|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 4, 2014 12:56:42 GMT -5
In various other threads we've talked about high school players leaving the State of Michigan for out of state prep schools. Most recently it's been Donnie Tillman of Cass Tech, Josh Jackson of Detroit Consortium, and possibly Billy Thomas of UD Jesuit. Seemed worthy of it's own thread. As this article from Lauren Beasley indicates, it's a trend that shows so sign of slowing down. In most cases, I don't know that these prep schools do the kids much good. Is AJ Turner getting any more offers because he went the prep route? Is Josh Jackson going to get better offers than his current ones from Louisville, Kansas, Michigan State, etc? Players will get noticed wherever they play. I thought last year Kyle Kuzma make the right decision last summer to accept the offer from Utah and do a red shirt freshman year there rather than taking the prep year he had planned. And we've seen the other side; players who actually appear to get hurt by taking that prep year. Commish pointed out the case of Novian Cherry, who was in a horrible situation, and we've talked about Richie Lewis who had plenty of MAC interest prior to leaving Flint for an out of state prep and ended up at Oakland Community College. In any case, we're losing way too much talent from this state. Check out the article below for the latest: wchbnewsdetroit.newsone.com/3110836/add-bakari-evelyn-of-southfield-christian-and-tariiq-jones-of-mt-clemens-to-the-list-of-transfers/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=WCHBNewsDetroit-Subscribers&utm_campaign=WCHB%20News%20Detroit%20Daily%20Dynamic%20%202014-08-04&omcamp=es-wchb-nl
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Aug 9, 2014 22:47:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 10, 2014 16:56:33 GMT -5
Farrell is right on the money with this. I posted this comment below his article at Freep.com: "Farrell makes some good points, as usual. To further illustrate his point, there are several more recent examples of players who made it to college stardom and the NBA while playing for Michigan high schools. Chris Douglas Roberts, Ray McCallum, Chris Kamen, Manny Harris, Malik Hairston, and others managed to make it to the NBA while staying in state. . The prep school route seems to be the "in" thing to do these days, but I have seen several examples of players who found their reputations and college options took a hit after they went out of state to a prep school. "The interesting thing about Josh Jackson's academic competition being a stated reason for him leaving is that the school he will be attending in California has no finalized faculty or classroom space, and is not accredited by the State of California, at least as of a couple of weeks ago."
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 13, 2014 12:32:17 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Aug 17, 2014 14:58:27 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 18, 2014 10:24:07 GMT -5
Mick certainly didn't hold back with his opinions, did he?
Every time I hear some parent or player say that they don't get the necessary exposure in Michigan, I want to point out the many players who are being noticed and earning scholarships to college right out of state high schools. If you can play, you'll get exposure. If you're not getting the same exposure that Cassius Winston and Eric Davis are getting, maybe you're just not that good.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Aug 18, 2014 16:00:45 GMT -5
Mick certainly didn't hold back with his opinions, did he? Every time I hear some parent or player say that they don't get the necessary exposure in Michigan, I want to point out the many players who are being noticed and earning scholarships to college right out of state high schools. If you can play, you'll get exposure. If you're not getting the same exposure that Cassius Winston and Eric Davis are getting, maybe you're just not that good. Mick's entirely right - Josh Jackson is ranked #1 or #2 nationally. He can go where he wants to go. Is spending the year at this place in California really going to make him more prepared for the NBA? I doubt it. As for Algevon, I retain hope we'll get him. He's just starting his junior year. All the Big 10 schools have scouted him - he has to be on the radar of serious schools, and if he can't get the offers from them that probably reflects reality. I am quite sure that playing in Kentucky, Alabama, Delaware and Massachusetts does nothing for his value. There is one self-fulfilling aspect of this, though, which is that as each player leaves, it is one less high quality player to face off against, if only in the state tournament. But with AAU ball these guys get to face off at some time, and between AAU and today's national recruiting, it's pretty tough to find a player who somehow remains a hidden gem, unknown nationally. When you do, it's because the guy suddenly got a whole lot better as a senior, or maybe recovered from a serious injury. And playing at prep schools out of state won't help in those situations, either.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 18, 2014 21:12:15 GMT -5
Saw this article from earlier in the year where AJ Turner says the prep year really helped him. The point of the article seems to be that he earned an MSU offer by the improvement he got in prep school. I don't know if that's true, though. He already had reported offers from Providence, Arizona State, and Iowa State, among others, before he decided on the prep year. Seems like he was already trending towards an MSU offer while playing at Warren De La Salle. www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2014/05/year_at_prep_school_helped_mic.html
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 18, 2014 21:30:46 GMT -5
