Top Recruiting Priority

[xxjfgxx]

I appreciate all the good recruiting work by CC & company, but all energy now needs to be directed towards landing a big athletic center. The roster is shaping up nicely at forward and both guard positions, but if cats are going to move up significantly in conference going forward, they're going to need size with athleticism (not a grad transfer). Pardon and Skelly are a nice start (at power forward), but we still need a future big man to stand up to the beasts in conference and NCAA Tournament play. If CC can pull a rabbit out of the hat, it could be the last piece of the puzzle.

 

[lunker35]

Pardon is a 5. He is not a 4. Why does half of the board not seem to understand that?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[No Chores]

Pardon is a center, not a power forward. He is every bit as big as Michigan State's centers, but he weighs more, has a bigger wing span and is more athletic. A future big man, though, would be a welcome addition. Note, also, that Pardon was recruited to play center, not power forward.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Originally posted by No Chores:
Pardon is a center, not a power forward. He is every bit as big as Michigan State's centers, but he weighs more, has a bigger wing span and is more athletic.

Perhaps he is, but most major recruiting sites (including espn, 247 and scout) seem unaware of the fact that he is a center, and insists on listing him as PF.

However tall the MSU center is, Derek would be a really short center, if that's what he is...in his class, rivals lists 45 "centers" recruited by B1G schools (as well as others)...of those, only 5 of 45 are shorter than 6-9 (including Derek), and only 6 more are shorter than 6-10. OTOH nine of 45 are 7-0 or taller, including Stanford's Sharma (a 4* also offered by Wiscky, Mary, Purdue, Vandy and ND among others but apparently not by NU, according to rivals.). Vandy got 6-11 245 Baptiste (a 3*) and Duke got 6-10 220 Jeter, a 5*...oh well, thankfully CC is a great recruiter, so perhaps we'll do better next time.

BTW, 73 players are listed by rivals as recruited as PF by B1G schools...of those only THREE (of 73) are taller than 6-9...maybe that is why most major recruiting sites list 6-8 Derek Pardon as a PF.

Anyway, some just lump PF and centers as "post players"...perhaps it isn't such a big deal after all...at least not under some schemes.

P.S WHY did we NOT offer Sharma??? I must have missed the reason somehow......yes the name is reminiscent of a recent NU player...the all time leading scorer, in fact.

This post was edited on 4/3 11:54 PM by FeliSilvestris

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

PERHAPS the major recruiting sites have not done the proper amount of analysis of his game? PERHAPS they are lazy or PERHAPS they are not projecting his game correctly on the college level? AFTERALL, there are certain SCHMUCKS on this board that cannot even spell DERERK's name correctly.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

ESPN calls him DereK...this of course doesn't prove they are right...is it really that important for the purpose of this thread, anyway?

Come to think of it, perhaps it is...DereK may be a PF, whereas DereRK may be a center...you may be onto something after all!!!

P.S. Do you know why we didn't offer Stanford's Sharma?

DereK Pardon at ESPN

 

[No Chores]

I suppose it doesn't mean much, but the young man's name is Dererk. (See the Cleveland Villa Angela St. Joseph roster or the numerous articles about VASJ's victory in the Ohio state championship game.) I have met him personally, and he is every bit of 6'8''. He is a rebounding and shot-blocking machine who had 15 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocks in the state final. CC and the staff have said repeatedly that Dererk was recruited to play center. Some other good programs recruited him for the same position. So I guess we can second guess all we want, but a number of good college coaches believe that Dererk Pardon is a center.

 

[CPVT]

I don't understand how cherry-picking a handful of highly recruited centers and commenting that we apparently didn't go after one of them is a useful analysis of our program. Dererk might not be a 7 footer, but height never seemed to help Mirkovic average more than 6 rebounds a game so let's wait and see how this athletic young player looks when he shows up in Evanston before saying he is too short. After all, Draymond Green is a 6-7 big from the Big Ten who certainly holds his own.

