2021 Men's Basketball Recruiting Thread

[dukelifer]

ESPN Insider.

For those without it, Banchero has a high, high floor but lower ceiling than Holmgren.

AJ Griffin is a defensive beast with a solid shot but a poor handle. Griffin is also massive (7'2" wingspan).


My thoughts:
A Griffin/Moore defensive tandem could be incredible. A Banchero/Williams offensive tandem could be incredible.

Holmgren is a unicorn- his only issue is durability.

[scottdude8]

ESPN Insider.

For those without it, Banchero has a high, high floor but lower ceiling than Holmgren.

AJ Griffin is a defensive beast with a solid shot but a poor handle. Griffin is also massive (7'2" wingspan).


My thoughts:
A Griffin/Moore defensive tandem could be incredible. A Banchero/Williams offensive tandem could be incredible.

In the OAD era it's been a common refrain that our teams' offense is ready before its defense. Some years, that defense has never developed; others its taken some creativity (read the 2-3 zone). I'm going to go out on a limb a bit and say that this team has the highest defensive ceiling of any in the Duke OAD era (personally I consider this 2015 and onward, i.e. once we started adopting a multiple OADs per year recruiting strategy).

What's interesting is I think we could do this in a bit of an unconventional way. A lineup of Roach, Moore, Griffin, Banchero, and Williams might seem vulnerable in the traditional sense to smaller, quicker perimeter players. But people often forget that such a mismatch goes the other way too... the length and size of Moore and Griffin will likely challenge opposing guards. Anecdotally, what I've noticed in the last 5+ years is that when we've gotten beaten by this type of matchup, its often because our bigger defender has to play on his heels a bit, either because of our youth (help defense not yet having developed) or a lack of a rim protector. This year, with Mark (and also Paolo) patrolling the paint, I imagine Moore and Griffin could get the green light to play very high pressure D on whomever they're covering, which will allow them to fully utilize their length advantage. That might sometimes yield a blow-by, but anyone having to finish over Mark in the paint is going to have their work cut out for them.

The combination of our perimeter length and Mark down low could lead to a team that pressures the ball at a level we haven't seen in a while, which at minimum will help our 3 point defense and could yield a lot of turnovers and fast break opportunities. The question mark becomes whether Jeremy can improve his defense to the point where teams don't try to attack him, although I could envision a scenario where Wendell is tasked with guarding the opponent's No. 1 option, even if it is their PG, and Jeremy is given a less onerous task of defending a shooting specialist.

We're excited about the offensive potential that this team has, especially given what we've seen from Paolo. But let's not sleep on the defensive end. It might be a bit unconventional, but if we have a 2-3 inch height advantage and a 6 inch wingspan advantage at the 2-5 spots, that's going to be a nightmare for the opposition.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Here's a look at AJ Griffin highlights. That wingspan at 7'2" combined with his vertical and long strides, that is going to be fun to watch in the open floor and on defense. As long as he hits open jumpers and defends 2-4, he'll be a great, great addition to the roster. If he can do a little more than that, he'll be awesome.

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/sta...22692090961920

[JasonEvans]

Ummmm, apparently there is some buzz that Nolan Hickman, top 30 PG who was going to Kentucky but recently decommitted, may be talking to Duke. Hickman played really well at the Iverson Classic. Seems sorta strange to me and an awkward fit to our roster. How would Roach react to that?

[DavidBenAkiva]

Ummmm, apparently there is some buzz that Nolan Hickman, top 30 PG who was going to Kentucky but recently decommitted, may be talking to Duke. Hickman played really well at the Iverson Classic. Seems sorta strange to me and an awkward fit to our roster. How would Roach react to that?

That would be very interesting. Hickman supposedly wanted to play closer to his home in Washington State.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

That would be very interesting. Hickman supposedly wanted to play closer to his home in Washington State.

Unless my geography is way off, Duke is no closer to Washington state than Kentucky is.

[flyingdutchdevil]

That would be very interesting. Hickman supposedly wanted to play closer to his home in Washington State.

Could be an excuse given TyTy's imminent announcement to UK...

[DavidBenAkiva]

Paul Biancardi announced that Patrick Baldwin, Jr. is ready to make his college choice and he'll do so on SportsCenter on Wednesday, May 12th. at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.

https://twitter.com/PaulBiancardi/st...51759422955526

[arnie]

Paul Biancardi announced that Patrick Baldwin, Jr. is ready to make his college choice and he'll do so on SportsCenter on Wednesday, May 12th. at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.

https://twitter.com/PaulBiancardi/st...51759422955526

Is that 2021 or 2022?😡

[scottdude8]

Paul Biancardi announced that Patrick Baldwin, Jr. is ready to make his college choice and he'll do so on SportsCenter on Wednesday, May 12th. at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.

https://twitter.com/PaulBiancardi/st...51759422955526

Finally, (hopefully!) some closure!

Let me put my tin foil hat on for a second. ESPN doesn't offer every recruit the opportunity to commit live on air. Would they be more likely to do so if they thought that PBJ was going to commit to a big name school, i.e. us, and thus draw more eyeballs?

