MBB 2020 Recruiting

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CP3GUY
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MBB 2020 Recruiting

Post by CP3GUY »

Thought it'd be easier to keep track of the men's basketball recruits and targets for the 2020 recruiting class if I made this thread. Here's the targets we know of so far.

Emmett (EJ) Neal (6'4, 175 lbs G out of San Francisco, California):
This guard has been scouted by UH since at least April and has said in late July that he plans on scheduling official visits soon. We'll see if UH can land an OV from him. He is good 3-point shooter and slasher, and in limited game film seems to be a good defender.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUUAud6md3s

Jamie Bergens (6'1, 175 CG out of Almere, Netherlands):
A quick combo guard who is said to have unlimited range and has a comfortable looking mid-range pull-up jumper. He played on the Netherlands U18 Fiba national team, where he averaged 9.7 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.3 rebounds. He has a long list of schools who have become interested in him recently thanks to his play this summer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKw8dj9mLp8&t=

Beon Riley (6'6, 235 lbs CG out of Chula Vista, California):
Committed to UH

Mykell Robinson (6'6, 190 lbs G/F out of Missouri City, Texas):
An athletic, high flying wing who has the ability to step out and knock down the 3 ball. His main game is getting out in transition and using his athleticism, as well as driving into the paint and finishing through contact. Has 5 current offers, and appears to be a guy that Chris Gerlufsen recruited when he was at San Diego (USD was the first school to offer him back in July). Other known offers are from Tulsa, Umass, Mississippi Valley State, and Austin Peay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slf3OZJYX7s

Will add to this list as it becomes available.
Last edited by CP3GUY on Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:38 pm, edited 13 times in total.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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First impression is that UH is looking to add a guard to the team considering 3 players are leaving (if Ahmed Ali is eligible to play this year) with 2 of those players being Ali and Eddie Stansberry. That leaves us with just 4 guards (3 scholarship players and one walk-on) on the roster for the following year (Buggs as a senior, Villa, Webster, and Ng). Verbal commits has Avea and Junior Madut listed as shooting guards, but they fit more of the "3" position. I could imagine UH would want to bring in at least a guard and a forward (specifically a "4" man) given the departure of Raimo after this year.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Good stuff!

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Great stuff. Thanks.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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I predict UH does not get Chance McMillian as he is being courted by a number of other more prestigious programs.

Also, do people really think that Kameron Ng is going to be in the rotation, especially at pg? UH has Buggs, Ali, and Villa on scholarship. I cannot see a 5'8" walk-on whose natural position was the 2-guard all throughout high school as someone who cracks the competitive pg rotation especially if Ali were to be eligible to play this season. I really think he is going to assume the role that Hathifah Abdewel Jawad would have played had he stayed for his sophomore year.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Naz wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:46 pm I predict UH does not get Chance McMillian as he is being courted by a number of other more prestigious programs.

Also, do people really think that Kameron Ng is going to be in the rotation, especially at pg? UH has Buggs, Ali, and Villa on scholarship. I cannot see a 5'8" walk-on whose natural position was the 2-guard all throughout high school as someone who cracks the competitive pg rotation especially if Ali were to be eligible to play this season. I really think he is going to assume the role that Hathifah Abdewel Jawad would have played had he stayed for his sophomore year.
Brocke Stepteau was a 5'9 walk-on who ended up playing extended minutes and then starting for us because of the hole we had at the point guard position. If there were injuries ahead of Ng, he could very well find himself on the court. The chance of him finding the court at some point in his career is much much higher than for Abdeljawad. His ball-handling and quickness look like they're D1 caliber, and he can shoot the ball. Definitely doesn't hurt having a walk-on local like Ng off the end of your bench.

As for McMillian, I want to say we have a better chance (no pun intended) of landing him than what one might think. Being able to schedule an OV is crucial for Hawaii because of how attractive it is to show them "paradise." I thought I read a report that said he would take his time with recruiting, so for him it seems like only time will tell with what schools he's really interested in attending.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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CP3GUY wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 12:32 am
Brocke Stepteau was a 5'9 walk-on who ended up playing extended minutes and then starting for us because of the hole we had at the point guard position. If there were injuries ahead of Ng, he could very well find himself on the court. The chance of him finding the court at some point in his career is much much higher than for Abdeljawad. His ball-handling and quickness look like they're D1 caliber, and he can shoot the ball. Definitely doesn't hurt having a walk-on local like Ng off the end of your bench.

As for McMillian, I want to say we have a better chance (no pun intended) of landing him than what one might think. Being able to schedule an OV is crucial for Hawaii because of how attractive it is to show them "paradise." I thought I read a report that said he would take his time with recruiting, so for him it seems like only time will tell with what schools he's really interested in attending.
I do not hold Ng in the same caliber of player as Stepteau. Stepteau played in a much higher caliber of high school and a year of prep before coming to UH. Ng is coming off a varsity career in which he played three years at D2 level and his senior season in which he did not even take his team into the post season. But most importantly, the glamour behind Ng was the fact that he had high scoring games. He was allowed to have those high scoring games because he played under a coaching staff (which included his own dad) and system that allowed him to take any and every shot he wanted without repercussion of coming out of the game. If you put Ng in a system in high school where can't just chuck it up whenever he wants and he is only averaging let's say 10-15 ppg, doesn't that take the glitz out of the hype surrounding him throughout high school? Ng was a point guard whose first three options were to 1) score 2) score and 3) score. I highly doubt any offense Ganot wants to run will allow Ng that liberty. If you significantly take away most of Ng's shot opportunities unlike he's used to from high school, you are ultimately getting a totally different player. I remember in the 'Iolani Classic he didn't even average 2 assists per game and that was even after playing 3 weaker local schools. I do not subscribe to the notion that Ng is naturally a point guard because he handles the ball adequately. That is just one aspect of being a solid collegiate point guard.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Naz wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:42 pm
CP3GUY wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 12:32 am
Brocke Stepteau was a 5'9 walk-on who ended up playing extended minutes and then starting for us because of the hole we had at the point guard position. If there were injuries ahead of Ng, he could very well find himself on the court. The chance of him finding the court at some point in his career is much much higher than for Abdeljawad. His ball-handling and quickness look like they're D1 caliber, and he can shoot the ball. Definitely doesn't hurt having a walk-on local like Ng off the end of your bench.

