West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Diallo article in feb 2019 had him at 226 lbs - still not huge but photos look bigger than 200

akok akok is really thin- he could hide behind a broom

Imho he has edge over hunter of nova in jumping ability and also has very long arms. Equal in shooting threes and ball handling based on highlights.

Since weight is not a disqualifying factor maybe for hunter there was a relationship with st. Crutch and it is close to home. Interested to see him play. he might red shirt as nova already has a pre-season first team all American and 4 d1 transfers.

Hunter to Nova could be for many reasons, good or bad. I just find it curious that a 6-10 guy who can run, shoot and handle the ball would take the DII route when D1's obviously value guys with his size and skill set.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Diallo article in feb 2019 had him at 226 lbs - still not huge but photos look bigger than 200

akok akok is really thin- he could hide behind a broom

Imho he has edge over hunter of nova in jumping ability and also has very long arms. Equal in shooting threes and ball handling based on highlights.

Since weight is not a disqualifying factor maybe for hunter there was a relationship with st. Crutch and it is close to home. Interested to see him play. he might red shirt as nova already has a pre-season first team all American and 4 d1 transfers.

Freshmen are (usually) 18 years old. Most are skin and bones. It's all what they can project. Two years from now he could easily be 6'10" and 225-230 lbs. Seems based on the current roster he'll sit out this season anyway so he'll have a year to develop and practice.

[Columbuseer]

To your second point, just from FL the following very thin forwards signed with D1's:

CJ Walker, 6-8, 200, from Orlando signed with Oregon
Jesse Edwards, 6-11, 205, IMG Academy signed with Stanford
John Ojiako, 6-10, 190, St Petersburg signed with VA Tech

Just looking at a couple of Florida D1:

UCF offered 6-10, 195 Isiaha Todd of Releigh NC
FAU offered 6-9, 190 Drew Pember of Knoxsville TN
USF offered 6-10, 190 Akok Akok of Putnum CT as well as 7-0, 200 Ibrahima Diallo or Nappa CA

Point is, bigs that are his stature and weight get D1 offers all the time.

To your third point, yes, WLU and perhaps now Nova are indeed a path to Europe. But I speculate that there are still more former D1 players playing over there than there are former DII's.

But what ever the reason, he is at Nova and I would think Crutch would find a way to use him and/or find a way to fix whatever holes are in his game.

Diallo article in feb 2019 had him at 226 lbs - still not huge but photos look bigger than 200

akok akok is really thin- he could hide behind a broom

Imho he has edge over hunter of nova in jumping ability and also has very long arms. Equal in shooting threes and ball handling based on highlights.

Since weight is not a disqualifying factor maybe for hunter there was a relationship with st. Crutch and it is close to home. Interested to see him play. he might red shirt as nova already has a pre-season first team all American and 4 d1 transfers.

[Columbuseer]

To your second point, just from FL the following very thin forwards signed with D1's:

CJ Walker, 6-8, 200, from Orlando signed with Oregon
Jesse Edwards, 6-11, 205, IMG Academy signed with Stanford
John Ojiako, 6-10, 190, St Petersburg signed with VA Tech

Just looking at a couple of Florida D1:

UCF offered 6-10, 195 Isiaha Todd of Releigh NC
FAU offered 6-9, 190 Drew Pember of Knoxsville TN
USF offered 6-10, 190 Akok Akok of Putnum CT as well as 7-0, 200 Ibrahima Diallo or Nappa CA

Point is, bigs that are his stature and weight get D1 offers all the time.

To your third point, yes, WLU and perhaps now Nova are indeed a path to Europe. But I speculate that there are still more former D1 players playing over there than there are former DII's.

But what ever the reason, he is at Nova and I would think Crutch would find a way to use him and/or find a way to fix whatever holes are in his game.

