https://www.mhsaa.com/schools/eastlansing/boys/varsity/basketball
Brandon Johns schedule for East Lansing. For Johns, the best games to go see will be the Dewitt game next Tuesday, which I will be at covering, and any of the Holt, Okemos, Everett or Jackson games. All those should be competitive but the Dewitt one should be the best in terms of talent. Lots of future college players at all levels in that game.
For Dejulius, the best games to see would be the Wayne Memorial game tomorrow, Hazel Park, Chicago Bogan, Columbus Northland, Clarkston and both Pershing, King and DEPSA games.
Hereās some info from non-staff posters on 247 about it:
Dot:
Seems he has a recently diagnosed slight patellar tear (has experienced pain in the knee for a long while but thought it might be tendinitis; diagnosed only because they finally did an MRI) and has been shelved for most of the fall. The plan is to play through it and not have surgery. I noticed no restrictions in his movement.
Asking one of our medicine background posters to jump in and shed some light on this type of situation.
Random guy who appears to be a doctor in the field:
Probably talking about the patellar tendon which connects the kneecap(patella) to the top of the shin bone(tibia). Jumpers knee. Tendon gets chronically inflamed and the MRI may demonstrate enough degenerative changes within the tendon for the radiologist to read it as a tear.
Surgery pretty much only if the tendon fatigues and tearsābig surgery for a jumping athlete. I have a patient right now who has been wearing a brace to keep his leg in a straight position to let the tendon heal. Itās been 6 months and heās still suffering. Might be a situation for the rare time to debride ( clean out ) the tendon. For some kids its an ongoing problem until theyāre growing, and it also may relate to immature skeletal bone.
Bottom line is conservative care, managing the pain with anti-inflammatories, rest, and occasional immobilization.
Video of Johns from last night in the roundup
Were you at the EL game yesterday? Or where did you get the highlights?
I was. Johns had been nursing a minor injury, which accounts for his looking and saying he was out-of-shape. He has put on weight and is more muscular. He was more aggressive to the basket than in past years, though all or virtually all of his takes were to the right. He relied less on spot up jumpers, though he was solid on his 3s. He also had what seemed like 5-6 steals, though that is likely reflective of the competition. The Lansing area isnāt very strong this year so Brandon should have his way with local competition.
No I was there at the game yesterday I was just wondering who filmed the highlights. I was the one who tweeted about Johns stat line last night and posted the article about his knee in this thread yesterday
Johns looks like versatile player, much more aggressive than earlier in his career. He even gave indications that he can create his own shot, which is often a criticism of recruits on this site. Once he fills out, heās going to be tough to stop.
Johns/Iggy will both provide a huge boost in the area that is one of this teamās two greatest weaknesses: the combo forward spot.
Iām interested to see how the wing depth shakes out next season. Seems likely Poole slides to the 2-Guard spot, but that still leaves Matthews & Livers as returning players at the wing w/Iggy & Johns providing an injection of young athleticism.
Next year Iām guessing the 2, 3 4 spots will be filled 1 of 2 ways:
2: Poole
3: Matthews
4. Livers
This is perhaps the most balanced lineup. Shooter- Poole, slasher/scorer- Matthews. Athlete/inside out game- Livers. Good blend of shooting and athleticism in this group.
Or the other way, which I find more likely:
2: Matthews
3. Iggy
4. Livers
I think Belein will find a spot for Iggy, and the experience/athleticism of Livers will give him the edge over Johns, while the athleticism gives him the edge over Iggy at the 4. That makes the lineup pretty tall in the 2-4 spots as well. Hopefully Matthews can consistently check a 2,and one of Iggy or Livers are capable of defending the 3. I think both will be fine guarding 4s generally.
One of the things that I really like about the potential for next year is position flexibility. You could easily throw Poole in a line-up with Iggy and Matthews as well. By next year I would assume that both Poole and Matthews could go wing or 2 giving the team a lot of fluidity on subs and switching on D. Regardless of the line-up that pans, I think that it is exciting that the general sentiment is that deserving players may not be getting enough minutes instead of scrounging to fill gap minutes off the bench.
Also I would not be surprised to see Brooks play along with another PG next year in spurts (pending how development of other players go). Villanova has been successful with these types of line-ups in situations as has Michigan in places
This does not sound good. I hope that this does not become a nagging problem.
Not to mention that Arizona State is currently running through the NCAA with this as their most frequent lineup
I think how quickly Iggy picks up the system will be a key to next season ā does he earn 27-30 mpg as a FR (like Stauskas did) or is he more of a 20 mpg scorer off the bench (more impactful version of Irvin).
And Iām interested to see how quickly Johns pushes for serious minutes. I tend to think Livers experience earned this year will give him an edge over Johns next season. But Brooks is proving me wrong on that line of thinking this season, soā¦
I agree with you on the experience giving Livers the edge, but like Iggy, I find it hard to believe the staff wonāt find ways to get Brandon on the floor. He is way too skilled and athletic to not be put to use. Especially if he is at his best. In the few times that he is, I think he is the best prospect in this class but that is few and far between. He is a 5 star type talent at his peak. Michigan really hit home runs with recruiting this year in my opinion. Have a lot of options and high quality depth coming in. Brandon and Iggy are the top two in the class to me.
The 2.Matthews-3.Iggy-4.Livers/Johns lineup is probably the highest ceiling, but Matthews and Livers would both need to pick up their 3pt %. MAAR and Duncan are still playing despite their abysmal 3pt %s because theyāve proven they can shoot at a healthy/elite clip, and because thereās only freshman pushing them. JB is still going to prioritize shooting and being able to run offense/execute the basic little details that he drills, and Poole has a head start in both.
Matthews may never be more than adequate at 3pt range but I have no concerns with Livers as I believe he will get better. When MAAR was a freshman he was a terrible out side shooter and steadily got better.
Iām sorry but how does highest ceiling=no Jordan Poole? I must be missing something