Mick certainly didn't hold back with his opinions, did he? Every time I hear some parent or player say that they don't get the necessary exposure in Michigan, I want to point out the many players who are being noticed and earning scholarships to college right out of state high schools. If you can play, you'll get exposure. If you're not getting the same exposure that Cassius Winston and Eric Davis are getting, maybe you're just not that good. Mick's entirely right - Josh Jackson is ranked #1 or #2 nationally. He can go where he wants to go. Is spending the year at this place in California really going to make him more prepared for the NBA? I doubt it. As for Algevon, I retain hope we'll get him. He's just starting his junior year. All the Big 10 schools have scouted him - he has to be on the radar of serious schools, and if he can't get the offers from them that probably reflects reality. I am quite sure that playing in Kentucky, Alabama, Delaware and Massachusetts does nothing for his value. There is one self-fulfilling aspect of this, though, which is that as each player leaves, it is one less high quality player to face off against, if only in the state tournament. But with AAU ball these guys get to face off at some time, and between AAU and today's national recruiting, it's pretty tough to find a player who somehow remains a hidden gem, unknown nationally. When you do, it's because the guy suddenly got a whole lot better as a senior, or maybe recovered from a serious injury. And playing at prep schools out of state won't help in those situations, either. Seriously, the Jackson decision baffles me. I don't know what that move does for him, either developmentally or in greater exposure. What it might do is mess him up academically if he's not careful. The education part of that whole situation is murky. Apparently the players attend other high schools in the area? Algevon only has to look across town to Saginaw Arthur Hill where Eric Davis is a four star player rated number 35 in the country by ESPN and holding offers from every major conference in the country, to know that it's not hard to get exposure while playing in Saginaw. Heck, Jalen Adams isn't even on that level and he got a scholarship to St. Bonnie.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Aug 18, 2014 21:39:42 GMT -5
Saw this article from earlier in the year where AJ Turner says the prep year really helped him. The point of the article seems to be that he earned an MSU offer by the improvement he got in prep school. I don't know if that's true, though. He already had reported offers from Providence, Arizona State, and Iowa State, among others, before he decided on the prep year. Seems like he was already trending towards an MSU offer while playing at Warren De La Salle. www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2014/05/year_at_prep_school_helped_mic.htmlYeah, Turner was getting interest from MSU, Wisconsin, Michigan, Gonzaga, etc. He had offers from Boston College and Iowa State, plus the attention of the aforementioned schools before heading out of state. There's plenty of reason to believe a good senior year in Michigan would have garnered the same offers. But maybe not- maybe the prep school put him over the top. Obviously, some kids will benefit. But also remember - Turner did a 5th season at the prep school. Originally these "prep" schools seemed to be for kids who couldn't cut it academically and needed another year. Then they started nabbing kids who needed another year to polish up their game, or kids who just hadn't gotten the offers they wanted, and they'd play an extra season, essentially, before heading to college - that's Turner. The idea of leaving your high school and family to play in a basketball factory half way across the country as a general approach to getting a D-I offer - Jackson, Eichelberger, etc - seems to be relatively new.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Aug 22, 2014 20:27:32 GMT -5
Jaire Grayer of Flint, whom the Titans recently offered, will play his senior year at IMG Academy in Florida.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 23, 2014 11:52:54 GMT -5
Saw this article from earlier in the year where AJ Turner says the prep year really helped him. The point of the article seems to be that he earned an MSU offer by the improvement he got in prep school. I don't know if that's true, though. He already had reported offers from Providence, Arizona State, and Iowa State, among others, before he decided on the prep year. Seems like he was already trending towards an MSU offer while playing at Warren De La Salle. www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2014/05/year_at_prep_school_helped_mic.htmlYeah, Turner was getting interest from MSU, Wisconsin, Michigan, Gonzaga, etc. He had offers from Boston College and Iowa State, plus the attention of the aforementioned schools before heading out of state. There's plenty of reason to believe a good senior year in Michigan would have garnered the same offers. But maybe not- maybe the prep school put him over the top. Obviously, some kids will benefit. But also remember - Turner did a 5th season at the prep school. Originally these "prep" schools seemed to be for kids who couldn't cut it academically and needed another year. Then they started nabbing kids who needed another year to polish up their game, or kids who just hadn't gotten the offers they wanted, and they'd play an extra season, essentially, before heading to college - that's Turner. The idea of leaving your high school and family to play in a basketball factory half way across the country as a general approach to getting a D-I offer - Jackson, Eichelberger, etc - seems to be relatively new. Now that you brought it up, that Jackson/Eichelberger situation does appear to be a new trend. It has probably happened, but I can't remember players like them who had just finished their sophomore years and were transferring to a basketball factory without re-classifying. I wonder if we are going to see more of that. As you stated, going the prep route used to be a path for players with academic issues who weren't going to junior college to address those issues.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 23, 2014 13:55:30 GMT -5
TJ, thanks for posting the article about Trevor Manuel returning to Lansing to play at Everett. There are two unintentionally funny comments from that article from Manuel, both of which make you want to ask why he ever decided to go to Oak Hill. With the success he had at Sexton, you would think that if he was going to leave there it would be for Everett.
“My dad was on the [Everett] team that almost won a state championship,” he said. “I wanted to pick it up where he left off.”
“I was really thinking about going back (to Sexton), but I knew being with my family was going to be best for me,” he said.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 23, 2014 14:03:03 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Aug 26, 2014 11:07:15 GMT -5
From the Commissioner's post in the 2014 recruiting thread: "That brings the number of Michigan seniors off to D-I programs this fall to 26, by my count. udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/264/2014-michigan-all-state. It is interesting that 4 of those 26, including Cole, did not make even honorable mention for either the News or Free Press." How are all these Michigan high school seniors (including those who didn't even make honorable mention all state) earning these D1 scholarship offers without moving to out of state basketball factories like Oak Hill, Prolific Prep, Findlay Prep, etc.?? ;-)
|
|