Good find boat! Never realized there were so many thin bigs over 6-8!
d2s in Europe is a minority but an impressive percentage imho at about 25-30% of Americans if memory serves me correctly. Europe not into dribble drive iso game so d1 or d2 school that is based on 1 on 1 dribble drive is probably not a good choice for non nba player.

[boatcapt]

Some speculative reasons for not going d1:
1. Late bloomer- some sites said he was 6-8. Maybe a late growth spurt.
2 not physically strong enough for D1 PF. 6-10 and 207 lbs is very thin.
3. Knows his future is in Europe. Nova or wlu are good places to prepare for that style.

He can shoot the three and is solid passer and ball handler and runs the floor which is what st. Crutch wants. Great fit for his style.

There are senior highlights on maxpreps that indicate he is a good fit.

To your second point, just from FL the following very thin forwards signed with D1's:

CJ Walker, 6-8, 200, from Orlando signed with Oregon
Jesse Edwards, 6-11, 205, IMG Academy signed with Stanford
John Ojiako, 6-10, 190, St Petersburg signed with VA Tech

Just looking at a couple of Florida D1:

UCF offered 6-10, 195 Isiaha Todd of Releigh NC
FAU offered 6-9, 190 Drew Pember of Knoxsville TN
USF offered 6-10, 190 Akok Akok of Putnum CT as well as 7-0, 200 Ibrahima Diallo or Nappa CA

Point is, bigs that are his stature and weight get D1 offers all the time.

To your third point, yes, WLU and perhaps now Nova are indeed a path to Europe. But I speculate that there are still more former D1 players playing over there than there are former DII's.

But what ever the reason, he is at Nova and I would think Crutch would find a way to use him and/or find a way to fix whatever holes are in his game.

[Columbuseer]

I'd never question Crutch on recruting, bbbuuutttt, the 6-10 guy has me wondering. If he is truely capable of running, shooting from 3 range and handling the basketball as Crutch demands of all his players, I wonder why he didn't get any D1 offers? Bigs that can do all this are a coveted comodity even at the D1 level so the fact that he went to a DII, even one that is on the rise like Nova, makes me wonder what the issue is/was that seemingly scared off D1's from him. There are plenty of D1's even just in Florida that would seemingly love to have a big that can run, shoot and handle the ball. I mean St Thomas is a top HS program so it's hard to imagine that he didn't have more than his fair share of D1 scouts who saw him play and apparently passed on him.

But as I said, I'm not questoning Crutch's evaluation of him as a DII "purple squirrel!"

Some speculative reasons for not going d1:
1. Late bloomer- some sites said he was 6-8. Maybe a late growth spurt.
2 not physically strong enough for D1 PF. 6-10 and 207 lbs is very thin.
3. Knows his future is in Europe. Nova or wlu are good places to prepare for that style.

He can shoot the three and is solid passer and ball handler and runs the floor which is what st. Crutch wants. Great fit for his style.

There are senior highlights on maxpreps that indicate he is a good fit.

[boatcapt]

I'd never question Crutch on recruting, bbbuuutttt, the 6-10 guy has me wondering. If he is truely capable of running, shooting from 3 range and handling the basketball as Crutch demands of all his players, I wonder why he didn't get any D1 offers? Bigs that can do all this are a coveted comodity even at the D1 level so the fact that he went to a DII, even one that is on the rise like Nova, makes me wonder what the issue is/was that seemingly scared off D1's from him. There are plenty of D1's even just in Florida that would seemingly love to have a big that can run, shoot and handle the ball. I mean St Thomas is a top HS program so it's hard to imagine that he didn't have more than his fair share of D1 scouts who saw him play and apparently passed on him.

But as I said, I'm not questoning Crutch's evaluation of him as a DII "purple squirrel!"

[Columbuseer]

Sunahara hasn't played a college game yet. I'd go easy on the 'great' comments. Strong potential, yes.

Preseason polls are basically curses.

[Columbuseer]

Sunahara hasn't played a college game yet. I'd go easy on the 'great' comments. Strong potential, yes.

Preseason polls are basically curses.

