Newbill article

[NYWarrior]

remarkable how Buzz can keep the rumor mill on ice about recruits.....this kid's enthusiasm is contagious as well

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/breaking/sports/20100201_Strawberry_Mansion_star_picks_Marquette.html

Strawberry Mansion star picks Marquette

By TED SILARY
Philadelphia Daily News
silaryt@phillynews.com

The session began with wings and a prayer.

Then, flanked by family members in a room at Houlihan's, on City Avenue right off the Schuylkill Expressway, that was no larger than a foul lane, Devonté "DJ" Newbill arose from a table and began reading a statement concerning his college decision.

Well, eventually. First he laughed and/or giggled several times while experiencing all kinds of trouble getting started, and even commented about how nervous he was.

"Take a deep breath," someone said.

More chuckles.

"C'mon, man, you gotta get used to this," someone else piped up.

Newbill, a 6-4, 195-pound combination guard at Strawberry Mansion High, will indeed find himself in front of the media, and fans/admirers, plenty of times over the upcoming years. That's how it is when you're playing college basketball in the Big East Conference.

Marquette, it is. Marquette, it has been since summertime, really.

Newbill, an honor-roll student who already has qualified for freshman eligibility, trekked to the university in Milwaukee back then for a camp featuring elite players from around the country.

It was love at first sight.

"They showed me everything I needed to see," he said. "I had my mind set on them ever since. It's the Big East. That means a lot. I'll be going into a good situation with the opportunity to play as a freshman. That's what I wanted. So I went and got it.

"Though it's kind of far, they also play a lot of games around here against Rutgers, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John's . . . so my family will be able to see me play."

"I wanted him to go away," said Newbill's mother, Tawanda "MeMe" Roach. "He can [blossom] more. When he came home from Marquette, he was so excited about the coaches and how nice the campus was. He left his options open, but he wanted this all along.

"This means so much. He's a good player and a good team player and he does all the right things in his life. I'm so proud to be his mom."

Newbill said he was first attracted to Marquette during the Dwyane Wade era.

"He's explosive. Goes hard. Can't nobody stop him," he added. "It's funny. I used to watch Marquette on TV and wish I could go there. Now I am."

Newbill was joined at the announcement by maybe 35 supporters from friends to family members to current and former teammates to hard-core Mansion fans to coaches Gerald Hendricks and Stan Laws to principal Lois Powell Mondesire.

"I have a great core group around me," Newbill said. "They help me with anything I need. This shows that anything is possible if you put forth the effort and work hard . . . This is a weight off my shoulder, but really, the hard work is yet to come."

The press conference topped a red-letter day for Mansion. Earlier, wing guard Saadiq Berry and small forward Jamal Jones, talented transfers from Future and Imhotep Charter, respectively, finally received clearance to play.

When Newbill was asked what other schools had pursued him, he reeled off the names of West Virginia, La Salle, Drexel, Rider, Niagara, East Carolina, Nebraska, Temple, Saint Joseph's . . . Pause . . . Rutgers, Cincinnati, Georgetown . . .

Hey, people are itching to get back to their food.

"This place has the best wings," Newbill said. "That's why I had this here."

Can I get an amen?

[BrewCity83]

Sounds like a good kid...honor-roll...should be a hard worker. 

[tower912]

Love the enthusiasm.    If he was so sure, why no early commit?     I love the fact he is on the honor roll and already qualified.    That means he can get on campus in June and get to work.   It will be nice to see guards with size, all of whom can shoot and handle the ball.

[GOMU1104]

Love the enthusiasm.    If he was so sure, why no early commit?     I love the fact he is on the honor roll and already qualified.    That means he can get on campus in June and get to work.   It will be nice to see guards with size, all of whom can shoot and handle the ball.

I think he had to retake the SAT in December, and get a qualifying score.

Also, just because a player wants to commit, doesn't mean the coach will accept the commitment.

[GGGG]

Love the enthusiasm.    If he was so sure, why no early commit?    

Maybe Buzz waited to extend the official offer.

[mviale]

Coming from the Strawberry Mansion area of Philly, he will enjoy Milwaukee and its laid back feeling.  I came from Philly in 1986 and it was a welcome change from the Philly toughness.  This is a great opportunity for him as a young man.  If he ever wants some city action, he can always visit Chicago.

[nyg]

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4776716

Well at least he made it on Scout's list now.  Prior to committing, he was not even listed.  

[AZWarrior]

Love the honor role aspect.  Hope he doesn't expect a lot of playing time as a frosh.

[Skatastrophy]

Love the honor role aspect.  Hope he doesn't expect a lot of playing time as a frosh.

This concerned me FTA.  It's probably nothing, but after the Maymon thing it still raised a red flag:
"I'll be going into a good situation with the opportunity to play as a freshman. That's what I wanted. So I went and got it."

[GOMU1104]

This concerned me FTA.  It's probably nothing, but after the Maymon thing it still raised a red flag:
"I'll be going into a good situation with the opportunity to play as a freshman. That's what I wanted. So I went and got it."

Every kid has the opportunity to play as a freshman.

[bilsu]

Opportunity vs expectations. Opportunity means he knows he needs to work hard and earn playing time. Expectation means you expect to play no matter what.

Williams understands opportunity.
Maymon had expectation

[tower912]

"opportunity to play".    I have a feeling that is exactly what he was told.    With the caveat that he bust his butt every day and get better.    Whether or not that is what he heard.....

[Skatastrophy]

Every kid has the opportunity to play as a freshman.

I realize this.  I'm just hoping that a teenager didn't hear what he wanted to hear.

