Zagoria article

Quote from: Not The Sleaveless Guy on July 08, 2010, 07:09:21 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on July 08, 2010, 04:00:46 PM

Great job NTSG!

Jared Grasso is at Hoop Group Elite as per his twitter

"Last Day @ HGE...players and coaches deserve credit for fighting through the heat this week!! And the grind continues...no stone unturned!! "

Lavin is now wearing a bright red St. John's shirt and sitting front row with Tony Chiles for Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner---occasionally looking over at Jahii Carson.
Nick played great this afternoon.

Ive only seen clips of Nick Johnson, but damn this kid would be nice.  Looks like an impact player, right away imo. What are yoour thoughts on him ?

Immediate impact player here
At a UNC or Kansas, for example, a rotation player as a freshman
Playing at Findlay has taken his game to another level.

Jahii Carson would be a great upgrade, but, if we ever had a choice, I'd opt for Josiah Turner at this point
Frankly, we could take both and run a 3 out/2 in offense

NTSG, sorry for all the questions-but youre on point this July! Great stuff as usual!

Would those 3 players(Johnson,Carson,Turner), be immediate impact players in Big East play-or more for our young 2011 team?

NTSG, sorry for all the questions-but youre on point this July! Great stuff as usual!

Would those 3 players(Johnson,Carson,Turner), be immediate impact players in Big East play-or more for our young 2011 team?

I think all three could eventually start at any program in our conference and would immediately start at the majority of them.
I spoke for a while with Josiah Turner. He's going to be deciding by the end of the summer and is not worried about distance, but my gut feeling is that Saint John's is a long shot at this point. I think they got in too late and he's got a lot of quality offers.

Quote from: Marco Baldi on July 08, 2010, 04:00:46 PM

Great job NTSG!

Jared Grasso is at Hoop Group Elite as per his twitter

"Last Day @ HGE...players and coaches deserve credit for fighting through the heat this week!! And the grind continues...no stone unturned!! "

Lavin is now wearing a bright red St. John's shirt and sitting front row with Tony Chiles for Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner---occasionally looking over at Jahii Carson.
Nick played great this afternoon.

I believe it was Dave Telep who said (paraphrase), "Nick Johnson and Jabari Brown were on fire today." 

Once again, thanks for the updates, Sleaveless One.

Quote from: Not The Sleaveless Guy on July 08, 2010, 07:09:21 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on July 08, 2010, 04:00:46 PM

Great job NTSG!

Jared Grasso is at Hoop Group Elite as per his twitter

"Last Day @ HGE...players and coaches deserve credit for fighting through the heat this week!! And the grind continues...no stone unturned!! "

Lavin is now wearing a bright red St. John's shirt and sitting front row with Tony Chiles for Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner---occasionally looking over at Jahii Carson.
Nick played great this afternoon.

I believe it was Dave Telep who said (paraphrase), "Nick Johnson and Jabari Brown were on fire today." 

Once again, thanks for the updates, Sleaveless One.

Lavin is here solo for the Nick Johnson/Josiah Turner game. Their team is winning big and therefore they'll advance to the Championship game.

I think St. John's has more of a shot with Nick Johnson than Josiah Turner.
He's the camp joker, but he's serious on the court. NJ said he'll take all five visits and noticed Lavin watching his games.

I think St. John's has more of a shot with Nick Johnson than Josiah Turner.
He's the camp joker, but he's serious on the court. NJ said he'll take all five visits and noticed Lavin watching his games.

Nick Johnson is the joker?

It seems that he's mentioned St. John's a number of times in the past few months.  Keep the info coming, NTSG, thanks.

I think St. John's has more of a shot with Nick Johnson than Josiah Turner.
He's the camp joker, but he's serious on the court. NJ said he'll take all five visits and noticed Lavin watching his games.

I also have a feeling that we are in better shape with Nick Johnson than Josiah Turner.  As, peter said....  Johnson has mentioned the Johnnies a handful of times over the past month.  So, there seems to be more interest on his part than Turner.

Nevertheless, I like the fact we are in Jahii Carson's top 5.

Quote from: Not The Sleaveless Guy on July 09, 2010, 10:48:59 AM

I think St. John's has more of a shot with Nick Johnson than Josiah Turner.
He's the camp joker, but he's serious on the court. NJ said he'll take all five visits and noticed Lavin watching his games.

Nick Johnson is the joker?

It seems that he's mentioned St. John's a number of times in the past few months.  Keep the info coming, NTSG, thanks.

