Recruiting as of 12/15/24

[TedBaxter]

I must've missed the commitment after Miletic but before James. Sweet to have 3 locked up already!

Btw, Doddsie also specifically stated it was not James who was going to commit.

Well, you could argue this young man redshirting puts him in the 2025 class.

https://gomarquette.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/joshua-clark/7947

[onepost]

Great week for MUBB in snagging Nigel.  The fact he's already recruiting Cam Ward shows we got ourselves a DAWG.
Shaka having Miletic and James committed already puts him in such a great spot with whomever the next focus is.

There's been some uncertainty on Adrien Stevens: we've seemingly been the leader for months, but I was told last night by one 'source' that "we've moved on and he's a Nova lean now".  I think Dom Winters was saying he'd heard some of the same, but then kinda retracted on that?

Will gladly defer to the Brews and njps on Stevens since it seems odd.  I will say the guy who said it called Nigel James even before Trilly, and he did say the guy we're zeroing in on is Cam Ward.  And that he projects we land him ("would make 3/3 on sourced predictions").

All said, I'm just glad our summer is making up for our boring transfer portal.  Adrien Stevens, Cam Ward, Nyk Lewis, Kelvin Odih, Kai Rodgers.  Still in on plenty of great recruits.

[Uncle Rico]

Great week for MUBB in snagging Nigel.  The fact he's already recruiting Cam Ward shows we got ourselves a DAWG.
Shaka having Miletic and James committed already puts him in such a great spot with whomever the next focus is.

There's been some uncertainty on Adrien Stevens: we've seemingly been the leader for months, but I was told last night by one 'source' that "we've moved on and he's a Nova lean now".  I think Dom Winters was saying he'd heard some of the same, but then kinda retracted on that?

Will gladly defer to the Brews and njps on Stevens since it seems odd.  I will say the guy who said it called Nigel James even before Trilly, and he did say the guy we're zeroing in on is Cam Ward.  And that he projects we land him ("would make 3/3 on sourced predictions").

All said, I'm just glad our summer is making up for our boring transfer portal.  Adrien Stevens, Cam Ward, Nyk Lewis, Kelvin Odih, Kai Rodgers.  Still in on plenty of great recruits.

Thanks for the updates!

[MUfan12]

I hope they're not moving on from Stevens, especially if Ward is not deciding until December.

[The Sultan]

I hope they're not moving on from Stevens, especially if Ward is not deciding until December.

Isn't Ward more of a power forward with Stevens being a guard?

[onepost]

I hope they're not moving on from Stevens, especially if Ward is not deciding until December.

Completely agree.  I think Stevens would be fantastic under Shaka and was wishing for a Stevens AND Ward bookend to the class.
Hopefully it's just a case of spotty info amidst other info that's proven right over time.

[MuMark]

Isn't Ward more of a power forward with Stevens being a guard?

I think Ward is kind of a switchable type......similar to Owens.

[The Sultan]

Gotcha. Thanks.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Thanks for the update, onepost.  It looks like Tower will be correct about Shaka not over signing.

Looks like Shaka's all in on Ward.  Hopefully he can seal the deal.

If Shaka lands Ward instead of a guard, that means only one guard in two straight recruiting classes.  Losing Kolek, Kam, and Stevie and only adding Nigel James is a little puzzling to me.

Looks like Shaka is shifting away from the 3 guard lineup and trending towards skilled SF types like Owens, Miletic, and Ward.  The scary thing for me, now there is no margin of error in the backcourt.  Need to be lucky enough to avoid injuries, Sean Jones has to regain 100% health, and Chase, Tre, and Zaide all need to develop.

[MUfan12]

If Shaka lands Ward instead of a guard, that means only one guard in two straight recruiting classes.  Losing Kolek, Kam, and Stevie and only adding Nigel James is a little puzzling to me.

Looks like Shaka is shifting away from the 3 guard lineup and trending towards skilled SF types like Owens, Miletic, and Ward.  The scary thing for me, now there is no margin of error in the backcourt.  Need to be lucky enough to avoid injuries, Sean Jones has to regain 100% health, and Chase, Tre, and Zaide all need to develop.

2025 Roster with (at least) one scholarship to give doesn't look all that unbalanced. All those wings can handle the ball well enough to take pressure off the PG if needed.

Guards: Jones, Norman, James
Wings: Ross, Lowery, Owens, Miletic
Bigs: Gold, Hamilton, Parham, Clark, Amadou

[jfp61]

The scary thing for me, now there is no margin of error in the backcourt.

Norman, Ross, and James are very good guards.

Cam Ward IMO is the best player we are still recruiting.

It is an obvious decision, and not a gamble really at all.

[brewcity77]

Thanks for the update, onepost.  It looks like Tower will be correct about Shaka not over signing.

I've heard less certainty about a Stevens commit than previous, but we've watched him in the past month so I'm not sure he's completely off the table.

I would also say that even if we don't land Stevens, I strongly believe it's not just "Ward or bust" for this class.

[onepost]

I would also say that even if we don't land Stevens, I strongly believe it's not just "Ward or bust" for this class.

Yup

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Norman, Ross, and James are very good guards.

Cam Ward IMO is the best player we are still recruiting.

It is an obvious decision, and not a gamble really at all.

Ward is an absolute stud.  He's not my concern.

I'm concerned if MU only has 5 guards, one with a major knee injury, and two guys who need a lot of development (Tre and Zaide).

Maybe Sean makes a full recovery.  Maybe Tre and Zaide are crushing it in practice. But until I see it for myself I will remain uncertain.  I'd prefer one more guard just to have as many chances for success as possible.  Just my opinion.

