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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 10, 2015 11:30:55 GMT -5
Why should there be any school spirit? It's not really a school. It's a basketball club and they attend some other school for classes. Another thing the kids lose. It's a big loss to them, too, although I guess you can't miss what you never had. I loved every part of my experience playing high school basketball. Loved the school pep rallies, my classmates coming to the games to support the team, playing on a team with guys I had known since elementary school, and playing against guys from other teams that I had played against since junior high. I'm glad that a lot of kids still get to experience that.
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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 25, 2015 11:28:24 GMT -5
Billy Thomas, who left U of D Jesuit High for Genesis Prep over the summer, is back in Michigan. Apparently he didn't last longer than a semester at the prep school, and came back to Michigan in January and enrolled at North Farmington High where he will play in about four regular season games and miss the state tournament. Last year at this time, Thomas was a 2016 recruit playing for U of D High, garnering attention from mid majors, and poised for a very successful high school career in a good program. Catholic league titles and long runs in the tournament looked likely. A year later, he's a 2017 recruit, having basically lost a year of basketball after what looks like the wrong decision to attend a prep school. In the long run, it may not hurt him, since he's a talented kid with two years left to raise his stock, but he certainly missed out athletically and probably academically this season. www.statechampsnetwork.com/index.cfm/news-blog/high-school-recruiting-scouting/billy-thomas-ruled-ineligible-for-state-tournament-allowed-to-play-last-four-games-of-regular-season-at-north-farmington/
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Post by Commissioner on Feb 25, 2015 17:59:01 GMT -5
Billy Thomas, how left U of D Jesuit High for Genesis Prep over the summer, is back in Michigan. Apparently he didn't last longer than a semester at the prep school, and came back to Michigan in January and enrolled at North Farmington High where he will play in about four regular season games and miss the state tournament. Last year at this time, Thomas was a 2016 recruit playing for U of D High, garnering attention from mid majors, and poised for a very successful high school career in a good program. Catholic league titles and long runs in the tournament looked likely. A year later, he's a 2017 recruit, having basically lost a year of basketball after what looks like the wrong decision to attend a prep school. In the long run, it may not hurt him, since he's a talented kid with two years left to raise his stock, but he certainly missed out athletically and probably academically this season. www.statechampsnetwork.com/index.cfm/news-blog/high-school-recruiting-scouting/billy-thomas-ruled-ineligible-for-state-tournament-allowed-to-play-last-four-games-of-regular-season-at-north-farmington/Stay home, enjoy high school with family and friends, and work on your game. This prep stuff increasingly seems nonsense. I can scarcely think of a player whose stock rises. All those Huntington Prep guys, or a Josh Jackson, they were all top 40 recruits before they left home.
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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 27, 2015 8:03:04 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 31, 2015 9:54:11 GMT -5
Josh Jackson "cut" his list to nine schools recently. They are Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and UCLA. So, basically, the move to prep school got him the same offers he was getting at Detroit Consortium.
Kids can do what they want to do, but watching the state playoffs this year, I have to wonder if they realize what they miss out on when they go the prep school route. Cassius Winston is a high major recruit and has remained one while staying at UDJ. He's also gotten to enjoy Catholic League titles and runs to Breslin for the state championships. He's gotten to play in front of family and friends, while making memories that will last a lifetime. Think he'll ever forget that last second lay up that defeated Clarkston and put the Cubs in the semi finals? And I'll bet Trevor Manuel enjoyed his senior year at Everett more than he did his prep year down South. He's going to always remember dominating Muskegon in the state playoffs and going to Breslin.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 31, 2015 10:27:29 GMT -5
Josh Jackson "cut" his list to nine schools recently. They are Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and UCLA. So, basically, the move to prep school got him the same offers he was getting at Detroit Consortium. Kids can do what they want to do, but watching the state playoffs this year, I have to wonder if they realize what they miss out on when they go the prep school route. Cassius Winston is a high major recruit and has remained one while staying at UDJ. He's also gotten to enjoy Catholic League titles and runs to Breslin for the state championships. He's gotten to play in front of family and friends, while making memories that will last a lifetime. Think he'll ever forget that last second lay up that defeated Clarkston and put the Cubs in the semi finals? And I'll bet Trevor Manuel enjoyed his senior year at Everett more than he did his prep year down South. He's going to always remember dominating Muskegon in the state playoffs and going to Breslin. Yup, moving back didn't hurt Trevor Manuel too much. Poor guy had to settle for Oregon, a regular NCAA participant from a power conference. And to add to your excellent points on Winston, he also got to do it all in front of roaring thousands of people at those PSL and state tournaments in Calihan. That "school" that Jackson and Eichelberger play for plays in empty gyms. Deyonta Davis and a bunch of others also did pretty well without leaving the state. Michigan's next two classes have a lot of talent, and if these guys stick around they'll get plenty of top-level competition.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 31, 2015 17:14:30 GMT -5