Definitely, he's the resident comedian at the camp. It helps that five guys on the Oakland Soldiers made the camp.
I liked the fact that he wouldn't let the Kentucky crew, which are notorious for trying to get kids to say positive things about Kentucky, the wonders of the dribble-drive offense, and now John Wall, get what they wanted. He said he was going to punish the schools that haven't offered and it was too late for new ones to get involved. Distance is not a factor.

Jabari said Lavin called him last week. Hinds told him that he crossed Saint John's off of the list after they fired Norm Roberts and that he wanted to go away for school. Lavin asked him to give the school another shot and come over for a face-to-face visit and tour. He said he'd think about it and go, if he could fit it in. Personally, I think it's safe to cross him off at this point. He said Cimmino will be the point man on his recruitment.

Quote from: peter on July 09, 2010, 10:57:18 AM

Quote from: Not The Sleaveless Guy on July 09, 2010, 10:48:59 AM

I think St. John's has more of a shot with Nick Johnson than Josiah Turner.
He's the camp joker, but he's serious on the court. NJ said he'll take all five visits and noticed Lavin watching his games.

Nick Johnson is the joker?

It seems that he's mentioned St. John's a number of times in the past few months.  Keep the info coming, NTSG, thanks.

Definitely, he's the resident comedian at the camp. It helps that five guys on the Oakland Soldiers made the camp.
I liked the fact that he wouldn't let the Kentucky crew, which are notorious for trying to get kids to say positive things about Kentucky, the wonders of the dribble-drive offense, and now John Wall, get what they wanted. He said he was going to punish the schools that haven't offered and it was too late for new ones to get involved. Distance is not a factor.

Jabari said Lavin called him last week. Hinds told him that he crossed Saint John's off of the list after they fired Norm Roberts and that he wanted to go away for school. Lavin asked him to give the school another shot and come over for a face-to-face visit and tour. He said he'd think about it and go, if he could fit it in. Personally, I think it's safe to cross him off at this point. He said Cimmino will be the point man on his recruitment.

Johnson sounds better and better everyday. Hinds has IONA on his short list, go figure.

Definitely, he's the resident comedian at the camp. It helps that five guys on the Oakland Soldiers made the camp.
I liked the fact that he wouldn't let the Kentucky crew, which are notorious for trying to get kids to say positive things about Kentucky, the wonders of the dribble-drive offense, and now John Wall, get what they wanted. He said he was going to punish the schools that haven't offered and it was too late for new ones to get involved. Distance is not a factor.

Jabari said Lavin called him last week. Hinds told him that he crossed Saint John's off of the list after they fired Norm Roberts and that he wanted to go away for school. Lavin asked him to give the school another shot and come over for a face-to-face visit and tour. He said he'd think about it and go, if he could fit it in. Personally, I think it's safe to cross him off at this point. He said Cimmino will be the point man on his recruitment.

I liked the fact that Johnson isn't enamored with UK like many other blue-chippers.  Good for you, Nick! 

So, I guess he's gonna focus on his current list of schools and go from there, huh, Sleaveless One?  As, Baldi said....  Johnson sounds better and better!  I've seen enough YouTube videos of Johnson and heard enough rave reviews to know that I'd love to have him don a Johnnies jersey.

I'm glad the staff is staying on Jabari Brown.  Hopefully, the staff can really make some inroads on Brown and we become a viable option when it's time for him to narrow down his choices.  Get him in on an official visit and I'd start to feel more comfortable.

As, far as Hinds....  It seems we're on some other (and, even more) talented point guards and if, he feels more comfortable with another school....  Then, good luck to him.

Once again....  Good stuff, Sleaveless One!   

I couldn't talk with Jakarr Sampson, but, through a connection, I spoke with someone who knows him very, very well. He said Sampson is serious about St. John's. Initially, his people wanted him to go to a close, small, Catholic school like Xavier or Dayton, where he wouldn't fall through the cracks academically over a large, state school like Ohio State. Then, he blew up this spring and many more suitors came into the picture. He's still got academic work to do to get qualified, but, in the end, they think he'll qualify. Frankly, the person said they think that if he commits relatively early, the program he chooses can help him get qualified. The schools that Jakarr told him, as of yesterday, are Ohio St., Dayton, Michigan St., Southern Cal, Cincy, Xavier, St. John's, and Louisville. A long-time midwestern scout, who didn't want to be mentioned, thinks that the kid has long-term pro potential as a 3.

  Thanks for sharing all your insight NTSG!  Being someone who has no interest in researching all these guys,  its very cool that you are making it so easy for us keep up with what is going down.  Big Props to you!

  Thanks for sharing all your insight NTSG!  Being someone who has no interest in researching all these guys,  its very cool that you are making it so easy for us keep up with what is going down.  Big Props to you!