[onepost]

Ward is an absolute stud.  He's not my concern.

I'm concerned if MU only has 5 guards, one with a major knee injury, and two guys who need a lot of development (Tre and Zaide).

Maybe Sean makes a full recovery.  Maybe Tre and Zaide are crushing it in practice. But until I see it for myself I will remain uncertain.  I'd prefer one more guard just to have as many chances for success as possible.  Just my opinion.

I've been told that we're still in play for Nyk Lewis, even with James committed, as recently as a week ago.
Which again would lend that it seems like the staff is shooting for a 4-man class.

IMO there's just no way we carry Ben, Al, Royce, Josh, AND Caedin for the 2025-2026 season.  My uneducated guess would be Al transferring out to a lower level ala Keeyan Itejere, but unfair for me to cast him out.  Maybe Ben wants to go pro after his junior year, but I just don't see us carrying 5 centers beyond this season (Royce could be a 4 I guess).  But that's why I've always assumed we would shoot for 4 in the 2025 class.

[Its DJOver]

I've been told that we're still in play for Nyk Lewis, even with James committed, as recently as a week ago.
Which again would lend that it seems like the staff is shooting for a 4-man class.

IMO there's just no way we carry Ben, Al, Royce, Josh, AND Caedin for the 2025-2026 season.  My uneducated guess would be Al transferring out to a lower level ala Keeyan Itejere, but unfair for me to cast him out.  Maybe Ben wants to go pro after his junior year, but I just don't see us carrying 5 centers beyond this season (Royce could be a 4 I guess).  But that's why I've always assumed we would shoot for 4 in the 2025 class.

Makes a lot of sense. 

Also don't want to write off Al, but if he is behind Hamilton in the rotation, I don't see him sticking.  How many times have we had someone be willing to take that kind of a role where a younger player passes them and they still stick around? Heldt?

[onepost]

Makes a lot of sense. 

Also don't want to write off Al, but if he is behind Hamilton in the rotation, I don't see him sticking.  How many times have we had someone be willing to take that kind of a role where a younger player passes them and they still stick around? Heldt?

If we're already getting Ben Steele/Jon Rothstein summer hype surrounding Hamilton, and murmurs about how exciting Clark has been in practices, but radio silence on Al...seems like the writing is on the wall.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

I've been told that we're still in play for Nyk Lewis, even with James committed, as recently as a week ago.
Which again would lend that it seems like the staff is shooting for a 4-man class.

IMO there's just no way we carry Ben, Al, Royce, Josh, AND Caedin for the 2025-2026 season.  My uneducated guess would be Al transferring out to a lower level ala Keeyan Itejere, but unfair for me to cast him out.  Maybe Ben wants to go pro after his junior year, but I just don't see us carrying 5 centers beyond this season (Royce could be a 4 I guess).  But that's why I've always assumed we would shoot for 4 in the 2025 class.

Color me surprised that Nyk Lewis is still in play.  I assumed we would only take James or Lewis, but I certainly wouldn't complain if Shaka lands both.

[jfp61]

Ward is an absolute stud.  He's not my concern.

I'm concerned if MU only has 5 guards, one with a major knee injury, and two guys who need a lot of development (Tre and Zaide).

Maybe Sean makes a full recovery.  Maybe Tre and Zaide are crushing it in practice. But until I see it for myself I will remain uncertain.  I'd prefer one more guard just to have as many chances for success as possible.  Just my
opinion.

Norman is already better than Jones on the court honestly.

Might take a while to see it. It is easy to get blinded by jones being fast, and playing how he does at 5'10".

But Norman played good defense and adequate offense despite having a "below his standards" shooting season.

Also Nigel James is pretty pretty good, and any other guard we get would probably be an off ball guard to him.

[Hards Alumni]

Norman is already better than Jones on the court honestly.

Might take a while to see it. It is easy to get blinded by jones being fast, and playing how he does at 5'10".

But Norman played good defense and adequate offense despite having a "below his standards" shooting season.

Also Nigel James is pretty pretty good, and any other guard we get would probably be an off ball guard to him.

I agree

[onepost]

A separate 'source' (the one who still has optimism about Lewis) says he has no insight on Adrien Stevens other than hearing that he's nearing a decision.
So hopefully the recent skepticism from others/me is wrong, we can land Stevens here soon, and then go all-out on Cam Ward to finish up 2025.

[Lennys Tap]

A separate 'source' (the one who still has optimism about Lewis) says he has no insight on Adrien Stevens other than hearing that he's nearing a decision.
So hopefully the recent skepticism from others/me is wrong, we can land Stevens here soon, and then go all-out on Cam Ward to finish up 2025.

onepost - who is Lewis?

[The Sultan]

onepost - who is Lewis?

Nyk Lewis.

https://247sports.com/player/nyk-lewis-46136675/

[Lennys Tap]

Nyk Lewis.

https://247sports.com/player/nyk-lewis-46136675/

I assumed that it was either Nigel or Nyk (both Pgs) and that once Nigel committed that was it for this class. Not so?

[The Sultan]

Norman is already better than Jones on the court honestly.

Might take a while to see it. It is easy to get blinded by jones being fast, and playing how he does at 5'10".

But Norman played good defense and adequate offense despite having a "below his standards" shooting season.

Also Nigel James is pretty pretty good, and any other guard we get would probably be an off ball guard to him.

There was nothing I saw last year that suggested that Tre was better than Jones. Tre may have more potential, but I don't think Tre would have played much at all had Jones stayed healthy.