Interesting contrast, btw, if you look at Rivals' NEW top 150 for the class of 2010. Sure enough after the summer performances, we see a lot of movement... http://lsu.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=1909 Matt Derenbecker moves to the top of the LSU hit list (#71, 4 star) Andre Stringer holds at a 4 star at #93 Ralston Turner is a 3 star at #144. Other LA prospects? Shavon Coleman makes a big leap to #97 (4 star) Langston Galloway at #120 (3 star) Brian Williams at #127 (3 star) Not ranked is Markel Brown, but he's a 3 star, and based upon written evaluations at tourneys, many have Markel performing better than Galloway and Williams. Be careful, of course, as to how much you give these items credence. But, interestingly my priority list seems to fall in line with the Rivals' grading :grin:
Just to help stop the drought and also to add some fire to the M. Brown thing here is some youtube clips... One thing can be said is he is a super athlete and is highlight waiting to happen... With some good coaching could be a good pick up... If the rumors come ture YouTube - markel brown
Damn. How does MB have a 6 minute highlight reel, and Stringer, Derenbecker, etc. do not? :lol: The kid's got some pretty nice skills. The hops are definitely apparent (and how many simple lay-ups were dunks in that highlight reel?), but I'm actually impressed by his overall skill, dribble drive, hang in the air midrange jumper, and ability to defend. He's a little smaller than Turner at 6'3" ish, but his lateral quickness and hops are impressive.
I was thinking the same thing... If you punch them in Youtube Stringer has a 12 second clip of a nice past and of you punch in Louisiana Select you can find a clip of LS playing in the AAU in which they lost to a FL team. The clip has four highlights and only one was in favor of LS. It was Matt D passing the ball to Markel Brown for a baseline dunk!
:lol: You would have to ask... Honestly, what I can say is that I have not seen enough of Ralston Turner to make a fair assessment. I've seen tape of Turner on Rivals, but it's pretty damn poor tape of Turner hitting 5 jumpshots. We've got accounts from LSUBBall that Turner is an underrated athlete--but the knock against has been his "hunger" and his athleticism. On HS stats, he scored 20+ ppg and is a good shooter at 6'5", but shot around 38% from 3pt land (which in my mind is just a little bit above average for HS ball). When you read up on the guy in AAU tournaments, he gets passing marks but nothing jumps off the page--which leads me to conclude that he's just a solid recruit. Based upon the "tape", Markel Brown appears to be the more versatile choice, if not outright more impressive. Assuming that we do get Stringer, an out of sight shooting PG, to go along with Derenbecker who is also a great shooter (and remember Dotson will be here), I'm not so sure we need Ralston for his shooting and his height. Markel gives you an added dimension with his athleticism and his ability to break someone down off the dribble. Based upon his highlights anyway, you can also see a guy who can shoot and defend. He's a long 6'3", and by most accounts is actually better than Galloway, who has similar stature (even though he's ranked lower). Brown's upside with Trent's staff coaching, could also be higher--BUT the flipside is if the kid's too free wheeling, wants a "completely open" style and doesn't take well to Trent's offensive philosophy, Trent may lean to a Turner. I guess I lean a little bit to Markel, also b/c of the fact that the kid's from LA, Peabody, another LA "powerhouse" high school. Signing him puts another fence around the state (tells Butch hell no) and I think that Trent wants to have all of the major schools covered. If the rumors are true and Markel wants to be at LSU, I'd seriously consider giving the kid an offer. Then, it's a matter of who wants to be at LSU more, Turner or Brown. The question that we haven't asked though is should LSU be considering Shavon Coleman, as well? He's a 6'6" SF/SG who is athletic and can score. He's been getting a lot of pub, and moved quickly up the rankings. I'd like to see tape on him. :grin: BTW, I've got to think that Matt D. has some insight on this. He played with Markel on the LA Select team. In a few tourneys, the two them played well together and stood out on the team. :thumb: :geauxtige:geauxtige:geauxtige LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. BE A PART OF THE TRENT JOHNSON ERA.
the little i read said he's a poor shooter. i think its tough to put a 2 on the floor that cant shoot. gtemple was great but its all fresh in our minds the huge problems that can bring. if you have a 3 or 4 that can shoot it would take much of the handicap away, though. i dont follow bball recruiting nearly as much as most of you, but it seems that most good shooters were good by high school.
That's a good question! Let me start the answer by saying if either of those guys were committed to LSU at this point I'd be happy. On my scorecard I'm 49.9% for M. Brown and 50.1% for Turner. M. Brown is a crazy athlete and like Tiger pointed out he made some layups into dunks and you can just imagine how he'd have the PMAC rocking.He can score and seems to have a pretty good handle on defense. Also he's from Louisiana and I wish we could lock all LA recruits down. But I think CTJ goes after exactly what he want's. If I remember correctly M. Brown didn't even have an offer from LSU. That leads me to believe CTJ may not have felt that M. Brown would have fit into what he's teaching. If you look at the guys CTJ is really going after 2 of 3 things are said about everyone of them, They're smart, can shoot and has a good understanding of defense. Shooters smart players and it seems short quick pg's. Look at the roster from last year, the only above avg athlete we had was Chris Johnson and his numbers were a little down under CTJ. I don't think Taz has had more then 5 dunks in the 3 years he's played but he's known for his smarts and hustle and got better under CTJ. M. Thornton had a few dunks but all on fast breaks and it fair to say MT was an avg athlete but he's a smart player who could shoot and got a lot better under CTJ. Not to say that an athlete or M. Brown can't do well in CTJ system but I think CTJ is going to get more out of the type of player he want's which seems to be smart shooters. I said all that to say if we get M.Brown I'll smile if we get Turner I'll smile and show a little teeth!:LSU231:
All good points. At the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is CTJ's opinion. And, we're largely speculating since Markel was the first to commit and he did elsewhere. Trent must have seen something in Turner and what he could become. So, we will have to wait and see what Turner does. To be fair though, Markel scored 28+ points a game last year and he's a decent shooter. He got offers from Marquette, USC in addition to Oklahoma State and others. Turner has offers mostly from SEC schools, LSU, Bama, Ole Miss, Georgia. It's a pretty close call, depending on what kind of philosophy you have on the court.
