2017 Recruiting

[msu_agfan]

Here's a good article regarding Isaac Bonton's recruitment and signing. We were recruiting him since 8th grade? cool I guess. haha http://highschoolsports.oregonlive.com/ ... /#comments

[mslacat]

Here is an article on one of Binfords recruits Tori Martell

http://www.newrichmond-news.com/sports/ ... university

[msu_agfan]

Another hometown paper article on Luke Schultz's signing to MSU MBB. He just keeps sounding like a great individual, to me. I also like that he mentions us winning a national championship! http://dailytimes.com/promotions/articl ... 712f8.html

[mslacat]

It is being reported that Thomas Pupavac a 6-10 225# C Belmont High School in Geelong, Australia will be in for a official visit tomorrow (Monday- Wednesday Nov 14-16). There is a write up on Pupavac on the first page of this thread. I have heard in his trip to the United States he will be taking multiple official visits. Other than Montana State the schools I have heard he is visiting are Bradley, Iona, Cal State Fullerton and possibly Winthrop. Fish has said he could sign an additional big man this fall and Pupavac seems to be that target.

[mslacat]

I have had a couple people contact me over the past month over the lack recruiting info since November signing period. Well for the most part from my perspective it has been pretty quite on the Bobcat basketball recruiting front. The Griz have been moderately active it seems in both 2017 and 2018 recruiting over the same time period, but they tend to recruit California pretty hard and that area is very well covered by all the recruiting services. I have heard Fish is trying to get a foot hold in the mid west recruiting as well as being pretty active in Oregon and Washington, so new might be harder to dig up. The other thing to keep in mind is that with our two signees this fall (Isaac Bonton and Luke Schultz) we filled all of our open scholarships for 2017. There was an Assie big man who was in for an official visit in December but he committed else where, but aside from that things have been VERY quiet. Then a couple week ago I started hearing things about the Bobcat staff showing strong interest in a hand full of players. Interesting thing is, though, they seem all be point guard. Now I have always said you can not too many point guards I really thought they might be look for a big man. Two of the three are high school kids they are 6-0 PG Colten Kresl Chaparral H S in Nevada(avg 20.2 points & 3.2 assists) and 6-3 G Marcus Stephens from Federal Way HS in Washington (17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists 2 steals). Kresl is a scoring point guard and has really come on strong this year to gather quite a bit of D-1 attention recently. Stephens is the starting point guard on the #1 ranked team in Washington, projected to be point in college but plays at the shooting guard spot. There is a third JC player from the mid-west I have heard the Bobcats are showing a lot of interest in, but I have been asked not name him yet. As far as I know none of these players have been offered yet, and rumor has it Stephens is very very interested in Montana State.

[mslacat]

I tweeted on Twitter yesterday that the Bobcat Men's coaches have offered 6-3ish (high school roster now has him as 6-4) point guard Teyvion Kirk out of Joilet West high school in Illinois. Kirk had signed with Drake University this past fall but was given a release from his letter of intent when Drake had a coaching change. Joilet West (20-3 overall, 12-0 conference) is currently ranked 10th in Illinois and also features 6-6 guard Trevian Bell who signed with U of Milwaukee (who are also after Kirk)this past fall. Kirk is averaging (as of early January) 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals a game. Both Kirk and Bell are explosive scorers and tend to trade off big scoring nights. Running through a half dozen box scores I found Kirk with 4 games of over 27 point and a 3 in the 12-14 point range. He seems to have gone through a growth spurt in the past year or so. At the beginning of his junior year he was listed at 6-1 but now he seems to listed at either 6-3 or 6-4. What really has to be appealing to Fish is that Kirk is also known as a defensive guy having to often defend the opponents best player, but he has good quickness and length. The biggest knock that I read on him and why some major D-1 may have backed off is that he needs to improve his 3 point shooting range and consistency. From what I have heard, keep an eye on this kid. He seems exactly the type of player that would excel in Fish's program and you got to love big guards from Illinois, the last one seemed to work out pretty damn good.

He holds offers from Southern Illinois, Milwaukee, Miami (HO), Kent State, Hostra. Bethune-Cookman and Montana State and a whole lot of interest from a bunch of other schools.

A couple weeks ago Joe Henricksen of the Chicago Sun Times wrote an article on the top 6 unsigned senior basketball prospect in the Chicago city / urban area. He ranked Kirk 4th best unsigned senior and #12 overall senior college prospect in the Chicago Area.

4. Teyvion Kirk, 6-3, PG, Joliet West

Where he ranks in Class of 2017: No. 15

The buzz: Kirk was released in late December from Drake after signing with the Bulldogs in November.

College coaches are intrigued with the big strides Kirk has made over the past 12 months and like the length and defensive potential this point guard possesses. Plus, he brings outstanding academics and high character to the table.

