Tag Archives: 2015 recruiting

Gophers, Recruiting

2015 Big Jonathan Nwankwo Commits to Minnesota

2015 Big Jonathan Nwankwo Commits to Minnesota
Scholarship Table Updated

2015 C/PF Jonathan Nwankwo, 6’9″, 245 pounds, committed to the Minnesota Golden Gophers today while on his official visit.

He’s a New Yorker who plans to play this season in Florida at Victory Rock Prep. The relationship between him and the Gophers goes back more than a year. As was the case with fellow 2015 commits Dupree McBrayer and Kevin Dorsey, the pledge to Minnesota was not a surprise.

With 5th year seniors Elliott Eliason and Mo Walker finishing their careers before next summer, Nwankwo will have an opportunity to earn minutes both as a center and power forward.

He’s a big, strong kid who can help rebound and defend (so long as he keeps fouls in check) early on. How well he progresses with the ball in his hands is up to him and the staff. The potential is there to be a quality player for Pitino.

Following is an updated scholarship table:

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Gophers, Recruiting

2015 Dupree McBrayer Commits to Minnesota; ’14 Diedhiou out

2015 Dupree McBrayer Commits to Minnesota

The scholarship table has been updated and is included at the end of these notes. This commitment is not at all a surprise and we’ve long thought he’d wind up a Gopher. Nonetheless, McBrayer is a very good addition to the program.

  • The 6’4″ lefty guard may grow a bit taller despite already being 19.
  • He’s been at various high schools and needs to finalize a decision on his prep school for this year. Vermont Academy, where rising sophomore Daquein McNeil attended, is a strong possibility.
  • Talented and exciting scorer. He can put on a show and wow the crowd.
  • Capable of bringing the ball up the court, but figures to play off the ball on offense. Not a lot of physical strength, but his size should enable him to defend multiple positions (1, 2 and 3).
  • LNH last saw him in person a few weeks ago in Vegas where he played with New Heights. Gopher assistant Kimani Young was the director of the New Heights organization and a consistent spectator at McBrayer’s games.
  • Dupree was impressive when viewed live. However, he had at least 2 years on most of the competition. How much did he benefit from the age advantage is a relevant question.
  • Minnesota will now have two big  guards/wings who are aggressive scorers in Zach Lofton and Dupree McBrayer. The 2015-16 Gophers will be able to unleash a mean attack on opposing defenses.

8/26/14 edit: Not a surprise, but Gaston Diedhiou is not expected to join the program this fall. Based on the roster makeup we do not see this as a significant issue. The scholarship table below includes Diedhiou, but most likely he will never join the program. Thus, the Gophers still have 3 “open slots” for new scholarship players in 2015 after the McBrayer commit.

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Recruiting, Stats

2014 Nike Global Challenge Statistics

2014 Nike Global Challenge Statistics

This year’s Nike Global Challenge finished today. Schedule and game results can be found at NikeGlobalChallenge.com. Attached is a summary compilation of team and player stats, including traditional and advanced statistics for each player.

Open/Download: 2014 Nike Global Challenge Summary Book

The pace was hot (91 poss / 40 minute game) and 2-point attempts were converted at a strong 53.9% rate, but  we saw some poor outside shooting.

Teams shot sub-30% 3FG% (the U.S. teams had a lower 3FG% than the international teams)  and some big names were among the worst, including Malik Monk (1/19 for 5%) and Antonio Blakeney (3/23 for 13%).

Advanced stat studs include: Noah Dickerson, Stephen Zimmerman, Jalen Brunson, Edrice Adebayo, Tyler Davis, Chris Clarke, Khalea Turner, Esa Ahmad, Omari Spellman and Dedric Lawson.

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Recruiting

EYBL: Spiece Starts 4-0 Behind Spartan-commit Davis

EYBL: Spiece Starts 4-0 Behind Spartan-commit Davis
April 27, 2014

We’ve been big fans of Caleb Swanigan – more on him later – but this weekend belonged to 2015 Michigan State commit Deyonta Davis. The 6’9″ forward was looking to score (29.5% %Shots) and that’s just what he did.

Spiece sits atop Division B after starting the EYBL season with a perfect 4-0 record. We’ll share some statistical information, but first a quick look at the team’s efficiency and four factors:

Team Eff. eFG% TO% OR% FTR
Indy Spiece 109.3 56.0% 25.3% 40.7% 78.4%
Opp 87.1 42.2% 21.4% 27.2% 30.2%

Spiece won three of the four factors handily, but did have issues turning the ball over. 2016 elite Jayson Tatum and his St. Louis Eagles pushed Spiece to the brink, but failed to win (53-52 final; Tatum with 18 points but just 6/17 FG & 35.3% eFG).
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Recruiting

2015 Desure Buie

2015 Desure Buie
6’0″ PG

LNH Notes: (8/25/13) Desure is a 6’0″ pass-first point guard who likes to drive and dish. His frame is small and he’ll need to get stronger. He’ll never be a big guard, but Buie’s performance should continue to improve with additional size/strength as he often makes defenses pay once he’s able to penetrate.

LNH saw him playing up this summer with the New York Lightning 17U EYBL team and in Vegas with New Heights 17U. Minnesota assistant Kimani Young was formerly the director of the New Heights organization and the Gophers are showing interest in both Buie as well as 2015 Matt Ryan (who played with New Heights 16U).
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Recruiting

2015 Jalen Adams

2015 Jalen Adams
6’1″ CG

LNH Notes: (8/6/13) Can handle the point, but is often slotted at off guard. This year Adams played both high school (Cushing) and travel (Mass Rivals) ball with one time Gophers target & 2014 point guard Kaleb Joseph.

Very good at attacking off the dribble. Put up some big numbers as a super-sophomore and the athletic guard projects as a player who would do well in a full court press type defense.
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Gophers, Marquette, Recruiting

Player / Recruiting Notes – Las Vegas 2013

Late Night Hoops was in Las Vegas for the final evaluation period of the summer. Below are select comments on just a handful of the many players we saw. We have noted Minnesota and Marquette interest for certain players in the comments below.

Jamal Aytes 2013
6’6” F | Dream Vision

In an early Thursday game against Mass Rivals (Kaleb Joseph, Goodluck Okonoboh), Aytes, an unsigned 2013 player, looked like the older player on the floor. He scored inside with strength and facing up from 10-15 feet out; Aytes was rebounding everything in and outside of his area.
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