Good to see someone posting something positive about LSU's basketball program... " + pageTitle + " More news on Johnny O'Bryant and perhaps some positive take on his impact early.
Johnny O'Bryant named McDonald's All American East Side’s O’Bryant picked for McDonald’s All-American Game | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger FYI: Game set for March 30 on ESPN at 9:00 PM
With LSU's continued struggles, there continues to be skuttlebutt that LSU is looking for an additional player in 2011 to sign. A lot of talk (much like I had suggested some time ago) that Trent should be prioritizing a point guard or at least an athletic guard who can come right in and help defend on the perimeter. Mystery continues to swirl what directions Trent is looking, but latest talk is that he's focusing his search on Point Guards, perhaps a JUCO. Here's the latest update on who is available... College Hoops Update Some rumors include LSU looking at former ISU signee, Chris Colvin, who may know Justin Hamilton at LSU. Seems like an athletic 6'3" high flyer that might be a very respectable pick up... but not sure if he's serious about LSU. To me a name that hasn't been out there that much, but seems intriguing is a kid, Xavier Roberson at Paris, TX JC. Houston kid who spent time at a Miss Prep school who was originally signed by TCU and now is doing pretty well at Paris. Kind of a combo guard, but 6-2, 200 pounds and can shoot the three. If you wanted a more mature body, that's someone LSU could look at, if you weren't necessarily feeling that John Isaac would be ready, and Stringer/Bass didn't bring all that a 2011 recruit could bring.
Found some nice video of Chris Colvin...Im not sure who he's playing against but he seem to have the ability to get in the lane pretty easy and he has some nice court vision! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8MhY2blF8"]YouTube - MidStateHoops.com Presents Chris Colvin[/ame] Another guy who has some good video and has LSU listed Josh Swan Josh Swan - Yahoo! Sports [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga7AO06XK7M"]YouTube - Josh Swan #23 SAT SCORE 23 GPA 89 23pts per game!!![/ame] Seems to be athletic and has pretty good vision.
Good point. I think there are a few folks "under the radar" that LSU is talking to, but aren't household names. I like what I see of Swan, and he's an Atlanta kid, which is also a key recruiting ground that LSU needs to keep it's finger on. Tough of course that Dennis Harris turned out the way he did. Swan's been getting pub for some time now (Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting - Future150 national camp wrap-up) but seemingly has dropped a little bit into obscurity. Here's the interesting thing. If 2011 needs a PG signing (and I contend it does), what do you make of Javan Felix in 2012? Do you take a kid like Colvin, Swan or Roberson, knowing that this likely affects how a kid like Javon Felix looks at LSU? I think that's why Trent is leaning towards (as much as he probably doesn't like it) a JUCO guy. What naysayers seem to forget about this delicate game we call recruiting is that it is VERY political--which AAU and high school coaches/programs do you buddy up to, what kids do you maybe take a flyer on knowing that you have to get someone in the door in order to have a shot at someone else. Once the non-sophisticated "fans" get this, hopefully there be less fire and brimstone around Trent's recruiting. Afterall, did Eddie Ludwig help with Matt D (remember, Brady/Butch had not signed a New Orleans recruit in how long)? Does a guy like Felix start to influence the thoughts of other very talented kids like Craig Victor (Craig Victor 2014 Basketball Recruiting Profile - ESPN)? Clearly, what Trent and his staff are trying to do (as they should) is get more tight with the key AAU and high school programs in the south. Offering scholarships isn't as easy as "just offer to them and they come". What annoys me to no end is folks that casually just assume that we should be signing McD AAs like Kentucky does. The key in building LSU's rep is a bricks and mortar effort with quality programs like St. Augustine, Riverside, Peabody, Glen Oaks, Houston programs, Dallas programs, Atlanta programs, Jackson MS AAU programs, etc. These kids aren't just going to "come to LSU" when they're choosing between all of the SEC schools and potentially ACC, Big 10 or Big East programs. So, what you do with a potential 2011 PG spot? I personally think that if any of these kids are better than Felix, or give you something you don't have now soon next year, you offer. We can't afford to wait and who knows if Felix is even enamoured with LSU. Felix seems to me a dependable PG but not necessarily a burner or a game changer. If you wanted to play it "safer" you offer a JUCO point guard who leaves room for Felix to grow into the program. LSU is also trying to land more touted point guards from TX, like J-Michael Reese and LJ Rose (which are long shots). I guess my point though, is it's not always so easy making these calls.
That's the question! I almost think Felix is a must get unless Trent finds another pg that's a complete home run. Felix has gotten the most pub from the pg spot in the state of La. since D.J. Aug (I cant remember anyone else off the top of my head) If we are having pg's problems and the best pg in the state heads elsewhere, people will really be calling for CTJ's head. I think Felix would be a nice pick up tho. From the articles out on him he doesn't seem to be a home run type pg but a safe one who will do a decent job of running a team. I'm still not ready to give up on Stringer. The guy is still young and lately his numbers haven't been great but you can see that he's trying to change from a scoring pg to a passing pg. He's taken less 3's (which I dont think he should abandon 3)and he's gotten into the lane a lot more the last half of the season.
I would agree with you on all accounts. Any time your "best" PG in your state picks up offers from many of your SEC West competition (note everyone that Felix has an offer from Ole Miss, Alabama), you'd really not want him to go. At the same time, what if he comes on board and our "LSU fans" don't see him on the court as the next Chris Jackson (and he's not)? I think folks lose sight of the patience sometimes that's required right now. I do think that PG is a very important position though, and you have sign a good one at least every 2 years. Case in point, do you think that Felix next year is better than Chris Bass? I think Chris Bass could clamp down on Felix and keep him from scoring and from penetrating. Felix has got a better shot than Chris Bass, but doesn't take a lot of shots. He's a distributor, which is great, but is going to be able to match up with some of these pretty quick SEC guards--Ellington, Releford? Is he better than Stringer--I'd probably say no, just a little bit of different PG. He's a pure, pass first point guard. Does he have the potential as a SO, JR, SR to be solid point in the SEC (sort of a 8-9 ppg, 4-5 apg) guy? Probably. But, with some of our fans, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you don't sign him, you're losing a grip on LA recruiting. If you do sign him, and he doesn't help immediately, Trent's not signing good enough players. I think we have to have patience, and above all else, sign the good (best) players in LA. I trust Trent to really look at that and determine what's best for his program. I think him signing Turner and Stringer in MS over the likes of Galloway, Brown, was a decent call. Let's just hope now that Felix, Gathers, Troy Jones, all value that LSU offer. I like our chances with Gathers, I'm not sure what Felix is thinking.
John Issac and his Pickering Red Devils won there distrtict championship, friday night and will be the 4 seed when the brackets offically come out. Riverside Academy will be the Number 1 seed in class 2A.
That could be a titanic match up in the semi-s with a 1-4 matchup. I really do hope that John Isaac gets the pub that he deserves. Here's a kid that was recruited by the likes of Texas, Kansas, and chose LSU early. He's been playing at a small school on a decent team, and really should be higher up on many of these "recruiting rags." He really could have a pretty big impact on the LSU team going forward too. He's also played AAU ball with Derenbecker and R. Gathers. Seems like Isaac could be doing some recruiting of Gathers as well.
I agree JI is vastly underated, but i think alot of that is due to his lack of AAU ball (hurt summer between 10th/11th) also due to the fact that he plays in such a small market. You are right in the fact that we could have a very interesting semifinal match-up, was hoping that they could run into each other in the finals, but should be interesting none the less.
