2016 Point Guard Recruiting (Xavier Simpson)

Winston seems to be ahead of where Walton was at the same stage, but what’s his potential? Higher than, equal to, lower than Walton? Not worth speculating at this point?

2016 Taylor Co. G Quentin Goodin (@Goodin_3) is taking a visit to Florida this weekend, follow him he's #NextUp http://t.co/Sig8cZ4Th5

— NextUpRecruits.com (@NextUpRecruits) September 12, 2014
Winston seems to be ahead of where Walton was at the same stage, but what's his potential? Higher than, equal to, lower than Walton? Not worth speculating at this point?

Walton is a much better athlete imo

Defensively, Walton was lightyears ahead of Winston at the same age. Winston a better pure scorer, Walton a better transition player.

Defensively, Walton was lightyears ahead of Winston at the same age. Winston a better pure scorer, Walton a better transition player.

Walton a better facilitator too at that stage, but you’re right Wilson a better pure scorer.

[Source] Eager to land a cornerstone PG, Illinois is leaning to give keys in 2015 to Jamal Murray over nationally ranked 15' Jawun Williams.

— Hoops Hype Canada (@HoopsHypeCA) September 19, 2014

lol

.@Jhooper_3 on his visit w/ #Duke today: "They told me I'm their only priority at the PG position. Felt good." Smith's Blog coming Tues...

— Jason Jordan (@JayJayUSATODAY) September 23, 2014

Florida Ohio State & Minnesota coming to watch @Goodin_3 play tmrw! VIDEO: http://t.co/DTbAjGOnLz

— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) September 23, 2014

Maryland HC Mark Turgeon stopped by to see 2016 PG Cassius Winston today, per @UDJHoopsCoach. #Terps

— Big Stage Hoops (@BigStageHoops) September 22, 2014

.@Jhooper_3 on his visit w/ #Duke today: "They told me I'm their only priority at the PG position. Felt good." Smith's Blog coming Tues...

— Jason Jordan (@JayJayUSATODAY) September 23, 2014

Florida Ohio State & Minnesota coming to watch @Goodin_3 play tmrw! VIDEO: http://t.co/DTbAjGOnLz

— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) September 23, 2014

Maryland HC Mark Turgeon stopped by to see 2016 PG Cassius Winston today, per @UDJHoopsCoach. #Terps

— Big Stage Hoops (@BigStageHoops) September 22, 2014

I thought that Duke had moved away from Smith.

Anybody that doesn’t think Duke is heavily after Smith has always been misinformed. Hard for me to see him going anywhere else, which is great for us and DTJR. Smith is gradually going to accept its not “all about him” what situation is going to allow him more freedom than Duke? Anybody remember Jason Williams?

“Only” priority. Gotta like that…even if it’s not actually true, I hope DTJr sees it.

Cassius Winston “@UDJHoopsCoach: Always a pleasure to welcome Coach Izzo to UD Jesuit. Thanks for coming out to visit us Coach. #CubPride.”

— Matthew Steinbrink (@MattSteinbrink) September 24, 2014
Scout.com's top point guard prospect in 2016, Derryck Thornton, Jr. has hosted no shortage of head coaches since the beginning of the Recruiting Period. Kentucky's John Calipari, Arizona's Sean Miller, California's Cuonzo Martin, UNLV's Dave Rice, N.C. State's Mark Gottfried and Michigan's John Beilein have all been by Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep to see Thornton.

Head coaches continue to descend on Thornton
On Tuesday, Miami’s Jim Larranaga and Oklahoma’s Lon Kruger will stop by Findlay Prep. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski will be at the school on Oct. 13, while UCLA’s Steve Alford, USC’s Andy Enfield and Louisville’s Rick Pitino also will make trips to Findlay in the near future.

“It feels great that all of these head coaches are genuinely interested,” said Thornton’s father, Derryck Thornton, Sr. “They’re not just sending a letter; they’re making the effort to come out here and see him.”
One of the most recent schools to Thornton’s list, Duke, has picked up its recruitment of the five-star prospect in recent weeks.

