Wednesday Links

by Ben Broman on May 6, 2009 4:06 PM EDT Comment 19 comments

It's been a long time since we've done a links story. I feel the nostalgia of the UVA game rushing back to me already.

This has already made some rounds around the 'net, but De nnis Dodd of CBS Sports had a great interview with Fridge. Yes, he's losing weight and is on a diet, but it's a great read even outside of that. In it, he pimps Kevin Dorsey as the next Darrius Heyward-Bey. He also pokes fun at JoePa, which is always good to read.
Pat Stevens of the Times has five offseason storylines to follow. He does mention that DeShawn Painter could possibly be on his way (not like inside information, just in passing), and I figure this time is as good as any other: I'm really not a Painter fan, and I'm not all that excited about possibly landing him. There, it's off my chest.
Matt Bracken has a nice recap of the 2011 game at the I-95 Challenge. Grandy Glaze looks like a great prospect, though he could end up going national - he's from Canada and will live there in the summer, so his ties to the area aren't that strong. Outside of that, none of the prospects he talks about really excite me, at least not yet.
The WaPo has an uplifting writeup on former Terp Edwin Williams, who's parents were crack addicts (and Edwin was born one himself). Was this news ever broken before now, because I really don't remember it?

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Glad you aren't in charge

Painter is exactly the kind of recruit we need to fill out our big men

Let’s take a look at what we have:

JWill- a solid 5, limited athletically, limited in any ability to step back from the hoop

Padget- a solid 4, limited athletically, banger inside, good rebounder, no ability to step back

Now let’s look at what painter brings:

He’s 6’9’’ meaning he could play either the 4 or the 5…has range out to 15-20 feet on the midrange, was a top 20 player as a sophmore and then leveled off….VERY athletic leaper…will be a shot blocking presence from day one…and maybe gary is the guy to get him back to where he was relative to everyone else when he was a sophomore

so not only does he bring something that none of the other two big guys we have locked up right now bring (i.e. leaping ability and midrange game)…but he has elite potential (most believe he has more upside than even JWill)

Add to that, that we lost 2 big guys and badly need at least one more big for next year (meaning we are likely to burn a scholie on a juco if we don’t land painter)

Add to that—he’s a consensus top 150 recruit—4 star guy

Add to that—JWill has not yet qualified with the NCAA

It’s a no brainer…don’t see the downside…

I’m assuming you want to save the ship for 2010…well I think you make two mistakes:

1) you overestimate our chances with guys in the 2010 class
2) you underestimate how good Painter can be…remember, Florida toook the kid…and as soon as he decommitted, three acc schools were all over him.

by tiimbitz4786 on May 6, 2009 4:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Jordan

I’m pretty sure Jordan Williams has passed through both the NCAA and the University’s clearinghouse

by Ben Goldstein on May 6, 2009 7:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Incorrect

He has been admitted to the university but is still at least a month a way from becoming qualified

by tiimbitz4786 on May 6, 2009 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Incorrect...kinda

His grades are definitely good enough to get through. I don’t know if they wait to make the official announcements till a certain time, but according to him, he’s qualified through everything.

by Ben Broman on May 7, 2009 10:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

exactly...i'm not expecting any problems

but he is not through clearinghouse yet…

so until he is…let’s not play dumb…we have ships…lets add another big as an insurance policy in case the unthinkable happens so we aren’t screwed a la gus gilchrest last year and have no inside presence yet again

by tiimbitz4786 on May 8, 2009 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't see him as a type of guy who can really help out

True, he’s athletic, but he has work ethic issues and attitude problems. When a guy drops from 20 to 130, that should signal that there’s a serious problem. Guys with work ethic issues generally don’t see PT with Gary. I guess I just can’t wrap my head around that gigantic fall – it sets a huge red flag off on my head.

If it were up to me, I would focus on landing a 2010 recruit, because we have some serious momentum there right now and some top prospects on our board. Not to mention the roster planning issues of taking three bigs in one class. I know the odds are that at least one will transfer or get hurt anyway, and we’re losing a lot of bigs this year, but it’s still counter-intuitive to me.

