newman, who will play next year at Miami, and instead signed the lower rated Phil Booth from Baltimore. Jay works in mysterious ways and I'm not going to question him, but I think that Newman is going to be a star.

It is Ja'quan Newton. And while he may be a star, it was apparent that Jay only wanted one guard for next year and Booth was the one that pulled the trigger first.

LTVU wrote:It is Ja'quan Newton. And while he may be a star, it was apparent that Jay only wanted one guard for next year and Booth was the one that pulled the trigger first.

Heard the same that he offered the 'ship to both Booth and Newton and Booth was ready to commit first. JW has talked A LOT recently about recruiting kids who want to come to Nova. We'll see how it turns out but both seem to be solid players. I mean Hart was ranked 92 in his class. If scouts were to take a 2nd crack at that list today I would expect Hart to be a Top 20 freshman.

Isn't Newton a PG while Booth is a SG, so why the need for either or, Nova had plenty of ships at the time. Also I can't see how if Wright actually thought he had a choice between the 2 why he wouldn't have waited for the hometown star. According to ESPN Booth verbaled on July 30 while it only took Newton one more week (Aug 7) to verbal to Miami. It's always bad publicity for local schools when a local star like Newton leaves the area. FWIW watching Booth this year he seems just as good a player as Newton with plenty of upside too IMO.

TheHall wrote:Isn't Newton a PG while Booth is a SG, so why the need for either or, Nova had plenty of ships at the time. Also I can't see how if Wright actually thought he had a choice between the 2 why he wouldn't have waited for the hometown star. According to ESPN Booth verbaled on July 30 while it only took Newton one more week (Aug 7) to verbal to Miami. It's always bad publicity for local schools when a local star like Newton leaves the area. FWIW watching Booth this year he seems just as good a player as Newton with plenty of upside too IMO.

That's one way to look at it. The other is that Nova loves 2 players, but only has 1 G spot. Booth tells Jay that he wants to accept the offer. Newton is down to Nova and Miami. Should Jay at that point had said to Booth: "hold that thought...let me see what Ja'Quan decides and if he says no, than you're our guy." Or does he just say: "Great Phil, welcome to Nova?".

In terms of guards Nova will have Arch, Hilliard, Ennis, Hart and Booth next yer. Even with a guard heavy lineup that Nova often turns, is there room in the program for 6? And then you add in 2 other returning starters at F, another excellent F in Jenkins off the bench and Bridges also coming in and you start to see that maybe there just isn't another spot on your roster.

Nah I agree with the logistics and mechanically it works but publicity-wise it did look bad for nova to miss out on both Jordan & Newton. To me though looking from the outside it just seemed like Newton & Jordan made it clear they were going to leave town, so it wasn't so much that Nova lost them as they really didn't have a shot. But in both cases Nova did just fine with Hart & Booth.

Hall - I can corroborate what Gumby is saying. It was one or the other, and in fact Newton actually did want to go to Nova but he dragged out his commitment until it was too late and Phil Booth had already committed. I find it refreshing - with the 2013, 14, and 15 classes I feel more comfortable that the types of recruits that are committing are ones that truly love the atmosphere and team aspect. Although not the marquee names always, they will constantly be guys from 40-100 that can contribute on day 1 and mature nicely into all-league talent by years 3 and 4.

Jay also has Delany, Bridges, and Divencenzo in the pipleline --- 3 of the top local kids in the area in 14 and 15.

CTYankee10 wrote:Hall - I can corroborate what Gumby is saying. It was one or the other, and in fact Newton actually did want to go to Nova but he dragged out his commitment until it was too late and Phil Booth had already committed. I find it refreshing - with the 2013, 14, and 15 classes I feel more comfortable that the types of recruits that are committing are ones that truly love the atmosphere and team aspect. Although not the marquee names always, they will constantly be guys from 40-100 that can contribute on day 1 and mature nicely into all-league talent by years 3 and 4.

Jay's approach has been flawless since stumbling with the most highly ranked players like Cheeks/Wayns & even JVP to a degree (early on). I do think to win big though he will have to add that elite player to this mix. All of the guys coming to Nova will be elite over time, but Nova needs a lottery pick in 1 or 2 yrs type of guy to get to that championship level again IMO. For the record I don't think Newton or Jordan were ever going to be that level of recruits either.