At the game yesterday while waiting in line outside the BC, we saw a tall lanky kid wearing a Midland Letterman jacket. While the team was warming up he was by the court and talked to the strength coach and Otule for a little bit. I saw online that it was Brandon Crane, a 7 foot 210 lb 2 star recruit. It looked like Michigan State was starting to get involved. Has anyone heard anything else about him?
http://marquette.scout.com/a.z?s=415&p=8&c=1&nid=3774419
From what I've read, he's very weak and probably not over 190 pounds. Last game he scored only 1 basket. Smaller players are pushing him outside and he isn't able to control the paint. He's still only a JR but he certainly isn't close to BE ready. He's tall, but that alone won't earn him a schollie. I'd guess we'd pass right now and see how his body and strength work progress over the year.
He sounds like the kind of kid that Crean never took a chance on. You can't teach height. Even if it takes a 7 footer three years to develop, it is worth it.
It is not a huge need for us right now, with Otule and McMorrow on board, so we can wait. But I think taking a chance on a tall guy like this every other year (assuming you aren't getting better bigs) is not a bad plan.
Crean took plenty of chances. Some worked, the majority didn't. I'd say Kinsella and Barro were big man chances he took. Blackledge wasn't considered a 5, but also wasn't a BE talent.
Yeah, I guess maybe you are right. I wouldn't put Trend on the same page as Kinsella and Barro, but I guess those two did fit my criteria.
Interesting.
At least he plays in a historically good high school BBall conference. I don't know how strong it is this year but the Saginaw Valley League has produced some familiar names.
Morris Peterson
Charlie Bell (and his younger brother who we will not mention)
Jason Richardson
Mateen Cleaves
Glenn Rice
I was personally on the receiving end of a Mateen Cleaves beatdown.
While its nice to see a 7-footer considering us, his lack of physical development wouldn't fit our team and I think people have no idea how hard it is to put on weight, let alone actual muscle for a guy this size. I think McMorrow is a better prospect at this point and I would rather have him till we can find a more heralded recruit.
I kind of like the idea of another 7 footer, even if he isn't close to ready. They can build more strength in a young kid like that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't McMorrow and Otule be juniors by this kid's freshman year (close to going away).
Also, McMorrow is extremely athletic and runs well. He might be able to be on the floor as a 4 making MU a very big team (what a change!). Lacrosse and hockey players need to be fast, quick and athletic with a heavy dose of aggressive. I think there could be more to McMorrow than we might think. I haven't seen him for judgement, and must rely on those who have. From what I've read, he sounds like the second coming of David Robinson who only made his High School team as a backup center (was pulled onto Navy only because he was tall - a hope selection), senior year only.
Just food for thought. Of course, hope is a terrible business plan!
I used to help coach Brandon on his AAU team. Two of his recent games have been streamed to the Internet. Once at the sites click WATCH NOW
http://mpstv.mps.k12.mi.us/Cablecast/public/Show.aspx?ChannelID=1&ShowID=146
http://mpstv.mps.k12.mi.us/Cablecast/public/Show.aspx?ChannelID=1&ShowID=152
In the first game he had 16 points. In the second game he had 6 points. In both games he blocked and / or altered MANY MANY shots.
He is a legit 7 foot and currently weighs 195. He gained 15 pounds since August of 2008 and also in that time his vertical increased 5 inches. He also has a 3.9 GPA and wants to study Law. Great kid from a great family. Notice how broad his shoulders are - not a lot of meat on them yet but they are very broad
MUSF story??
people need to chill on knocking this kid. First of all just becuase he was at the game and we are recruitng him does not mean he will all of a sudden be signing and a four year starter dragging us to the depths of the BE. Buzz and co. are recruiting dozens of kids if he is going to help us they can recognize that and hopefully sign him, if not they most likely will not offer him and in that case he will not be attending MU. The nice thing i take out of the news is we are actually for the second year in a row recruitng size which is nice after a 9 year drought.
Let's keep in mind the kid is in the middle of his Jr. year of high school. There is plenty of time to fill out.
You can't coach size and given Buzz's recruiting success he gets the benefit of the doubt from me.
I talk to Brandon regularly. He (and probably another half dozen BIGS) have been getting 10-15 letters per week from Coach Layer since last July when MU seen him play in Indianapolis and Orlando. He loved everything about his unofficial visit this past weekend. Another school he hears from very regularly is Georgetown - might have factored into his decision as to what MU game to attend. :) His next unofficial visit will be to Harvard next month who have already visited him, watched a game, and talked to high school officials and his parents. They have him down on their offer board as number 1 for 2010 center but cannot make an offer until his Junior year grades are final due to a Harvard or Ivy League rule. For a kid who wants to go into Law, Harvard would probably be pretty attractive.
Quote from: MR.HAYWARD on February 02, 2009, 08:06:26 AM
people need to chill on knocking this kid. First of all just becuase he was at the game and we are recruitng him does not mean he will all of a sudden be signing and a four year starter dragging us to the depths of the BE. Buzz and co. are recruiting dozens of kids if he is going to help us they can recognize that and hopefully sign him, if not they most likely will not offer him and in that case he will not be attending MU. The nice thing i take out of the news is we are actually for the second year in a row recruitng size which is nice after a 9 year drought.
Yes because this whole guard thing isn't working out so well. ;D
He sounds like a great kid. How can you not want a kid who academically can easily handle Harvard, Gerogetown or Marquette? Midway through his junior year. Lets not beat up the this kid. Tall skinny kids take time to grow into their bodies.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on February 02, 2009, 09:27:40 AM
Yes because this whole guard thing isn't working out so well. ;D
As much as I enjoy recruiting Bigs...I still have nightmares about Marcus jackson having to bring the ball up the court because we were out of guards.