Or, taking the tin foil hat off, they've likely realized the social media attention that this somewhat odd recruitment has garnered and want to turn that into eyeballs, even if PBJ is going to play for his dad at UW Milwaukee.

It'll be nice to have some certainty about our roster one way or the other after tomorrow. I still posit we're a Top 10/National Title contending team without PBJ. With him we're more like a Top 5/National Title Favorite. Either one of those will make for a fun season.

[brlftz]

Finally, (hopefully!) some closure!

Let me put my tin foil hat on for a second. ESPN doesn't offer every recruit the opportunity to commit live on air. Would they be more likely to do so if they thought that PBJ was going to commit to a big name school, i.e. us, and thus draw more eyeballs?

That was my thought exactly - would ESPN really air the commitment from the newest member of the UW-Milwaukee recruiting class? It's possible, there certainly is a lot of interest, but I feel like maybe this is a good sign that they see another historic class taking shape.

[Duke79UNLV77]

Ummmm, apparently there is some buzz that Nolan Hickman, top 30 PG who was going to Kentucky but recently decommitted, may be talking to Duke. Hickman played really well at the Iverson Classic. Seems sorta strange to me and an awkward fit to our roster. How would Roach react to that?

I saw a prior article that Hickman was still actively recruiting Paolo to join him at Kentucky after Paolo committed to Duke, so it would be ironic if Hickman instead joined Paolo at Duke.

[JasonEvans]

That was my thought exactly - would ESPN really air the commitment from the newest member of the UW-Milwaukee recruiting class? It's possible, there certainly is a lot of interest, but I feel like maybe this is a good sign that they see another historic class taking shape.

ESPN does not know who he is picking and did not ask. They are airing this because it is of interest to college hoops fans. Any top 10 recruit who wants to announce on ESPN, they let him announce. Whether he picks a blue blood like Duke or a smaller school is irrelevant to ESPN.

[BigWayne]

That was my thought exactly - would ESPN really air the commitment from the newest member of the UW-Milwaukee recruiting class? It's possible, there certainly is a lot of interest, but I feel like maybe this is a good sign that they see another historic class taking shape.

Having Duke in the mix makes it newsworthy either way.

[DavidBenAkiva]

That was my thought exactly - would ESPN really air the commitment from the newest member of the UW-Milwaukee recruiting class? It's possible, there certainly is a lot of interest, but I feel like maybe this is a good sign that they see another historic class taking shape.

Tin foil hat theory: one of the three finalist schools is going to be on ESPN a lot next season. The other two include a team that will primarily be on FS1 and then a third on ESPN+ a few times here and there.

That being said, I just find it hard to believe he doesn't play for his own father if he includes UW-Milwaukee among his three finalists.

[Owen Meany]

Hickman is from Washington, so I googled Banchero and Hickman. One of the first matches was "Hickman continues to recruit Banchero" (after his commitment to Duke) on the Sea of Blue (Kentucky) website. There was a thread on the forum of how hilarious it would be if Banchero decommitted from Duke.

Hickman on continuing to recruit Banchero to Kentucky after his Duke committment “You know, I’m working on that. That’s my guy.”

I posted the above when Hickman decommitted, just in case the tables turned and he was recruited to Duke. I can't remember the specifics now or where this tweet was posted, so you can take this with a grain of salt, but someone I had never heard of (but who has supposedly provided good info in the past) suggested that Duke was going to unexpectedly sign a top point guard in the next couple of weeks. Since Banchero was from Washington, and Tyty didn't appear to be Duke bound, I looked up Hickman. That is when I found the info above about Hickman recruiting Banchero to Kentucky. Hickman and Banchero are friends, they played against each other in high school at some point (highlights on youtube).

Kentucky seemed to be caught quite off-guard by the move (Askew had entered the portal and this was before they got Tyty Washington). BUT, Hickman's dad said this on Zagsblog "Honestly, we don’t even have a plan, but I assume (he’ll want to stay home). If I had to say anything, he would probably be staying close to home. I don’t know if it’ll be at home or how far he’ll go, but it’ll probably have to be a straight flight wherever he is for us to reach him, for sure.” These do not seem to be the comments of someone who thinks their son could possibly transfer to a school on the East Coast, so while I was curious if we might hear more (particularly given the reaction of Kentucky fans), I really didn't (and still don't) think it was likely.

[MCFinARL]

Is that 2021 or 2022?😡

I think he is going to come on just after Tony Parker finishes his announcement show--so, 2025.

[jimsumner]

I think he is going to come on just after Tony Parker finishes his announcement show--so, 2025.

Talk about much ado about not too much.

[SouthernDukie]

He's coming here. Take it to the bank.


*Note I didn't identify "He's" nor "here". Still, I do feel good about getting at least one of the two guys being talked about in this thread today.

[phaedrus]

He's coming here. Take it to the bank.


*Note I didn't identify "He's" nor "here". Still, I do feel good about getting at least one of the two guys being talked about in this thread today.

I really like it here (the East Side of Milwaukee), but I hope he (Baldwin) goes somewhere else.