Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

Isaiah Whitehead (SHU) and LJ Peak (GTown) will represent the Big East. Game will be played on April 18th at Barclays

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jordan-brand-classic-teams-named/

PhillyPirate wrote:Isaiah Whitehead (SHU) and LJ Peak (GTown) will represent the Big East. Game will be played on April 18th at Barclays

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jordan-brand-classic-teams-named/

The top 2 recruits coming into the BE next year IMO.

TheHall wrote:

PhillyPirate wrote:Isaiah Whitehead (SHU) and LJ Peak (GTown) will represent the Big East. Game will be played on April 18th at Barclays

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jordan-brand-classic-teams-named/

The top 2 recruits coming into the BE next year IMO.

I think Ahmed Hill will be in the mix for top newcomer next year.

AlexJesswein wrote:

TheHall wrote:

PhillyPirate wrote:Isaiah Whitehead (SHU) and LJ Peak (GTown) will represent the Big East. Game will be played on April 18th at Barclays

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jordan-brand-classic-teams-named/

The top 2 recruits coming into the BE next year IMO.

I think Ahmed Hill will be in the mix for top newcomer next year.

Ahmed Hill is as good a baller as I saw in high school this entire season, he just doesn't have his man body (Big East) yet...reminds me of Vander Blue coming out of hs. Once he gets bigger/stronger in college I think he will be unstoppable. Isaiah Whitehead & LJ Peak already have their man bodies.

Trevon Bluiett I think could be a big-time freshman too. He might not start though, which would lessen his impact a bit, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him as the 6th man in that case. Like DSR, he has a more developed game already but not as much upside.

DSR coming out of high school is a solid comparison to Bluiett. If he can translate his game like DSR has he could be huge by 2nd or 3rd season. Bluiett & Sumner MAY have more talent but I think the big man O'mara is the most ready X recruit.

TheHall wrote:DSR coming out of high school is a solid comparison to Bluiett. If he can translate his game like DSR has he could be huge by 2nd or 3rd season. Bluiett & Sumner MAY have more talent but I think the big man O'mara is the most ready X recruit.

Interesting, that's contrary to the popular perception. Sumner and London are both redshirt candidates, but Bluiett tends to be put ahead of O'Mara in terms of readiness. Not that O'Mara isn't ready for the next level (provided his defensive footwork and understanding of defensive and offensive sets is up to snuff), but Bluiett seems like the kind of guy that can almost immediately step onto the court as a reliable contributor, much like DSR as a freshman. I just hope O'Mara can fill the 4th spot in the bigs rotation. I don't know what to make of Macura in terms of readiness, because he's pretty scrawny.

If Semaj comes back, what remains to be seen is who else leaves (There's one obvious candidate for the first transfer if you look at the roster). The second transfer could affect roster composition and thus who needs to contribute.

XUFan09 wrote:

TheHall wrote:DSR coming out of high school is a solid comparison to Bluiett. If he can translate his game like DSR has he could be huge by 2nd or 3rd season. Bluiett & Sumner MAY have more talent but I think the big man O'mara is the most ready X recruit.

Interesting, that's contrary to the popular perception. Sumner and London are both redshirt candidates, but Bluiett tends to be put ahead of O'Mara in terms of readiness. Not that O'Mara isn't ready for the next level (provided his defensive footwork and understanding of defensive and offensive sets is up to snuff), but Bluiett seems like the kind of guy that can almost immediately step onto the court as a reliable contributor, much like DSR as a freshman. I just hope O'Mara can fill the 4th spot in the bigs rotation. I don't know what to make of Macura in terms of readiness, because he's pretty scrawny.

If Semaj comes back, what remains to be seen is who else leaves (There's one obvious candidate for the first transfer if you look at the roster). The second transfer could affect roster composition and thus who needs to contribute.

I wouldn't have guessed I would think that about O'mara before watching him play this season, but after watching many of his games I see he's a very skilled big man with a cbb PF body already. Also he played against some very tough competition in Illinois this season. Bluiett IMO is a in that gray area of great hs slasher/scorer/shooter. Maybe he can do 1 or all 3 at the college level right away, maybe not. DSR did one thing well right away and that was shoot the deep ball. His game has expanded as a sophomore and he'll likely be a beast by next season. If remains to be seen if TB can follow or exceed that blueprint. I agree Macura is hard to assess at the next level right now, but the dude is fearless.

As far as redshirting, I'm curious to see if the new schools keep that up. I know CU has some players redshirting this year, but most players coming to the BE don't expect to redshirt, historically speaking. It's the rare occasion (usually injury) when that happens, especially a top 100-150 player.

Blueitt will be able to score, especially shoot from deep, from day 1. His defense will always be a question mark but I think his offense is good enough he will have an immediate impact. If Semaj comes back (which barring an NCAA Tourney explosion is expected) then he won't have much pressure to do anything other than be a supplemental option on offense, which should be perfect.

O'Mara and Macura I could see contributing as 5 mpg types at most, mostly because of depth at their positions, but that's just speculation.

As for redshirts, Sumner and London really are perfect candidates, especially Sumner if Semaj comes back (depending on who else leaves of course). If Semaj, Dee and Randolph are all still on the roster, it would be REALLY tough for Sumner to get minutes behind those 3 guys and he really could use the year to put on some weight.

TheHall wrote:I wouldn't have guessed I would think that about O'mara before watching him play this season, but after watching many of his games I see he's a very skilled big man with a cbb PF body already. Also he played against some very tough competition in Illinois this season.

Here's a Sun-Times article on O'mara

The 2013-2014 season featured incredible talent across the state. Players like Sean O'Mara, who had tremendous seasons, were relegated to the second team. Benet big man Sean O’Mara’s season was a revelation and a sign of just how loaded with talent the state was this year. The 6-9 Xavier recruit posted one of the most dominant campaigns of any big in recent state history, but it wasn’t even good enough to make the Class 4A All-State First Team. That’s how solid the top five players in Class 4A were this season.

O’Mara has led Benet to Peoria though, so his season continues. The Redwings will face Edwardsville in the state semifinals on Friday. “To get to this point right now is the greatest feeling I’ve had at Benet,” said O’Mara. “It’s one of the greatest honors I’ve had in my basketball career.” If the Redwings can upset Edwardsville, a possible showdown with Young’s Jahlil Okafor looms. Earlier in the season O’Mara mentioned how badly he wanted another shot at Okafor. The 6-10 Duke recruit out-played O’Mara in a matchup late last season.

http://www.highschoolcubenews.com/news_article/show/364951?referrer_id=599124&utm_content=bufferc2597&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

IMO Sean O'mara is better than a lot of people know right now.