Trey McDonald

[brewcity77]

According to the Cracked Sidewalks thread about recruits at Madness, he was here. Hopefully he's finishing up a good visit and we hear something within the next few days. He may not be Shaw, but he'd be a pretty nice consolation. Give him 1-2 years to develop and by his junior year he could really be something nice.

[cheebs09]

Yes he was there. He was in the orange jacket right by Juan Anderson. His parents really seemed into it and it looked like he was having a good time.

[Ready2Fly]

I hope we land him soon. The guy's clearly got potential and he won't be relied upon right away. A true center with upside in every class is a must. I liked what I saw out of Gardner at Madness Friday night, and this guy's ranked higher. Sign him up!

[GGGG]

I hope we land him soon. The guy's clearly got potential and he won't be relied upon right away. A true center with upside in every class is a must.

I don't think so.  You want more than a quarter of your roster filled up with centers?

[HoopsMalone]

I don't think so.  You want more than a quarter of your roster filled up with centers?

I think that 4 centers is a good idea personally.  Redshirt/not count on one, and have three in the rotat.  A three headed monster inside is great, and then you can weather injuries.  If we get to a point where we are getting top 50 bigs at least every other year, then you don't need the redshirt type of player, but that is not necessarily realistic.

Buzz is taking baby steps to get there.  Liam's injury and the dud 2007 recruiting class really set back having a balanced team.

4- centers
3- PGs (need three in case of injury)
6- "switchables" on the wings who play the 2/3/4

Obviously, a guy like Blue who can play PG and the wing or a guy like Lazar who can play the center and the wing makes life easier. 

[GGGG]

I don't think that makes any sense at all.  You have seven players tying up two positions, and six players tying up three positions.  Buzz's offense doesn't use many traditional centers, so why would you place so much emphasis on players that are likely not going to be doing much for you offensively?

[bilsu]

We only have one true center on the roster now. Gardner is really a 4.

[HoopsMalone]

I don't think that makes any sense at all.  You have seven players tying up two positions, and six players tying up three positions.  Buzz's offense doesn't use many traditional centers, so why would you place so much emphasis on players that are likely not going to be doing much for you offensively?

Buzz hasn't used many big men yet, but we also get bounced in the first or second round in the last 5 years with NBA players on the team mostly because of lack of interior defense and rebounding.

If you have four guys who can play center, you ideally have one guy as developing/redshirting because that is the nature of most 3-star and 4-star bigs. Then you divide the 40 minutes between the other three big centers.  I can see your point that having four Otule's might not be good since only one can play at a time.  I just think it is necessary for this program to take the next step.

I was not suggesting that we get 3 Acker's at PG either.  I think that a guy like Blue is perfect since he can play the 1 or 2.  Maybe Buycks is that versatile as well. 

I think 6 wing players is enough.  Three starters and three backups.  We could weather injuries and foul trouble pretty easily.  Ideally, one or two would be 30-35 min/game studs anyway so you would not need that much depth. 

[77ncaachamps]

Looking at that video, I hope McD has an off game.

Because looking at Davante's high school videos, describing McD as a project seems to be a huge understatement.

If MU pursues him, he'd have to bide his time, develop, help his team get better in practice, then play.

Honestly, we need a DOMINANT big man...who is unafraid to play INSIDE instead of shooting 10-15 footers from the key.

[Markusquette]

Looking at that video, I hope McD has an off game.

Because looking at Davante's high school videos, describing McD as a project seems to be a huge understatement.

If MU pursues him, he'd have to bide his time, develop, help his team get better in practice, then play.

Honestly, we need a DOMINANT big man...who is unafraid to play INSIDE instead of shooting 10-15 footers from the key.

Agreed.  From what I have seen/read about McDonald is that he has a nice frame and build, but really raw offensively.  Not sure about D, but looks like he doesn't have much game on offense and settles for far too many bad jump shots.  We need  dominant presence. 

[ErickJD08]

According to the Cracked Sidewalks thread about recruits at Madness, he was here. Hopefully he's finishing up a good visit and we hear something within the next few days. He may not be Shaw, but he'd be a pretty nice consolation. Give him 1-2 years to develop and by his junior year he could really be something nice.

That's asking for alot around here.  See Erik Williams.  Many already have written him off as a bust.

[HoopsMalone]

Honestly, we need a DOMINANT big man...who is unafraid to play INSIDE instead of shooting 10-15 footers from the key.

I disagree.  I think we score enough points already to win every game we play.  We just don't have interior defense and rebouding.  If we maintain the level of scoring from the wings that we have had, then adding a big man who takes up space and needs to be blocked out will help us tremdously.  Also, having a big man who can shoot is perfect for the wings we have as it takes a big man away from the hoop. 

