Trey McDonald

[HoopsMalone]

Trey McDonald is a guy we are on and not getting much publicity.  He is a 3 star on rivals:  http://rivals.yahoo.com/michiganstate/basketball/recruiting/player-Trey-McDonald-105701

But a lot of good programs are on him:  http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/2010-0921/visitors-lining-up-to-woo-trey-mcdonald-this-week/

Based on position need, he would be a pretty good grab for Buzz. 

[willie warrior]

Not against taking a 3 star, but we need 4 stars.

Thr Rivals board on the link does not even show us as one of his 5 choices.

[MarkCharles]

Not against taking a 3 star, but we need 4 stars.

Thr Rivals board on the link does not even show us as one of his 5 choices.

We need good post players, which McDonald appears to be. Its tough to demand 4star post players when we haven't had one in ages and haven't shown we can develop bigs yet. I would be thrilled to land McDonald.

I assume you are referring to the top next to his name where there are 5 logos of teams after him. Those are just randomly selected from the 15 schools they list him considering. Refresh a few times and MU will be up there. Or just look down the page to see his interest and offers.

Unless things have changed drastically in the last week or so, we remain very much a player for McDonald.

[lab_warrior]

Not too sold on that star system anyway.  It speaks to how good he is based on the list of teams recruiting him. 

[GGGG]

Not against taking a 3 star, but we need 4 stars.

Thr Rivals board on the link does not even show us as one of his 5 choices.

He's coming to Madness.  We are one of his choices.

[MarkCharles]

Not too sold on that star system anyway.  It speaks to how good he is based on the list of teams recruiting him. 

Yup. I'm not one to say star systems and rankings are complete bs (that'd make me sound like a Badger fan), but I will always judge a recruit based off of the colleges recruiting him first and foremost.

[willie warrior]

Thanks for the info. Anybody know his HS stats?

And, any idea why MSU and Mich. have not offerred him? That helps to get a judge on his talent level.

[MarkCharles]

Michigan State is full I believe. And I don't necessarily think not being offered by Michigan means anything, especially given the sorry state of that program. It is possible he never had any interest in them, and they never even bothered to offer him because of that.

[HoopsMalone]

http://www.umhoops.com/2010/04/27/video-trey-mcdonald-at-king-james-classic/

Here is a video of him.  They show every shot he takes including his misses.  McDonald's team is supposedly playing Quincy Miller's team in the clip.

McDonald definitely looks raw, but I liked the way his shot looked even though he did not make a high percentage.  His face up mid-range shot looks natural and can be improved upon.  A jump shooting big man is important in Buzz's system, so he would be a welcome addition along with Gardner. 

For a high school big man who likely can turn around and score when not playing against a guy like Quincy Miller, he actually has some decent foot work on his little baby hook.  He will have to improve that if he ever wants a back to the basket touch in D1 obviously, but it looks all right.

He looks slow out there, but maybe he has not yet grown into his body.  I would imagine that many high school big men look slow as they are just growing into their bodies.  That has to be hard to judge when recruiting. 

All-in-all, this kid looks like a project for a high major.  And Buzz should definitely grab him if possible as we need to be developing an interior player every year in my opinion.  Let him sit behind Otule and Gardner and work on his game.

[LAMUfan]

Really liked that video.  You get a much better idea from something like that than just another highlight reel. 

[Ready2Fly]

Completely agree with HoopsMalone. You can't rely on raw 3 star big men as freshmen. But if you get a high 3 star big every year, you won't have to rely on them until their junior/senior years, when they're actually able to contribute. Landing McDonald would definitely be a positive.

[lab_warrior]

I think basically that is the model for collegiate big men in general.  All of the superstars are 1-and-dones, and going to the huge schools (UNC/Duke/Kentucky, etc).  If we can have a system of getting one each year, so that by their JR/SR years they've had 2 years of practice, that's what will work.

[HoopsMalone]

If Gardner/Otule/McDonald give us what Burke/Barro gave us offensively and then give a little bit better on defense and rebounding due to their size I would be ecstatic. 

That frontline + Shaw playing all the positions up front would make MU very competitive with the rest of college basketball inside.  Shaw would be the difference in that scenario obviously due to his skills/athleticism, but the beef next to him would be great.

[tower912]

I think basically that is the model for collegiate big men in general.  All of the superstars are 1-and-dones, and going to the huge schools (UNC/Duke/Kentucky, etc).  If we can have a system of getting one each year, so that by their JR/SR years they've had 2 years of practice, that's what will work.