Where he can play: While there are some questions concerning his perimeter shooting that has put a bit of a cap on his level of recruitment, the chance for a mid-major program to land a player like Kirk and his intangibles this late in the recruiting game would be a boon.

The recruitment: There are a handful of offers and a whole lot of interest. Kirk says Miami-Ohio, Bethune-Cookman, UW-Milwaukee, Southern Illinois and Kent State have all offered with a slew of others inquiring. That list includes Brown, Middle Tennessee State, Boston College, Loyola, St. Bonaventure, Cal-Poly, Missouri State, Boise State, UNLV and Georgia Tech.

Video on Kirk (although a year old)

[hudl_video][/hudl_video]

Here are some articles about Teyvion Kirk.

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/10/1 ... r/agm4zm6/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-spt-01 ... story.html

http://www.suntimeshighschoolsports.com ... d-seniors/

[mslacat]

I tweeted on Twitter yesterday that the Bobcat Men's coaches have offered 6-3ish (high school roster now has him as 6-4) point guard Teyvion Kirk out of Joilet West high school in Illinois. Kirk had signed with Drake University this past fall but was given a release from his letter of intent when Drake had a coaching change. Joilet West (20-3 overall, 12-0 conference) is currently ranked 10th in Illinois and also features 6-6 guard Trevian Bell who signed with U of Milwaukee (who are also after Kirk)this past fall. Kirk is averaging (as of early January) 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals a game. Both Kirk and Bell are explosive scorers and tend to trade off big scoring nights. Running through a half dozen box scores I found Kirk with 4 games of over 27 point and a 3 in the 12-14 point range. He seems to have gone through a growth spurt in the past year or so. At the beginning of his junior year he was listed at 6-1 but now he seems to listed at either 6-3 or 6-4. What really has to be appealing to Fish is that Kirk is also known as a defensive guy having to often defend the opponents best player, but he has good quickness and length. The biggest knock that I read on him and why some major D-1 may have backed off is that he needs to improve his 3 point shooting range and consistency. From what I have heard, keep an eye on this kid. He seems exactly the type of player that would excel in Fish's program and you got to love big guards from Illinois, the last one seemed to work out pretty damn good.

He holds offers from Southern Illinois, Milwaukee, Miami (HO), Kent State, Hostra. Bethune-Cookman and Montana State and a whole lot of interest from a bunch of other schools.

A couple weeks ago Joe Henricksen of the Chicago Sun Times wrote an article on the top 6 unsigned senior basketball prospect in the Chicago city / urban area. He ranked Kirk 4th best unsigned senior and #12 overall senior college prospect in the Chicago Area.

4. Teyvion Kirk, 6-3, PG, Joliet West

Where he ranks in Class of 2017: No. 15

The buzz: Kirk was released in late December from Drake after signing with the Bulldogs in November.

College coaches are intrigued with the big strides Kirk has made over the past 12 months and like the length and defensive potential this point guard possesses. Plus, he brings outstanding academics and high character to the table.

Where he can play: While there are some questions concerning his perimeter shooting that has put a bit of a cap on his level of recruitment, the chance for a mid-major program to land a player like Kirk and his intangibles this late in the recruiting game would be a boon.

The recruitment: There are a handful of offers and a whole lot of interest. Kirk says Miami-Ohio, Bethune-Cookman, UW-Milwaukee, Southern Illinois and Kent State have all offered with a slew of others inquiring. That list includes Brown, Middle Tennessee State, Boston College, Loyola, St. Bonaventure, Cal-Poly, Missouri State, Boise State, UNLV and Georgia Tech.

Video on Kirk (although a year old)



Here are some articles about Teyvion Kirk.

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/10/1 ... r/agm4zm6/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-spt-01 ... story.html

http://www.suntimeshighschoolsports.com ... d-seniors/

[BelgradeBobcat]

What is Fish up to? Aren't we loaded with guards?
It looks like Fish and staff are not resting on what we have and casting for a talent upgrade. Maybe we hit the right note with a kid who could go to a bigger program. Why not?
Fish has a long term vision for this program-beyond the Tyler Hall era, whenever that ends?
Fish wants us to be a lot better on defense on the perimeter. Klines is a good defender, but he's very small. Big guards, which the Big Sky is loaded with, can work him over pretty good. Hall and Frey are merely adequate defenders at best-and both are offensive minded (for good reason).
Fish is cut from the Dana Altman cloth. Watch Oregon sometime. It looks to me like we run the same stuff. Oregon is long and athletic, but doesn't rely on the traditional big man so much. I think Fish trying to build a Big Sky version of Oregon. But where Oregon has a bunch of 6'7" guys, we'll have a bunch of 6'4" guys running around. A kid who's a guard in high school might be our future power forward (see Zach Green). Get a kid with guard skills who's still growing and see what happens?
Those are a few of my theories anyway.