Quote from: commonbondcoach on February 02, 2009, 08:52:18 AM
For a kid who wants to go into Law, Harvard would probably be pretty attractive.
That's got to be a tough choice. His first 4 years at university will be pre-law, and to choose Harvard he'd have to eschew his chances of ever being part of an elite basketball program. Hopefully he has a strong support-structure around him that keeps him informed of how much his pre-law university choice will impact his dream of becoming an attorney. That's a very tough personal decision that will affect the rest of his life, and he's going to have to make it at a very young age.
Luckily I didn't have to make tough choices like that. My lack of athletic ability allowed me to focus solely on academics :P
The hardest part about Harvard or any Ivy league school is getting in......the material there is all the same at MU; even if its taught by a noble prize winner.
If the kid was smart he would go to Brown and take advantage of they're pass/fail system that allows all graduates to have a 4.0 gpa when they leave. Still makes me sick to my stomach when I hear a young Brown alum say "I had a 4.0 GPA"; "Oh yeah? I'm not falling for that BS.....I know how it works"
Quote from: reinko on February 02, 2009, 07:48:51 AM
MUSF story??
Not much of a story really. I played against a few of MSU's "Flintstones" that won them a NC.
Cleaves is the best athlete I have ever played against. IMO, he was even better on the football field.
Bell was a scoring machine.
Mo Pete was kinda fat in high school and really didn't impress much. His improvement at MSU was shocking to a lot of Mid-Michigan folks.
Quote from: CAINMUTINY on February 02, 2009, 10:34:35 AM
The hardest part about Harvard or any Ivy league school is getting in......the material there is all the same at MU; even if its taught by a noble prize winner.
No it's not!
On a serious note, and as someone who has spent some time analyzing college curriculum and grading, there is a ton of research suggesting the harder it is to get admitted to a school the greater the level of grade inflation. That being said, at 7' tall, I'd be working on the NBA and an undergrad. degree that could get me into a big name law school. I'm not sure a 4.0 at MU and a good test score wouldn't get you into any law school you wanted...
For a kid who wants to go into law, a brand new state of the art facility is pretty attractive!
I'm all for it, and why not? This kid isn't even able to vote yet, and we're knocking him for being a little light? So what. He'll fill out. And when we will actually need him he'll be a sophomore/junior and plenty filled out.
I'm not saying this kid is going to be incredible, but those of you assuming Otule and McMorrow are going to be great need to remember the jury is still out on Otule, and no one has seen McMorrow play. For all we know he's a second coming of Chris Grimm. And so far Otule hasn't proved squat either.
What's to say we won't NEED help at the 5 in a couple years? And what's so bad about having a young project come off the bench for some filler minutes when our big guys get into foul trouble?
I'm all for bringing on a 7 footer who is very good defensively and wants to go far in life as a lawyer. It can't hurt. And what's the worst that can happen? MU gets a solid defensive big man to come off the bench. I'm for it. Scott Merritt worked out, he was hardly a beefy big man.
Give the young kid a chance before you start ripping him
Quote from: MUWarriors Zero-6 on February 02, 2009, 06:23:41 PM
Give the young kid a chance before you start ripping him
I haven't seen anyone ripping the kid. But we have to recognize that we're in the BE now and part of the toughest conference in college basketball. Granted, he's very tall and a great kid. But we need big time players with proven skills, not projects. Crane hasn't shown anything so far but size.
Give him the remainder of this year and the summer before we offer anything. We've overcome the height problem with our current crop of signed recruits. And this year has shown that guards that can penetrate and play defense can do wonders. What we really need is another point guard to supplement Cadougan. We all remember what happened when Diener went down and the team fell apart. I'd much rather take a PG at this stage over a project who hasn't shown he can even dominate in his HS competition.
At least Brandon is playing High School basketball. McMorrow played hockey and lacrosse in high school. As for Brandon not dominating in high school, he's doing just fine - right on track where his coaches want him to be. His high school is in the best basketball conference in Michigan. The Michigan Class A state champion has come out of that conference the last 3 years.
Also in the summer of 2007 he played against the mighty Evan Anderson (who has committed to Wisconsin) at a tourney in Fort Wayne Indiana. They contained each other and it was basically a draw. However, Brandon constantly beat Evan down the court by about 25 feet. Evan had to come out of the game every 4 minutes or so for a breather and what looked to be knee rests.
Higher up in this thread I posted a couple links where you could watch two complete games of Brandon's. They are NOT high light you tube videos - they are complete games.
7 footers normally have issues as follows:
-lots of them are chubby and slow
-lots of them have knee and joint problems making them slow
-lots of them are not in good standing with the NCAA Clearing House
-lots of them are very thin in high school not filling out until about age 20
-lots of them play basketball because they feel obliged to because of their height
Brandon is smart, currently thin, runs well, and has true passion for the game.
Everyone expects a high school 7 footer to be just like Greg Oden - but that is just simply not the case. Oden was / is the rarest of exceptions when it comes to 7 footers - but look at the injury problems he has had.
Like the majority of 7 footers who go D1, Brandon more than likely will redshirt a year, play garbage minutes his 2nd year, start contributing his 3rd year, and dominate his last two years when he is 22 - 23 years old. It's a whole different development life cycle for 7 footers - so different that lots of schools do not pursue 7 footers instead having muscled up 6'9" guys play the 5 spot.
A Wisconsin recruit being outrun down the court? Anderson will fit in just fine in Madison!