Your point on sunahara is well taken. It was more of a prediction. My comment was based on watching him play in the Canton Akron am pro league against ex d1 players many of whom are playing outside USA. Smart player with great athletic skills, strong rebounder and can slash to the rim and dunk over you. Very high motor. Not intimidated by bigger, stronger players. Was unselfish too. I thought he was most complete player on his team but his teammates did not share the ball with him enough. Got newcomer award in the league.

Will wait to see if my assessment is anywhere close to accurate.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Same publication had dalton bolon 1st team All American.

I think we will need to be patient with wlu. A lot of new players. Our bigs ( over 6-5) are young and we are playing teams with very good big men. But the potential is there.

In 2 seasons St. crutch has his team at #2. Impressive! Sunahara is a great player and Schneider transferred from d1 ( son of a great wv high school basketball player, Jeff Schneider)

Sunahara hasn't played a college game yet. I'd go easy on the 'great' comments. Strong potential, yes.

Preseason polls are basically curses.

[Columbuseer]

One publication has WL preseason #7. That's probably fair. Had the other suspects in the Top 10, Bellarmine, NW Mo St, and had Nova Southeastern #2 preaseason.

Quite a quick rebuild from St. Crutch down there!

Same publication had dalton bolon 1st team All American.

I think we will need to be patient with wlu. A lot of new players. Our bigs ( over 6-5) are young and we are playing teams with very good big men. But the potential is there.

In 2 seasons St. crutch has his team at #2. Impressive! Sunahara is a great player and Schneider transferred from d1 ( son of a great wv high school basketball player, Jeff Schneider)

[IUP Extra Mile]

One publication has WL preseason #7. That's probably fair. Had the other suspects in the Top 10, Bellarmine, NW Mo St, and had Nova Southeastern #2 preaseason.

Quite a quick rebuild from St. Crutch down there!

[Columbuseer]

If you haven't seen Shaw's gym it is pretty unique. It's a shoebox. Very claustrophobic and tight.

They beat East Stroudsburg down there last year. Of course, they had Amir Hinton, too.

I think the last time we played was at WLU in Regional Semifinal in 2011 when WLU was 30-0 and #1 in country. WLU won 98-93 versus a very talented Shaw team.
Here is a great 30 second highlight of unselfish play in the Shaw game. I have not seen this in AAU games that I have watched.LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgIAu16kMDI

Note that Pelle #11 blocked the shot and then immediately hustled down the floor to deliver the last pass to Faulk for the layup! Great defense to offense transition. A typical AAU player would have gestured to the crowd after the blocked shot.and would have been a non-factor in the fast break.

Alex Faulk later became national player of the year. He is now a physician's assistant.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting schedule for Nov Tournament games at Shaw in Raleigh NC
Host Shaw plays on Friday Night
West Lib plays Mansfield Saturday. Then West Lib plays Shaw on Sunday.
Have not seen a 24 hour home field advantage between games before. LOL

Any suggestions on how the Shaw team should spend their Saturday? Maybe...
1) Group Hypnosis to forget AAU ball tendencies?
2) Church?
3) Spend day breathing pure oxygen to get ready for Sunday?

Just kidding. It should be a challenging game.

If you haven't seen Shaw's gym it is pretty unique. It's a shoebox. Very claustrophobic and tight.

They beat East Stroudsburg down there last year. Of course, they had Amir Hinton, too.

[Columbuseer]

Interesting schedule for Nov Tournament games at Shaw in Raleigh NC
Host Shaw plays on Friday Night
West Lib plays Mansfield Saturday. Then West Lib plays Shaw on Sunday.
Have not seen a 24 hour home field advantage between games before. LOL

Any suggestions on how the Shaw team should spend their Saturday? Maybe...
1) Group Hypnosis to forget AAU ball tendencies?
2) Church?
3) Spend day breathing pure oxygen to get ready for Sunday?

Just kidding. It should be a challenging game.