Edit:  ditto what Tower said.

[NersEllenson]

Every kid has the opportunity to play as a freshman.

+1 - Having the opportunity is just that.  I felt it's been put to bed that JJMay wasn't promised anything beyond a great opportunity to come in and play immediately..which he did..actually a lot of minutes for a freshman.  From what I've read, Newbill is quite versatile - could be a point, shooting guard or even small forward.  At 6'4", 197lbs, and only 17 years old - he's got a Big East ready body already - so let's not discount his possible ability to get some time as a frosh.  I think Buzz is going to play a 40-minutes of hell brand of basketball, full court pressing at all times, and is going to want a deep rotation of guards/quicks to accomplish this.

[GGGG]

I think Buzz is going to play a 40-minutes of hell brand of basketball, full court pressing at all times, and is going to want a deep rotation of guards/quicks to accomplish this.

What makes you think he is going to do this?  I see no indication that this is part of his philosophy at all.  He barely even presses as it is.

Furthermore, why would you *want* him to do this?  This type of basketball hasn't worked in 15 years.  The only program that runs it any longer is Missouri...and Marquette carved it up pretty easily

[tower912]

He said on his radio show (2/1)  that he favors a 9 1/2 man rotation.   Eight solid, one 'rover' and one 1/2 specialist, one who can perform a specific task on offense or can be the back guy in a zone or one a press, or the front man on a zone.   He pressed last year and he has pressed this year.    Both presses have been limited in scope due to personnel issues.   And he has said how much he admires Missouri and how they pressure all over the floor and keep rotating high major athletes in.   So, based on all of that, I doubt we would see 40 minutes of hell, but I can see us pressing like L-ville or Missouri.

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4776716

Well at least he made it on Scout's list now.  Prior to committing, he was not even listed.  

1 star...yikes

[MUCrew]

1 star...yikes

I wouldn't look to much into that.  They probably just put the 1 star up just to have something.  That or they haven't seen him yet. 

Back in '03 Brian Butch was rated a 5-star & #3 center in the nation.  Just saying.

[NYWarrior]

1 star...yikes

Why yikes?  MU already has a stacked backcourt in terms of multi-star players coming in as well as proven talent --- Cadougan, Blue, DJO and Buycks.  'Yikes' would be if a one star kid was expected to walk in and play 30 mins per night.  That's not the case here -- Newbill will likely be a complimentary player early in his MU career -- one Buzz thinks he can develop into something more.

[Lennys Tap]

Why yikes?  MU already has a stacked backcourt in terms of multi-star players coming in as well as proven talent --- Cadougan, Blue, DJO and Buycks.  'Yikes' would be if a one star kid was expected to walk in an play 30 mins per night.  That's not the case here -- Newbill will likely be a complimentary player early in his MU career -- and one Buzz thinks he can develop into something more.  Makes sense.

Agreed. We now have 6 players for our 3 guard rotation. Newbill is number 6. I'd rather have a guy like him riding the bench while hopefully developing than some disgruntled 3 star who thinks he should be starting. No team I know of uses a 12 or 13 man rotation.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Why yikes?  MU already has a stacked backcourt in terms of multi-star players coming in as well as proven talent --- Cadougan, Blue, DJO and Buycks.  'Yikes' would be if a one star kid was expected to walk in and play 30 mins per night.  That's not the case here -- Newbill will likely be a complimentary player early in his MU career -- one Buzz thinks he can develop into something more.

It still puzzles me on the signing....hopefully he's the deal.  I just didn't think we would be using scholarships on 1 star players at a position we are loaded in.  It seems strange.  I can only imagine how it would be described in years past.

[dsfire]

Seem to recall 1 star simply means the service hasn't seen the player enough to evaluate yet, though I didn't feel like digging through the 8 pages of posts that came up searching for "1 star" to back that up.

[94Warrior]

1 star...yikes

He is a 3-star on Rivals.  Seems like a good kid.  I'm glad to have him.  Welcome to MU.

[NersEllenson]

What makes you think he is going to do this?  I see no indication that this is part of his philosophy at all.  He barely even presses as it is.

Furthermore, why would you *want* him to do this?  This type of basketball hasn't worked in 15 years.  The only program that runs it any longer is Missouri...and Marquette carved it up pretty easily

See Tower 912's post directly below your question for the answer.  We cannot press now as we are too thin, no depth - it takes a lot of energy to full court press.  People complained on here why we didn't full court press Syracuse earlier in that game..reason was..depth/fatigue..we saw those issues in early season games - FSU, NcState, etc.  Buzz said 9.5 man rotation, has also said he admires Mizzou's style.  I don't think it is a reach to say, Buzz wants to appy a ton of ball pressure all over the floor.  He want's to out-tough, out-hustle, and out-muscle everyone...and he's bringing in the depth to do that.

[GGGG]

See Tower 912's post directly below your question for the answer.  We cannot press now as we are too thin, no depth - it takes a lot of energy to full court press.  People complained on here why we didn't full court press Syracuse earlier in that game..reason was..depth/fatigue..we saw those issues in early season games - FSU, NcState, etc.  Buzz said 9.5 man rotation, has also said he admires Mizzou's style.  I don't think it is a reach to say, Buzz wants to appy a ton of ball pressure all over the floor.  He want's to out-tough, out-hustle, and out-muscle everyone...and he's bringing in the depth to do that.

Tower's post references Pitino.  Pitino isn't a "40 minutes of hell" guy.  He doesn't press nearly as much now as he did at Providence or in his early days at Kentucky.