Josh Jackson "cut" his list to nine schools recently. They are Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and UCLA. So, basically, the move to prep school got him the same offers he was getting at Detroit Consortium. Kids can do what they want to do, but watching the state playoffs this year, I have to wonder if they realize what they miss out on when they go the prep school route. Cassius Winston is a high major recruit and has remained one while staying at UDJ. He's also gotten to enjoy Catholic League titles and runs to Breslin for the state championships. He's gotten to play in front of family and friends, while making memories that will last a lifetime. Think he'll ever forget that last second lay up that defeated Clarkston and put the Cubs in the semi finals? And I'll bet Trevor Manuel enjoyed his senior year at Everett more than he did his prep year down South. He's going to always remember dominating Muskegon in the state playoffs and going to Breslin. Yup, moving back didn't hurt Trevor Manuel too much. Poor guy had to settle for Oregon, a regular NCAA participant from a power conference. And to add to your excellent points on Winston, he also got to do it all in front of roaring thousands of people at those PSL and state tournaments in Calihan. That "school" that Jackson and Eichelberger play for plays in empty gyms. Deyonta Davis and a bunch of others also did pretty well without leaving the state. Michigan's next two classes have a lot of talent, and if these guys stick around they'll get plenty of top-level competition. Yeah, you can bet that at Prolific Prep Jackson never gets to play in front of a student section like UDJ's. :-) As you said earlier, I never knew of a player who raised his status by going to a prep school. AJ Turner went to a prep school and reclassified, and ended up at Boston College, a program that had offered him before he left Michigan. I haven't heard any new buzz about Al Eichelberger, so I really don't know if his prep school move has been positive or negative. I'm sure Saginaw or Saginaw Arthur Hill could have used him this year.
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 3, 2015 18:18:53 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 8, 2015 16:30:08 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 14, 2015 12:52:48 GMT -5
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Post by Commissioner on Apr 22, 2015 18:56:25 GMT -5
Article on Donnie Tillman, a top recruit in the Class of '17, who left Detroit for Findlay Prep in Las Vegas: soodetroit.com/donnie-tillman-from-the-motor-city-to-sin-city/. Whether he's getting more attention from high majors, I don't know, but all the actual offers he has he had before this year's season began at Findlay. But read about the treatment, and you can see why guys might want to go that route.
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 23, 2015 13:35:57 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 26, 2015 12:35:56 GMT -5
This probably won't hurt his ranking or scholarship offers, but Josh Jackson is struggling this week.
Per Twitter:
Jeff Borzello @jeffborzello 22m22 minutes ago In the two games since Josh Jackson went for 41 points, he's scored 18 total points on 8-for-30 shooting. 1-for-11 from the FT line.
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Post by Commissioner on Apr 26, 2015 16:56:18 GMT -5
This probably won't hurt his ranking or scholarship offers, but Josh Jackson is struggling this week. Per Twitter: Jeff Borzello @jeffborzello 22m22 minutes ago In the two games since Josh Jackson went for 41 points, he's scored 18 total points on 8-for-30 shooting. 1-for-11 from the FT line. Got offered this weekend by Maryland and UNLV, so it doesn't seem to be hurting too much. You know who's not reported getting many offers? Al Eich. Could be he's getting offers but he and the academy he attends are being tight-lipped, but that doesn't fit either's history. Maybe a bunch of offers will come next year. But maybe he's just not right sized for those high-major offers -- more like our Jaleel Hogan. If Hogan were 6-9 he'd likely be at Michigan State. Al seems to have a #4 skill set in a #3 body. We shall see. It seems to me that the top kids go to these academies, and get the same great offers they were going to get anyway. And the lower kids go to these academies, and don't get the same offers they weren't going to get anyway. I can see where playing top players day in and day out might improve your game, but the kids play so much AAU now, they get 30 games or more a year against national players anyway. If it's a really nice school, like the one Tillman is at in Vegas, I s'pose I can see a kid being really happy. But outside of the gold-plated academies, I don't sense most kids are happier playing there, or that they gain much from it. Meanwhle, Al, come on home. We're waiting on you to come on home, play before your family and friends, dominate the Horizon with Josh McFolley, Paris Bass, Aaron Foster-Smith, Hogan, and Gerald Blackshear, and just maybe end up with a lucrative pro career in the NBA or elsewhere, like McCallum, Holman, Simon, Minnerath ...
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Post by motorcitysam on May 17, 2015 19:13:38 GMT -5
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