“They love everything they’ve seen,” said Thornton, Sr. “Derryck was the last guy in the class they saw because he wasn’t on the main circuit so they want to come in and see him face to face and develop a relationship with Coach K.”
The family will visit UCLA on Oct. 10 and Kentucky for Midnight Madness on Oct. 17 and 18. Three other schools could get visits in the near future.
“We’re definitely going to get out to Michigan at some point and maybe Miami and Louisville,” said Thornton, Sr.
— Josh Gershon

http://scouthoops.scout.com/story/1454942-notebook-nole-limit?s=75&utm_content=buffercd541&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

So much for the 10/11 tentative visit…somehow I’m becoming a bit more skeptical that DT will ultimately end up at UM

2016 Findlay Prep PG Derryck Thornton, Jr hosted #Arizona yesterday. #UK's John Calipari & #California will be in today, #Louisville on Weds

— Josh Gershon (@JoshGershon) September 30, 2014

I’d rather have the last visit and end the process. Word is recruiting might be wearing on them just a bit.

Problem with that is that sometimes if a recruit is wowed by a given school, they don’t make it to the last visit. I want multiple visits/in-homes

Have to face facts. We’re not going to land too many 5 star, top 20-25 recruits in head-to-head battles with a bunch of elite schools. We’re just not, no matter how much we’d like to or feel like we need to.

Do we need NBA draftable players to be a serious contender for BT titles, and to make an impact in the tournament? Pretty much, yeah. Hard to continue the success we’ve had the last couple of years without them. But we can probably only count on out-competing elite schools directly for guys like that (a la McGary) once every four or five years. That’s not going to be our main avenue of success, the way it is for the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world. We either need to get early commitments from underrated players who become elite before they sign (and hope they stick to their commitment) or bring in under-the-radar guys who fit our system, like Stauskas and LeVert, and develop them here. There’s some finger-crossing there, sure…but but that’s the way you have to go if you’re not one of the handful of truly elite programs.

Well, I’d offer a few comments in response. First, it takes time to become “elite.” Coach K started off his career at Duke with a couple losing seasons, and wasn’t hauling in star recruiting classes until the late 1980s. If we make a couple more deep runs in the NCAA tournament, and keep developing NBA first round picks, we’ll be considered elite, or at least “near elite,” and we’ll be in strong competition with just about any school for recruitable players.

I’d agree there are three schools that will have an inherent advantage. One is Duke, because Coach K is a legend who has been winning at an unbelievable clip for 25 years. It’s pretty hard to pry away one of his priority recruits. Another is Kentucky, and while Calipari is a great recruiter, let’s just say he’s had a little, ahem, “help” in that department. Only people with their heads in the sand believe he’s doing it cleanly. The third would probably be Kansas.

Beyond that, sure, programs like UCLA and UNC have great tradition, and will recruit very well, but I’m not throwing in the towel if we have to battle them head-to-head, and the same would go for Florida and Louisville. There’s no doubt it will be somewhat tough for us - we don’t give the kids a free pass on academics (see the recent UNC scandal), we’re not going to promise anyone a starting position, and we’re not going to recruit guys who put individual goals ahead of team goals. Though his demeanor is quite different from John Beilein’s, you know who else recruited like that in his prime? Bobby Knight. Bo Schembechler too. And it’s pretty hard to argue with their success.

Keep putting players in the league and we’ll be fine.
We had a looong stretch where Bernard Robinson was the only one who even heard of the draft.

Besides, I think our system isn’t looked as great for bigs nor athletes. Nor do we go after them in bunches. IMO a lot of those guys fill the “top rates” slots so a) we’re not in on many and b) when we are, we’re in for a battle

We are developing a home for PGs and Shooters though and our offense can get shots so I think that’s attractive.

I’m just hoping we can find BALANCE. We still haven’t had it. We’re struggling to fill out our scholarships with many upperclassmen. I’d love to see us have a Russ Smith/Luke Hancock type guy who is good at the college level.

Beilein’s having to teach his intricate system to new guys.

A lot of elite schools are jumping into the fray for Thornton, but that might not be a bad thing. He knows Michigan best. He and his dad know the staff are stand up guys and develop guards. His dad has a close relationship with Jeff Meyer. Every so often those things matter to a recruit and his family.