West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Any news about hill? I hope hill does not regret his decision to leave. It appears that d1 rosters are filling up quickly. The pressure to win is such that few d1 schools may want to invest since he has to sit a year. Wonder if nova se will throw him a lifeline in the summer? Lol

Hahahah!! You'd probably NEVER get him to admit THAT! I would imagine though that his sphincter is getting a little tight as he watches all the "seats at the D1 table" filling. Don't know what was going through his head when he decided to transfer but he needs to ignore that voice in the future!!

I would imagine he will catch on somewhere. Probably at another DII.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

We have a very interesting group coming in if you count Preston Boswell and McKinney into the mix. Has the look of a "traditional" basketball team if you ignore that all of them can drain the 3 (except McKinney). Imagine a team with a "starting 6" of:

C Devin Collin, 6'8"
PF Owen Hazelbaker, 6'7"
SF Bryce Butler, 6'4"
SG Preston Boswell, 6'2"
PG Evin Conley. 6'0"
SG/PG Malik McKinney, 6'2"

Add 6'7" redshirt freshman John Alesandro to the mix and you are looking what could be a pretty good team all by itself!

Would not be surprised to see Conley redshirt to get stronger or he will back up Luke. Luke has an elite level assist to turnover ratio and is a shutdown defender of opponents point guards. Other players should study his ability to stay in front of quicker players. Also is a pickpocket on defense against bigger players. Leads team in risk taking statistic. Really smart player.
Also would not be surprised to see hazelbaker redshirt. He is so smart it would really help his development and might still be growing. I wonder if Collins will contribute next year? I expect butler to see a lot of minutes.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Here is my shot at first platoon:
Pg Dyer
Sg bolon
Sg Boswell
Sf yoakum
Sf Moore

Second platoon
Sg butler
Sg McKinney
Sf Alessandro
Sf Collins?
Pg? Depending on development of Conley

Wonder if there are openings for more players this year? Undecided Recruits better realize that train is boarding now and getting ready to leave the station

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I agree. I never saw hill as a d1 player mainly due to his slight build and height. At wlu I actually saw him as a potential all American by his senior year with a shot in Europe since wlu plays eurostyle. Worst case for him is he winds up with dribble drive team that does not develop his skills for Europe or sits on bench of d1 team due to size.

[Sportsnut]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Probably his best path to playing in Europe would have been to stay at WL. As they say on TV, there will be no shoe contracts for him in the NBA so Europe is at least achievable.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Those recruits waiting on low to mid Major d1 offer with dreams of NBA instead of elite d2 team offer may regret it.
84% of players on NBA roster come from power 5 and big east conference.
Better shot at Europe with eurostyle team like wlu. No one will care in 5 years whether u played d1 or d2.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Collin's "retweeted" a post that said he had signed with WLU so I'd say that is as good as the school posting it!

Some quick hits on Collins:

Collin's was a first team All-WV performer this past year.

Most of the "services" and "showcases" say that he is a D1 level player (that's not surprising...seems like almost every player these "service" review are "D1 players!!").

Collin's was listed as a 5'11", 130 pounder as a freshman at Chapmanville HS.

Collins has apparently grown 4+ inches in the last year.

Collins posted about a Dr visit he had just had where the doc said he should top out at about 6'11".

His HS video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No8-swvxWac

IF he reaches 6'11" and adds about 30 pounds, he could be a DII unicorn! IF he JUST get's to 6'9" and ONLY adds 15 pounds, he could be the WLU version of a unicorn!!

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Oh...The irony is not lost on me!! And we didn't even have to go to Ohio or "basketball rich" Western PA to do it...He was right here in tiny old WV!!!!

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Those recruits waiting on low to mid Major d1 offer with dreams of NBA instead of elite d2 team offer may regret it.
84% of players on NBA roster come from power 5 and big east conference.
Better shot at Europe with eurostyle team like wlu. No one will care in 5 years whether u played d1 or d2.

Speaking of WLU playing a eurostyle and WLU players having a better shot at playing there as pros...I hear "WLU's Version of a Big Man" Seger Bonifant, just got selected as one of 4 finalists for "Small Forward Of The Year" in the German ProA League!

[Dirtybird]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

He is in a good situation to develop the areas for improvement in his game such as 9 for 29 threes (31%) and assist to turnover ratio <<1. Suspect he is a sg and not a pg. if so Conley is our only other pg besides Luke. Asking a lot for a freshman.

Boswell can definitely support the PG position as well as McKinney possibly, depending on where Conley is at and if there is a desire to red-shirt him.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Boswell can definitely support the PG position as well as McKinney possibly, depending on where Conley is at and if there is a desire to red-shirt him.

Not to downgrade the PG position with WLU because we are certainly better with one who plays at a high level, but when all five of your players on the court can do just about as good as a dedicated PG, the position line starts to blur. While they probably are not all star quality, WLU has a number of players (including Boswell and McKinney) that would be adequate PG's.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Not to downgrade the PG position with WLU because we are certainly better with one who plays at a high level, but when all five of your players on the court can do just about as good as a dedicated PG, the position line starts to blur. While they probably are not all star quality, WLU has a number of players (including Boswell and McKinney) that would be adequate PG's.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Collin's "retweeted" a post that said he had signed with WLU so I'd say that is as good as the school posting it!

Some quick hits on Collins:

Collin's was a first team All-WV performer this past year.

Most of the "services" and "showcases" say that he is a D1 level player (that's not surprising...seems like almost every player these "service" review are "D1 players!!").

Collin's was listed as a 5'11", 130 pounder as a freshman at Chapmanville HS.

Collins has apparently grown 4+ inches in the last year.

Collins posted about a Dr visit he had just had where the doc said he should top out at about 6'11".

His HS video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No8-swvxWac

IF he reaches 6'11" and adds about 30 pounds, he could be a DII unicorn! IF he JUST get's to 6'9" and ONLY adds 15 pounds, he could be the WLU version of a unicorn!!

Uh oh. Retweets are gone from his twitter...

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Uh oh. Retweets are gone from his twitter...

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Wonder if the guy who says he's D1 is some AAU weasel looking to enhance his all star gig resume. WLU would actually let him play outside and take 3's and would prepare him for Europe.
Does not have the body for the NBA. Hope my concern posted earlier is not coming true...
Funny thing is that elite D2 teams (like WLU, NWMissouri, Bellarmine, Queen's, IUP, etc.) would beat most low to mid major D1 teams. Some elite D2 teams can't get low-mid majors to play them in exhibition. Just look at some of the games that D2 teams have won against high majors.There is thread on it in the basketball general discussion forum of this site. Impressive, given the height that D2 generally concedes to D1 high majors.