No problem, Boo.
I'm just glad to have a shot at kids with talent.

 If Lavin can get them to take one of their 5 officials here, I think he'll still be an excellent closer.
With Roberts, we were fighting over 3 and sometimes 4 star talent, but Lavin and his staff are jumping into the deep end of the talent pool with mostly 4-5 stars, which also means the coaches he's competing with are also sharks. It'll be interesting to see how they fare this year. It would be great if they could land one early so that the kid could do some recruiting on his own.


If I were him, at the Peach Jam, I'd split my time between the Oakland Soldiers, where we have offers out to several of their kids, and the NJ Playaz. One NJ guy said he thought St. John's could get Myles Mack, if they made him their choice, but Lavin may think he still has a real shot at a bigger, better lead guard (any of those Cali aforementioned kids) or one that fits the system he wants to run better.

 

No problem, Boo.
I'm just glad to have a shot at kids with talent.

 If Lavin can get them to take one of their 5 officials here, I think he'll still be an excellent closer.
With Roberts, we were fighting over 3 and sometimes 4 star talent, but Lavin and his staff are jumping into the deep end of the talent pool with mostly 4-5 stars, which also means the coaches he's competing with are also sharks. It'll be interesting to see how they fare this year. It would be great if they could land one early so that the kid could do some recruiting on his own.


If I were him, at the Peach Jam, I'd split my time between the Oakland Soldiers, where we have offers out to several of their kids, and the NJ Playaz. One NJ guy said he thought St. John's could get Myles Mack, if they made him their choice, but Lavin may think he still has a real shot at a bigger, better lead guard (any of those Cali aforementioned kids) or one that fits the system he wants to run better.

Good stuff, as usual, Sleaveless One! 

I also like that we're going after the caviar and seem to be making inroads, as well.  I'm also hoping we can land one of those 4-5 star players early and then I bet 'ya the floodgates open.  I also believe, if we were to land one of the top point guards in the class (ie, Cook, Turner, Carson or Mack) then you'll also see it have a pied-piper effect.

Hopefully, I get a chance to take in a good portion of the action of kids whom we're currently recruiting at the Peach Jam.  I also hope to get a chance to pick the coaching staffs brain.

It seems like good times could be ahead for the Johnnies and their fans.  Once again, thanks for the info, Sleaveless One. 

http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/07/12/derrick-randall-close-to-pulling-the-trigger-desmond-hubert-myles-mack-updates/

LAVIN ON THE MOVE

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin is on the West Coast recruiting Norvel Pelle, Jahi Carson, Amir Garrett and Cezar Guerrero at the Pangos All West Camp.

http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/07/12/derrick-randall-close-to-pulling-the-trigger-desmond-hubert-myles-mack-updates/

LAVIN ON THE MOVE

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin is on the West Coast recruiting Norvel Pelle, Jahi Carson, Amir Garrett and Cezar Guerrero at the Pangos All West Camp.

No surprise. Those are all Dinos' guys. He must feel he has a much better shot at those kids than the Northern California kids on the Soldiers. The one thing is that Carson and Guerrero are redundant. Personally, I'd go for Carson out of those two.

Here's hoping Nick Johnson is still well in play, though.  Pelle may be an impact guy - but he doesn't always play to his potential is the word, right?  And from what I've read Garrett's not a scorer, which the 2011 squad will badly need a few of.

Here's hoping Nick Johnson is still well in play, though.  Pelle may be an impact guy - but he doesn't always play to his potential is the word, right?  And from what I've read Garrett's not a scorer, which the 2011 squad will badly need a few of.

Johnson still is very, much in play.  It's gonna be tough to lure him away from his home state of Arizona (UA and ASU), but we're still in the thick of things. 

The Sleaveless One may very, well have a point when it comes to Lavin's belief of landing the Northern California kids versus the kids on the Soliders.  As, I mentioned....  We're still in good shape with Johnson.  But, I think we're probably out of it with Brown and Turner.  We probably got in a bit late and couldn't make up sufficient ground. 

Nevertheless, I'm fine with a Carson and Pelle or Garrett. 

Here's hoping Nick Johnson is still well in play, though.  Pelle may be an impact guy - but he doesn't always play to his potential is the word, right?  And from what I've read Garrett's not a scorer, which the 2011 squad will badly need a few of.

The other thing about Pelle, from a Big East perspective, is that he's relatively thin. Hell, his nickname is Stix. That said, we need bodies and, perhaps, bringing Pac-Ten basketball to the BE will be an effective strategy.