I'm actually thinking he may be there more for senior 6'8" PF Tafari Whittingham. Whittingham is a fantastic athlete that's used to playing in the post. A little bit raw but is a deer on the court and is long and has a great motor. He fits the profile of guys we are recruiting. With our desperate need for frontcourt help, a local Lincoln kid like this wouldn't hurt us at all. He plays C and PF for Lincoln, so he certainly could provide depth at PF.
I'm of the school of thought that we only need two talented big men and a guard, so I'm all for a project or two in addition to (fingers crossed) Obekpa, Sampson, and a guard to be named later.
If this guy fits the bill athletically and doesn't mind sitting for a couple of years, sign him up.
If we get Sampson and Obekpa along with Branch we have a very, very good class. Add another player or so with upside like Phil Greene or a shooter for depth and we don't lose a step. I really hope we can land Sampson and obekpa. We will be hard to stop if we do.
"If" if if if if....
When are we going to ACTUALLY START getting somebody or how about anybody other than zero current commitments? Is that not true or am I making this question up at this point? Right now the fact is as things stand, we're numerous scholarship players short on the St. John's roster going into next season and many of the top prospects are commiting elsewhere.
We like to blow a lot of hot air here, but talk gets cheap after awhile. I hope I start seeing some top national recruits commiting to SJU very soon so that I can stop asking this question. However, we currently stand at (0) commitments and we need a handful/5 more.
You said it yourself...."talk is cheap".
So lets discuss what we know....
-we have a young team improving every day
-we have a top notch staff (in game and on a national recruiting level)
-2 Big East all Freshman Team members
-Jamal Branch Eligible in Dec. Top 50 2011 recruit
With no additions or subtractions....the 7 players we have for next year will lead us to the NCAA Toruney
I also believe we will have more than 7 scholarship players next year. So it would not surprise me if we are playing on the 2nd weekend of the NCAA's next year. Regardless of who else we sign on.
I know the doubters will talk about kool-aid and everything else. Bottom line....we don't need 13 scholarship players to make a successful season next year. We really only need 1 addition and we're legit Sweet 16 material.
I really believe we will land a TOP recruiting class that everyone is looking for in the class of 2013. So sit back and enjoy these kids competing their tails off because we wouldn't have had any of these kids with the prior regime.