mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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05-16-20 08:29 AM - Post#307405
Denham Wojcik commits to Harvard. Three-star PG from Illinois whose brother Paxson plays at Loyola-Chicago.
Ranked in the top 50 PGs at Rivals and Top 200 at 247.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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05-16-20 01:51 PM - Post#307407
In response to mrjames
You never can have enough point guards!
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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05-16-20 04:02 PM - Post#307408
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Between he and Evan Nelson (and Freedman when healthy), Harvard will have some of those floor general types that Tommy loves - more of the pass-first, score-second playmaker that he had with Curry, McNally and Chambers.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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05-16-20 05:30 PM - Post#307409
In response to mrjames
Building from the bottom up this time ....
By the way, I’d take our graduating 7 against next year’s Ivy Champ -10
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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05-16-20 05:46 PM - Post#307410
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Whew... 10 is A LOT (assuming a neutral floor and not a tourney at Harvard)...
Even if you think those seven would have been a Top 25 team (possible, but I’d think more 30s/40s), a 10-point spread would have next year’s winner close to 125 or so. I think Yale, at the very least, will stay Top 100, so I’d say 10 might be too many...
Very interested to see how the rest of the recruiting goes across the league... evaluations, testing, visits - huge challenges... but could see it going both ways... some of those stock risers we might have lost with more exposure could end up staying Ivy, so it might not be all bad...
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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05-16-20 08:36 PM - Post#307411
In response to mrjames
Hope the competition is robust next year.
I now do have the benefit of knowing the 7 would be playing at Lavietes next March!
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 390
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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05-26-20 12:15 AM - Post#307899
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
How good a prospect do you think Wojcik is compared to Freedman and Nelson? Seems like you think there's a decent chance that, if there's a season this year, Nelson could win the starting PG job from the start?
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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05-26-20 02:54 PM - Post#307909
In response to mobrien
Freedman and Nelson are different players for sure. Freedman is a lot more pass first with a strong three-point shot. Nelson is certainly still a point guard, but a much more score-first type that's willing to get to the rim. Nelson's game feels a lot like Christian Juzang's, though there is definitely belief that he has the mentality of Siyani, which is something that this program has lacked since transitioning from Lin to Curry to Siyani.
If you think about the motion offense, you need the constant pressure to break the defense down and get good looks, so Nelson's game is a much better fit than Freedman's, which would seem better served for a "play-based" offense.
Wojcik seems a bit in between, though I don't know that much at this point. I've seen him mix it up inside a little more like Nelson would and throw some pinpoint passes like Freedman would.
To some extent, the key for all three will be how they can defend the position. Losing an amazing perimeter defender and a couple of strong rim protectors will likely put more emphasis on filling defensive gaps than optimizing the offense.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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06-07-20 07:36 PM - Post#308621
In response to mrjames
Harvard lands Bennett Pitcher. Just insane how ruthless this recruiting machine is.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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06-07-20 09:10 PM - Post#308624
In response to mrjames
Penn Board really liked him. Seemed like he could go outside league.
In article, Pitcher gives Amaker and coaches credit for his recruiting:
"He hadn't played AAU since after his freshman year and didn't receive his first basketball offer until Harvard offered him in February.
The Harvard coaching staff's initial belief in him and relationship built over time were big reasons for Pitcher's commitment.
“I love Coach (Tommy) Amaker, (Brian) Eskildsen, (Mike) Sotsky, (Donny) Guerinoni and every other member of the staff,†he said. “They are the people I feel most comfortable with and who I feel can lead to being a better play, but most importantly a better man."
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 390
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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06-07-20 11:42 PM - Post#308626
In response to mrjames
How high are you on Pitcher? Hard to get a read on him as a basketball prospect from the recruiting sites since they just have him for football. Although from the way 247 describes him, he sounds kind of Brodeur-like: strong post who can pass and shoot.
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SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6391
Reg: 11-22-04
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06-08-20 12:12 AM - Post#308627
In response to mrjames
Notice that he went to the team that offered him first.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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2021 Recruiting 06-08-20 09:57 AM - Post#308643
In response to SomeGuy
Suggests that the relationship has existed for a while, not just the first offer.
The Penn Board has been focusing on recruiting lately. Seems to me that Amaker gets involved early and with prospects that might have a unique story. For instance:
- Tommy started following Siyani in the 8th grade;
- Chris Lewis fractured his back during his junior year in high school and was considering MIT;
- Jeremy Lin was essentially minimized in recruiting despite awesome CA HS stats.
Wonder what drew Harvard to spend the time on Pitcher early. Was it after the football injury? Did Amaker see a switch in sports coming before others? Assume he must have. Pitcher still has no BB recruiting website exposure.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 06-08-20 09:58 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32685
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: 2021 Recruiting 06-08-20 10:07 AM - Post#308648
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Because Tommy has AAU people and pro scouts that report to him.
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Stuart Suss
PhD Student
Posts: 1439
Loc: Chester County, Pennsylva...
Reg: 11-21-04
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06-08-20 10:30 AM - Post#308650
In response to palestra38
Didn't Jeremy Lin commit to Harvard under Frank Sullivan, prior to Amaker's arrival?
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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2021 Recruiting 06-08-20 10:43 AM - Post#308652
In response to Stuart Suss
Thanks Stu, I stand corrected.
Pitcher didn’t play AAU since his freshman year.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 06-08-20 10:45 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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hoopsfan
Masters Student
Posts: 642
Reg: 12-26-04
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06-08-20 10:45 AM - Post#308654
In response to Stuart Suss
Yes Lin was recruited by and played his freshman year for Sullivan.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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06-08-20 12:39 PM - Post#308664
In response to mobrien
He's a massive get for Harvard. Ajogbor and Forbes are going to play around the rim, and Djuricic (or an Ivy four) can offset that with outside shooting next year. But after Djuricic graduates and Harvard will have lost two rim protectors that can shoot it in two years (Baker this year), it really needed to bring in a big that could shoot. He's going to make Harvard very hard to guard.
It'll be interesting to see what the recruiting services do with him now that they have to flip him to hoops. I'd see him in that 101-200 range. I don't think he'll end up being the best recruit in the Ivy 2021 class, but he'll be darn close.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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06-13-20 03:53 PM - Post#308955
In response to mrjames
And as per why I didn’t think Bennett Pitcher would be the top Ivy recruit... Louis Lesmond, a Top 75 shooting guard at 247/Scout, has committed to Harvard over a lot of schools including Big Ten and Big East programs.
Another massive get for Harvard... big, athletic shooting guard that can shoot it REALLY well.
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 390
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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06-13-20 11:52 PM - Post#308960
In response to mrjames
Wow, huge get. Is he the highest-rated recruit we've ever had going by 247's rankings?
Seems like we could maybe use another wing? We got Ledlum in 2019, Hemmings in 2020, and Lesmond in 2021, but could maybe use a little more depth there. Will be interesting if we're able to land Gabe Dorsey too. 247 only has his composite rating at 186, but the list of schools that have offered him (Gtown, Providence, Vandy, Tennessee, Xavier) implies he's better than that. Supposed to be another good three-point shooter.
In any case, it'd be impressive to get three commits this good, period, but to get them this early in the year is really impressive—not to mention how difficult it must be to recruit right now.
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