Also, adding a big man will allow players like Jimmy, Lazar, and Wes to actually guard wing players.  This way, they won't get worn down in games and in the season.

I wish we could get a dominant big man.  Who wouldn't want that.  I don't think Buzz is passing on any.  Since it is just not happening for us, we need to develop 3 star bigs.  McDonald would be a great pickup for us and I hope he sees that MU is a place where he can contribute to a winning team.

[bma725]

That's asking for alot around here.  See Erik Williams.  Many already have written him off as a bust.

Difference is, McDonald is a 3 star recruit, while Williams was a 4-Star Top 75 recruit.  People's expectations are inherently higher of someone like Williams than they would be of someone like McDonald.  Plus, we've been spoiled when it comes to Top 100 recruits.  Most schools have a couple that don't work out at some point and don't live up to their predicted hype.  We've not had that yet, so Williams not being an impact player as a freshman surprised a lot of people.

[Ready2Fly]

Williams' silky turnaround J at madness was a professional grade move. I have a feeling he'll bust out in a big way junior year. Possibly as early as the end of this regular season.

[Lennys Tap]

Difference is, McDonald is a 3 star recruit, while Williams was a 4-Star Top 75 recruit.  People's expectations are inherently higher of someone like Williams than they would be of someone like McDonald.  Plus, we've been spoiled when it comes to Top 100 recruits.  Most schools have a couple that don't work out at some point and don't live up to their predicted hype.  We've not had that yet, so Williams not being an impact player as a freshman surprised a lot of people.

You're right about people and their expectations for EWill. If MU fans had only paid a little attention to Erik's high school coach (who warned that EWill was not familiar with even basic man to man defensive concepts) they wouldn't have been so surprised/disappointed.

[Golden Avalanche]

You're right about people and their expectations for EWill. If MU fans had only paid a little attention to Erik's high school coach (who warned that EWill was not familiar with even basic man to man defensive concepts) they wouldn't have been so surprised/disappointed.

I didn't read that before you pointed it out. That coach should be fired immediately.

[NersEllenson]

Williams' silky turnaround J at madness was a professional grade move. I have a feeling he'll bust out in a big way junior year. Possibly as early as the end of this regular season.

I wrote that same thought either here or on Scout site...that was a NBA caliber move.  The potential is there with E-Will..just may take a year more to extract..

[Henry Sugar]

I didn't read that before you pointed it out. That coach should be fired immediately.

It's more complicated than that.  Williams' coach needed him to fill a particular role, so he did.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2009/01/erik-williams-high-school-coach-tells.html

[bamamarquettefan]

Trey McDonald is a nice signing if Buzz is not that confident in chances to land a couple of others.  I didn't see anything from March Madness due to work - so I don't know how Devante and Otule looked, but we may need to have 15 fouls to give in certain BE games if none of them materialize into a strong center.  With all of Jae Crowder's potential, I would just hate to see him stuck defending a 5 for most of a game and wearing down.  I believe he is going to put it in the hoop on the offensive end.

[bilsu]

Gardner will give you five of those fouls in 5 minutes.

[Golden Avalanche]

It's more complicated than that.  Williams' coach needed him to fill a particular role, so he did.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2009/01/erik-williams-high-school-coach-tells.html

Thanks for that. That is different then a high school player not knowing basic man defense.

It'll be a fun year to see what Williams can do after his summer work.

[Rockmic87]

Trey McDonald is RAW. He would be a 2-3 year project. Although, he looks better than Otule when he was a freshman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sOBlMCVHLc

[jfmu]

this guy says trey committed to osu last night but he doesn't really seem to have backup for it. hope its false

from Michael Duncan recruiting services

6'9 Sr Trey McDonald Battle Creek, Michigan committed to Ohio State last nite

[willie warrior]

this guy says trey committed to osu last night but he doesn't really seem to have backup for it. hope its false

from Michael Duncan recruiting services
 

Another one bites the dust? I am holding out for Miller.

[MarkCharles]

this guy says trey committed to osu last night but he doesn't really seem to have backup for it. hope its false

from Michael Duncan recruiting services
 

I am glad we got Anderson, but things aren't looking so great for this class besides him. I'm sure Buzz will get some good players, but it is really frustrating to be in on a dozen top guys and miss on all but one. I'm happy, I just wanted 2 instead of 1 to really keep the recruiting momentum going. I'm not writing off our chances with Shaw or Hood, but after those two who is left? Nobody but that we know of.

As much as I hope this report is wrong, when reports like this come out, they are very rarely wrong.