 

[elgatoloco]

I read a Nick Medline tweet that his wingspan is 7'1". If true, that would put his ratio of wingspan to height at about 1.06, which is the average for an NBA player. Studies indicate that wingspan is a better predictor of blocked shots and offensive rebounds than height. Height is more important for defensive rebounds, but wingspan plays a role there too.

I have no idea where his ratio stands with respect to whom he'll play in college, but as the NBA looks closely at wingspan, my guess is that this is above average. For the NBA draft combine his numbers are pretty much dead on with power forwards, but this is highly selective group. His numbers are a little above those of the NBA pre-draft camp averages.

I also have no idea whether his listed height is still accurate and whether he's still growing. But after seeing some clips of him, he seems to have the frame to handle center.



This post was edited on 4/4 10:45 AM by elgatoloco

 

[NURoseBowl]

Originally posted by elgatoloco:
I read a Nick Medline tweet that his wingspan is 7'1". If true, that would put his ratio of wingspan to height at about 1.06, which is the average for an NBA player. Studies indicate that wingspan is a better predictor of blocked shots and offensive rebounds than height. Height is more important for defensive rebounds, but wingspan plays a role there too.

I have no idea where his ratio stands with respect to whom he'll play in college, but as the NBA looks closely at wingspan, my guess is that this is above average. For the NBA draft combine his numbers are pretty much dead on with power forwards, but this is highly selective group. His numbers are a little above those of the NBA pre-draft camp averages.

I also have no idea whether his listed height is still accurate and whether he's still growing. But after seeing some clips of him, he seems to have the frame to handle center.




This post was edited on 4/4 10:45 AM by elgatoloco

Interesting info, elgatoloco; thanks for posting this.

 

[haywood jahblowme]

no mutual love from either side while on the visit with falzon

 

[benoitdenizetl]

Haywood, you saying they didn't like each other?

 

[haywood jahblowme]

not in a negative or hateful way, but i had heard that it just didn't seem like a natural fit for either party

 

[RicoZalfon]

This post was edited on 4/4 8:04 PM by RicoZalfon

 

[thewildcat2011]

Devonte Brooks: [/B]Okay. So you went to all these schools to take unofficials, talk about what it was taking it them with your teammates and bonding with them?
Josh Sharma: [/B]It was a great experience taking them. What's a better way to get closer with your teammates than spending hours every day with them in a car?
Brooks: [/B]How about Northwestern?
Sharma: [/B]They're really just recruiting Falzon, but it's a great campus. First college I've seen with multiple beaches and a great coaching staff there, too.

Q&A w/Sharma

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Originally posted by haywood jahblowme:
not in a negative or hateful way, but i had heard that it just didn't seem like a natural fit for either party

Thanks for answering, Haywood. Let us clarify that when you said there was no mutual love during the visit to Falzon you are reffering NOT to Falzon but to SHARMA, who is Falzon's TEAMMATE. You were answering my question on the reason(s) why we did not offer Sharma, who ended up at Stanford, and had offers from #3 Wiscky and many others.

I am affraid some have misunderstood you (it didn't help you did not quote my question in your reply).

That said, what could have CC possibly expected? From what you said, it seems that CC scheduled a visit with Falzon ONLY and apparently chatted casually with teammate Sharma, who was heavily recruited on his own right. More than likely Sharma felt slighted (and probably should), so he couldn't have shown much love. Although I have no reasons to believe that the two teammates didn't get along, by human nature there was probably some sort of "sibling rivalry" between the two to a degree, as two highly recruited teammates.

Personally, it seems to me that if a choice had to be made between Sharma and Pardon at least from the physique POV, Sharma should have had the edge, and it seems most coaches agree (see offers)....then again both could have come (along with Falzon) since NU has much greater difficulty signing competent 'bigs' than finding competent guards/swing-men, and Pardon could have been "converted" to a versatile center-forward type (one never knows who will be injured or in foul trouble any given night).

 

[Catreporter]

Looks like Collins obviously preferred Pardon over Sharma. We'll find out if he was right in a couple of years.