As for McMillian, I want to say we have a better chance (no pun intended) of landing him than what one might think. Being able to schedule an OV is crucial for Hawaii because of how attractive it is to show them "paradise." I thought I read a report that said he would take his time with recruiting, so for him it seems like only time will tell with what schools he's really interested in attending.
I do not hold Ng in the same caliber of player as Stepteau. Stepteau played in a much higher caliber of high school and a year of prep before coming to UH. Ng is coming off a varsity career in which he played three years at D2 level and his senior season in which he did not even take his team into the post season. But most importantly, the glamour behind Ng was the fact that he had high scoring games. He was allowed to have those high scoring games because he played under a coaching staff (which included his own dad) and system that allowed him to take any and every shot he wanted without repercussion of coming out of the game. If you put Ng in a system in high school where can't just chuck it up whenever he wants and he is only averaging let's say 10-15 ppg, doesn't that take the glitz out of the hype surrounding him throughout high school? Ng was a point guard whose first three options were to 1) score 2) score and 3) score. I highly doubt any offense Ganot wants to run will allow Ng that liberty. If you significantly take away most of Ng's shot opportunities unlike he's used to from high school, you are ultimately getting a totally different player. I remember in the 'Iolani Classic he didn't even average 2 assists per game and that was even after playing 3 weaker local schools. I do not subscribe to the notion that Ng is naturally a point guard because he handles the ball adequately. That is just one aspect of being a solid collegiate point guard.
I used Stepteau as a comparison because him and Ng are both 5'8/5'9 and both came to UH as walk-ons. I think part of what you're missing is that he played at Saint Francis, which outside of Ng and his brother didn't possess the same level of basketball talent as their ILH D1 opponents. He probably had to force the issue in order to make up for lesser overall talent. For example: Kameron Ng got injured in the beginning/middle of the season and missed a few games. One game he missed was against Punahou, where Punahou ended up winning 87-55. Saint Francis and Punahou ended up playing each other again a month later, and with Kameron Ng in the lineup Punahou still won, but the final was 67-57. Fast forward a couple weeks later, and Ng and Saint Francis pull off the upset in overtime against Punahou on the road, 84-81.

I don't expect Ng to average over 20 for Hawaii at any point in his career, nor do I think Ganot will ever ask him to do so. I see a quick ball handler who, despite not averaging a ton of assists, can pass well enough to run an offense, and someone who can make the defense pay if they leave him open. I don't think seeing him in a couple of years as a backup point guard would be a huge stretch, but he won't be pressured to produce right away given that they didn't offer him a scholarship. I just think placing him on the same level as Abdeljawad is disrespectful to Ng.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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What's the word on the official visits?

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Parkpill wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:19 pm What's the word on the official visits?
Wish I had more updates, but haven't heard about an OV's setup or anything. I guess time will tell, but if I were to guess I'd say within the next month or so we should be getting two visits from Chance McMillian and DJ Davis. Both are really solid recruits that I think would be all-conference type of players. Hopefully Ganot brings them to a football game.
DJ Davis just took an OV to UAB, so I would guess he's also going to visit Ole Miss soon (close by?) because he's probably planning on taking an OV to every school that he put on his top 5 (Colorado State, UH, and UCI are the other 3).

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Well, there goes DJ Davis. Committed to UAB after taking an official visit there last weekend. Looks like he didn't take any other OVs to any of the other 4 schools he listed as his top 5.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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NEXT! Now are new coach can prove his recruiting prowess.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Emmett (EJ) Neal Jr, who I've mentioned above, seems to be a higher priority target for UH's 2020 recruiting class. Limited video on him, but he looks like a good defender and a capable shooter and slasher at the 2-guard position. Over the last 10 days, assistant coaches Jabari Trotter and Chris Gerlufsen have each attended practices at Balboa Prep to watch EJ Neal in person.

Tweets mentioning Hawaii checking out EJ Neal:
https://twitter.com/Balboa_MBB/status/1 ... 7534089216
https://twitter.com/GamepointNation/sta ... 6342801408

Video of EJ Neal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUUAud6md3s

Also, there was a tweet mentioning that Chris Gerlufsen was in attendance at a Cathedral Catholic High School basketball workout to scout players (along with coaches from UC Irvine and Rice). Will try to figure out which players he was exactly scouting (I don't think they are 2020 prospects).

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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Just added above to the list a 6'2 G, Jelani Clark out of San Francisco. Looked like he was an intriguing prospect that UH has had on their radar for about a year now, but after watching his highlights I felt he would be offered by better mid-majors and some high-majors. However, recently looking through his twitter, it looks like he's scheduled for an official visit from October 4-6th to visit UH (this was finalized all the way back in August). Looks like other teams that are recruiting him hard are LMU, Nevada, and St. Mary's. He's taking his official visit to LMU this weekend. If he doesn't commit on the spot, I'd like to think we have a pretty good chance of landing him.

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Re: MBB 2020 Recruiting

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There should be 3 scholarships available next year. Looks like it's a heavy guard recruiting class.

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