Give the devil his due.....Bo does this very well.

[Dawson Rental]

We'd all like to see Shaw at MU, but he hasn't committed and Miller is out.  I can think of a lot worse backup plans for Shaw, like SLU's Reed.

[willie warrior]

Not very impressed from the video--he threw up a number of bricks, does not appear to have much hops and he was outhustled on at least two rebounds, even when he had position.

He would be a project! Must be why Mich. and MSU have passed.

[Les Nessman]

Not very impressed from the video--he threw up a number of bricks, does not appear to have much hops and he was outhustled on at least two rebounds, even when he had position.

He would be a project! Must be why Mich. and MSU have passed.

I completely agree. From watching that video, I was left thinking "what a waste of a big body."

[Pakuni]

Some of you guys crack me up.
The kid reportedly has offers from the likes of West Virginia, Wake Forest and Arkansas, but because he hasn't been offered by Michigan - a constant underachiever with one NCAA appearances since 1998 - he's somehow unworthy of Marquette.
This is akin to suggesting MU shouldn't offer a kid from Texas because Houston didn't make him an offer.

Not offered by Izzo? Big deal. If Buzz limited his recruiting to kids only offered by Izzo, we'd have some pretty small recruiting classes (cause kids offered by Izzo tend to play for Izzo).

[Pakuni]

Give the devil his due.....Bo does this very well.

So long as we all agree that Bo is the devil.

[RJax55]

Some of you guys crack me up.
The kid reportedly has offers from the likes of West Virginia, Wake Forest and Arkansas, but because he hasn't been offered by Michigan - a constant underachiever without an NCAA appearances since 1998 - he's somehow unworthy of Marquette.

To be fair, Michigan went to the tournament in 2009.

However, I don't understand the Michigan love as well. This isn't 1993, Michigan basketball blows.

I know he got paid, but do you think Beilein wishes he was back in Morgantown? His team was under .500 last year, and things look even rougher this year.

[MarkCharles]

Some of you guys crack me up.
The kid reportedly has offers from the likes of West Virginia, Wake Forest and Arkansas, but because he hasn't been offered by Michigan - a constant underachiever without an NCAA appearances since 1998 - he's somehow unworthy of Marquette.
This is akin to suggesting MU shouldn't offer a kid from Texas because Houston didn't make him an offer.

Not offered by Izzo? Big deal. If Buzz limited his recruiting to kids only offered by Izzo, we'd have some pretty small recruiting classes.

Exactly. If people want our recruiting to be on the level of Michigan, than they have different perceptions of where these two programs are at than the rest of us.

It is also perfectly reasonable to think that Michigan reached out to him in the early stages, he wasn't interested (for obvious reasons), and they never bothered to offer him a scholarship. Just because Rivals doesn't list UM as having offered him doesn't mean they never looked at him.

[Pakuni]

To be fair, Michigan went to the tournament in 2009.

However, I don't understand the Michigan love as well. This isn't 1993, Michigan basketball blows.

I know he got paid, but do you think Beilein wishes he was back in Morgantown? His team was under .500 last year, and things look even rougher this year.

Oops, my bad. I read that in an article that must have run pre-2009. To correct myself, they're a program that's been to one NCAA tournament in the past 12 years.
Anyhow, the general point stands. Michigan hoops blows, has blown for a long time, and MU shouldn't set its recruiting according to what they're doing.

[HoopsMalone]

Michigan needs interior help more than Marquette needs it.  I would be shocked if they never looked at McDonald.

Regarding the video, I would guess that a lot of kids that size do not move well at age 17.  It is also unusual to see a clip that shows more than just a kid's makes.  If you edited that clip down and took out the mistakes, I bet we would all love him. 

They are just growing into their bodies which makes a lot of big men projects at the D1 level.  He may never turn out, but certainly looks like he has some potential. 

[tower912]

So, we, as a program, have reached the point that we don't need athletic big-bodies that need coaching.   We are too good for 3-star 6'9" projects.   Let the banners fly!   A 6 month old video showing a big kid with decent footwork who is not having a phenomenal day and we are too good for him?!?!    Man, we got spoiled in a hurry.   

[Canadian Dimes]

Anyone can watch the video and see why MSU did not offer.  No knock on the kid but when u go to 6 Final Fours you don't need to offer 3 stars you offer players like Dawson and other potential Burger Boy All-americans.  Agree that UM not being involved is meaningless he may have eliminated them for All I know/care. 
He has the body if he wants to come in and work his ass off for 2-3 years before gaining significant playing time I would love to have him!!!