But like you said, I’m not in charge. I won’t complain if we get him, as we could do a lot worse. He’s just not keeping me up at night with excitement (and yes, some recruits do that).

by Ben Broman on May 6, 2009 11:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well i think the first rule of recruiting is

one definite yes now is better than twenty maybes in the future

you take guys with talent who want to pop…painter fits the description…end of story…

by tiimbitz4786 on May 7, 2009 1:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Scouting sites

should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s not his fault that scouts overrated him during his junior year because they haven’t seen the really good players yet.

I don’t think it’s an issue with work ethic. He just was never really that good.

by a778999 on May 7, 2009 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly...just b/c your rating doens't go down...doesn't mean you have work ethic issues

Here’s how it works…scouting agencies are constantly scouting players all over the country…they try to get a look at a player when he’s a soph, or a freshman and they give him a grade based on how they think he will progress

in Painter’s case, he just didn’t blossom as expected…that could be a variety of issues, not the least of which could be bad coaching, family issues etc. etc….

you really can’t gauge a kid’s work ethic in high school either b/c nobody is putting in the work they will have to put in on gary’s team…if he really is lazy…he’ll be a short stay at maryland and we’ll have our ship back before you know it…

by tiimbitz4786 on May 7, 2009 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

should read "just b/c your rating goes down" *

by tiimbitz4786 on May 7, 2009 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good to hear the Bossman

is droppin some weight! That guy had more pork than BO’s stimulus package! LOL But i also disagree on Deshawn. He’s obviously seeing alot of heavy heat from schools. We’re not the only school pullin him. Thats enough for me. I dont know about you, but with Dino, Jordan, James, and Deshawn we’d be set for years. That four 4 star players I’m content with that, now just go get some dirty guards and TR was a very good start!

"M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D Maryland Will Win!"

by FEARtheTERP1 on May 6, 2009 6:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Edwin Williams

His parents didn’t die. Yanda quotes them in the story. They’ve been sober for 17 and 20 years, mom and dad respectively. But they were both exposed to cocaine in the womb, and lived without them for a few years.

by squirrely on May 6, 2009 8:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

D'oh

My bad. Mistype there.

by Ben Broman on May 6, 2009 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's Pretty Obvious

Painter would obviously be a huge sign for our 2009 recruiting class. If GV and Lance both don’t come we will lose a lot of scoring. I feel like people are content with having a terrible year next year as long as in 2010 we are really good. I disagree with this thought process.

by rmill on May 7, 2009 12:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Which people would be content with a "terrible year"?

Sounds like you’re assuming people who want to focus on the 2010 class don’t care about next year’s team. That’s not a fair assumption. The fact is that this late in the game, it’s not really a choice. There really isn’t much left out there. We’ve had late signings pay off (Osby) but more that didn’t bear fruit (Goins, Sterling Ledbetter come to mind). Besides, even without GV, I find it really hard to imagine us being “terrible”. The ACC will be down next year and we’ll be one of the more experienced teams. Out of the current roster, I expect at minimum Mosley and Hayes to step up their scoring, and Padgett and Williams to provide more inside punch than we’ve had.

All that said, I don’t mind going after Painter – the upside is there, we have some scholarship leeway, and it would be nice to have one more frontcourt option. If GV leaves and Painter comes, that might free up Milbourne to play more at the 3, where I think he would thrive offensively.

by jellisjenius on May 7, 2009 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

also...painter would be our best recruit of the class...

so i really just don’t understand the no-painter point of view

let’s face it…gary needs bigs….that’s when the flex thrives…and a big who can play inside out like painter is hard to come by…

plus we are not getting tobias harris people…so just move on

by tiimbitz4786 on May 7, 2009 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How do Figure?

How do figure that ACC is going to be down this year?

by rmill on May 10, 2009 7:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If you are talking bball i believe it is apparent

that we will have better standing in the conference this year

unc loses the house with ellington, hansborough, lawson all going pro (danny greene too?)

duke loses gerald henderson

wake loses james johnson, and I would think that teague is following

boston college loses tyrese rice

miami loses mcclinton

i imagine tony douglass is going pro

and that’s just the guys i can rattle off the top of my head that are going…miami becomes cupcake city, unc and duke get knocked down a peg, and we are in much better shape than wake

my sleepr in the acc however is gtech…if paul hewitt can ever be 1/10th the coach that gary is, that team could win 25 games with the talent they have with their incoming class

by tiimbitz4786 on May 11, 2009 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs