Yeah, THJr didn’t show almost any ball skills until late freshman year. Definitely not in high school.
I don’t know whether I’m OK with Gaines or not. There is very little film of him that I’ve seen, and the only in-person report I’ve seen is yours (and it isn’t glowing). All I’m going on is the numbers which are so good that I’d like to see more to determine whether they’re a mirage or not. I like Tillman and I’d be happy to have him–I’ve said I have a slight preference for Young because his shooting fits well with what we do and gives us some flexibility in recruiting at other positions, but I like Tillman a lot. How I feel about him with respect to Gaines awaits further info. Do you know of any significant film on Gaines? Will you be watching him again at Peach Jam?
One data point I will be interested in is how Michigan views them. This is NOT because I think Beilein is an infallible talent evaluator, but rather because neither is the perimeter threat Beilein has customarily sought, and thus both are out of his normal wheelhouse. If he’s going outside his comfort zone for either or both, that says something positive to me about whomever he pursues.
If I were to put film out on Gaines it wouldn’t be pleasant, so obviously I’m not going to do anything that would potentially impede college looks for a HS kid.
Do you have film on more than the one game you reported on, or do you know of any such film?
Only seen Gaines live on one occasion, so admittedly, my opinion isn’t well informed.
Haven’t seen anything recent in terms of film
Oh ok, that’s fair. He just looks really skinny and I’ve seen many guys have trouble putting on weight with frames like his. 190-195 is a little slim for big ten ball. This kid is growing on me but I’ve got my concerns. Remember how big Evan turner was? Was he the 215 that Irvin is?
Strength is the biggest negative in Jamal’s game right now, and I’ve told him that openly, and he agrees. That being said, his lateral quickness is not poor by any means (staying in front of Gaylen Alexander and Alex Barcello), and that in conjunction with his quick twitch explosion make him a really nice package athletically on the wing. I look at some of the starting B10 SFs and I think Jamal could easily gain a step on guys like Denzel, Zak, Malcolm Hill, Jake Layman, Shavon Shields
I’ll also say this, I think Jamal will end up being a better college shooter than Zak. Irvin shot the ball really well in HS, but his mechanics are just too poor and his release too slow to be a top notch 3 point shooter in college IMO. Jamal will probably never be a Nik level shooter, but I can easily see him hovering in that 36-39% range consistently. He has a really smooth release and his shot looks effortless IMO
@MHoops1 @MattD Just watched a little film of Anthony Gaines… He’s skinny and doesn’t look all that tall to me on film. Definitely has huge bounce and he’s more of a slasher type than even an undersized combo forward type (I saw Dawson mentioned, I’d add Jae’Sean Tate to that type of description), I’m not really sure that’s where he’d project as much as just a true three that doesn’t shoot it all that often. In many ways I think he’d add a lot of the sort of things that Charles Matthews would on the wing.
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Thanks Dylan. Are you going to put up the film or could you provide a link? Tate is an interesting comparison–we went after him although he was not seemingly a fit, and he has been a good player for OSU.
Meant more that I don’t really see him in quite that mold. I just watched a bit of film though.
Just watched some game film of Jamal Cain in Atlanta… Few thoughts, some of which have probably already been mentioned.
- He loves the corner three off the catch and looked smooth as ever in Atlanta. He also can attack off closeouts from the wing effectively.
- I love how he can play off of penetration and knows how to cut to the hoop along the baseline. Something this O has been missing since GR3.
- His athleticism looked really smooth in Atlanta. Running the floor, attacking the glass. Strength is just going to be the limiting factor physically as he’ll probably get pushed around a bit until he can get stronger.
- He does almost nothing with the ball for the Family. Part of that is by design as he’s forced to play higher up the lineup, but would like to see him get more of a chance to create off the bounce.
- Still find it really interesting that almost all of his 3PA are from the corners rather than the top. Sign that he’s getting most of his 3PA off of opponent drives. Michigan shoots a ton of corner threes and looks for that drive-and-kick pretty religiously. (Michigan and MSU were actually 1 and 2 in that order in pts off of corner threes last year among the 100 teams I track at Shot Analytics)
Pretty great fit for the wing at Michigan. Easy to see him fitting in and I think he complements a lot of the other pieces that Michigan has and is actively recruiting quite well.
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I’ve literally only seen one nine second clip of Gaines. Where are you guys finding any video? Also city rocks is a fairly high team in the standings, no? Seem to have a solid group, just undersized.
Also I don’t see why it has to be or the other between Mathews/ Cain. Maar would be leaving that would leave Cain/ Mathews/ poole/ Ibi for two spots unless you see some moonlighting at the four for Cain/ Mathews. Obviously Cain would have to get much stronger but that’s a few years out.
Take Mathews right away if he wants to come. Gotta go guaranteed.
Cal, Iowa STate, Boston College and Marquette recruiting Donnie Tillman the hardest.
http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/story/1676253-four-working-hardest-on-donnie-tillman
Donnie is def feeling Cal right now. 3 months ago Marquette was the leader, but Cal has probably pulled even.
Hey, just want to commend you guys–it seems like the tension has finally subsided here and you are carrying on a high-level conversation about recruits (over my head often, but I learn from it). I especially appreciate MattD’s ongoing contributions.
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New ESPN Top 100… Jordan Poole at 55
- Jamal Cain unranked
- Kyle Young 86
- Justin Smith 76
- Kris Wilkes 11
- Brian Bowen 10
- Jaren Jackson 25
- Malik Williams 42
- Kimani Lawrence 60
- Zach Dawson 67
- Isaiah Livers 70
Jermaine Samuels #59
Zack Dawson #67
Not only is Cain unranked, he’s not even in the database. Can only mean one thing, they haven’t seen him play live. I think Isaiah Livers is a decent prospect, but there is simply no way in hell is superior to Jamal Cain. The discrepancies in offers sort of indicates that as well. Again, rankings without more, just don’t mean all that much. Bottom line is that ESPN had the chance to view Livers by default based on Bowen, whereas they didn’t view Jamal.
How did Kyle Young drop from 71? That is insane IMO
Cain noticeably absent is very odd… also looks like Jaren Jackson made that major rankings jump many expected