Dawson to MU!

[NersEllenson]

he's 6'3 and still growing ..... i'm his dad and will tell you that he truly had 37 offers with high majors still calling even though he chose MU.  he didnt just grab the opportunity because he felt it was a one time deal, but because he trusted GOD for his path and was strongly recruited by buzz and brad and who flew out to our home 3 times this month alone and showed him great love from a great program!!! .... just recd 13 calls yesterday from BCS schools that want him to not sign with MU in NOV so that they can get on board.  JohnJohn is EXCITED to be a part of the MU family and so are we!!! .... long way from home ..... lots and lots of hard work .... and is excited to get even better!!! .... i truly believe MU is and will be blessed by his talent .... i'm excited!!!

First off, Congratulations to you as a parent!  Not many kids get D-1 offers, and to get some is a great testament to the hard work you and your son have put into him becoming an elite basketball player and person!  Secondly, as a fan of MU I'm biased, but can tell you Buzz Williams is as good of coach, developer of talent, and mentor to young men as you could ever hope to find.  I have no doubt your son will maximize his talent as a basketball player, and maximize his potential as a person under Buzz.

Lastly, this board and any message board at any school, can at times be critical of players, coaches, etc. - I'd imagine it is hard not to take that personally when a parent has to read such criticisms about their son - but please realize 99.5% of this message board and other boards have never played D-1 baseketball, and are just hardcore fans who sometimes forget the players we criticize are only 18-22 years old...and are doing their best.  We LOVE our basketball team at MU, and are very passionate about it - sometimes that can result in criticism - but most of the time in praise and love.

Welcome to the MU family and we look forward to seeing your son in a Marquette uniform!

[Dawson Rental]

But he has offered players sight unseen, and based on very little examination (see: Roseboro, Bret).
None of us know anything about Dawson, nor do we know what Buzz knows/doesn't know about him. We'll just have to see how it plays out.

Who has a bigger network of coaching buddies that he stays in frequent contact with then Buzz?  It's always very risky to bet against what Buzz knows.

[Dawson Rental]

Yeah, I have. I would definitely take Sante Fe over Milwaukee in a heartbeat.

Are you 18?

[Pakuni]

Was it that "Kansas, UNC, Duke, etc." couldn't find their way to New Mexico or that they didn't need to find their way to New Mexico because they filled their needs from the normal sources.  Nobody's claiming the kid is a top 20 guy who every big name school would go for no matter where he was from.  That's why you bringing up Jabari Parker is not a valid comparison.

I think his point  - and it's a fair one - is that if a player is good enough, he's not going to fall through the cracks or slip "under the radar." There's way too many opportunities for kids today to be seen for that.
If Dawson, as his father reports, had 37 D-I scholarship offers, that kind of proves the point. He comes from a middle of nowhere town in a largely ignored state (no offense, New Mexico), and yet 37 programs were able to find, scout and evaluate him well enough they they offered a scholarship.

And I doubt Coach K and Bill Self - who've gone as far as Alaska to recruit kids - are going to ignore anyone from anywhere if they think the kid can help them win games.

[Dawson Rental]

I saw a report that he has grown to 6'8 since his commitment.

So, he's still shorter than Magic Johnson? 

[MuMark]

Jimmy Butler fell through the cracks. He was a qualifier out of high school but had no D-1 offers. Mississippi State came closest to offering.

Basketball became his life, and Butler showed a lot of promise. The summer before his senior year in high school, he was attracting attention as a potential star in Tomball -- but not from the usual suspects. Division I coaches had yet to make contact, but a ninth-grader named Jordan Leslie was scouting him.

• Enlarge

Courtesy Michelle Lambert
Soon after Jordan Leslie (left) challenged him to an impromptu 3-point contest, Jimmy Butler became a part of his family.
Leslie was from Tomball, too, and was following Butler closely. At the end of a summer league game he approached Butler and challenged him to a 3-point-shooting contest. Butler was taken aback by the brashness of the kid. He agreed to the contest. Leslie was an athlete too, an up-and-coming hoops and football star.

After the game, the two became fast friends. Leslie began inviting Butler to his house to play video games and to stay the night. Butler's life would never be the same.

Leslie's mother, Michelle Lambert, paused at first. She had four kids of her own from her first husband, who had died. Her new husband had brought three children of his own with him. Money was tight. The word around Tomball was that Jimmy was trouble. Her new husband finally told the kids that Jimmy could stay, but only for one or two nights at a time. But each night when Butler would come to stay, a different kid would say, "Tonight's my night to have Jimmy stay." After a few months, the Lamberts gave in, and Michelle told him he could stay for good.

Butler needed a family, and Lambert was offering hers.

But not before she set some ground rules. For the first time in his life he'd have a curfew. He had to attend class and improve his academic performance. He'd have chores around the house. Most importantly, Michelle told him, he had to be a role model.

"I told him my kids looked up to him," Lambert said. "He had to stay out of trouble. Work hard in school. He had to set an example. And you know what? Jimmy did it. Anything I asked him to do, he did it without asking questions."

"They accepted me into their family," Butler said. "And it wasn't because of basketball. She was just very loving. She just did stuff like that. I couldn't believe it."

With some family support for the first time, Butler became a star for the Tomball High School Cougars. As a team captain his senior season, he averaged 19.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game and was named to the all-district first team.

But it wasn't enough to draw the attention from colleges he had hoped. Scouting services didn't rank him. He didn't play AAU ball, which hurt his chances of being seen. He had an outside shot at playing at Mississippi State, but didn't get a scholarship offer. With nowhere to go again, Butler took the only route he could and enrolled at nearby Tyler Junior College.

[Pakuni]

Jimmy Butler fell through the cracks. He was a qualifier out of high school but had no D-1 offers. Mississippi State came closest to offering.

Jimmy didn't play AAU ball.

[Dawson Rental]

I think his point  - and it's a fair one - is that if a player is good enough, he's not going to fall through the cracks or slip "under the radar." There's way too many opportunities for kids today to be seen for that.
If Dawson, as his father reports, had 37 D-I scholarship offers, that kind of proves the point. He comes from a middle of nowhere town in a largely ignored state (no offense, New Mexico), and yet 37 programs were able to find, scout and evaluate him well enough they they offered a scholarship.

And I doubt Coach K and Bill Self - who've gone as far as Alaska to recruit kids - are going to ignore anyone from anywhere if they think the kid can help them win games.

I think what John Dawson's recruitment shows is that all schools have a list of recruits that they prioritize, and that Dawson wasn't unknown, but he wasn't a top priority for any high major school.  Although, its clear that many mid-majors (like Creighton) where there from the start.  In MU's case, Buzz was looking to Kendrick Nunn, Kameron Williams, and then when they didn't work out, EC Matthews.  All of whom MU missed on.  It's not that a Coach K or a Bill Self didn't think that John Dawson wouldn't help them win games, its that they thought they were in on someone else (with a higher ranking) that was even more likely to help them do so.  Boozer and Chambers were from Alaska, but they were also high on the recruiting services top 100 lists, so they were a higher priority.  If John Dawson was so well known to all the high major programs, why did 13 call him after he committed to MU to ask him to hold off on signing in November, so they could have a chance to consider offering him?

Rankings and high major interest in a player do tend to track each other, less because schools follow rankings, as much as scouting services have a talent for discovering who the high major schools are showing the most interest in.  The important thing in a case like John Dawson's is that projecting what a player will do in Division I is still much more an art than a science, and Dawson has as much chance as anyone outside the top 40 or so ranked guys to have an impact as anyone else who is getting the type of attention that he is now getting.  I'm not even stating that Dawson can't have a impact as big as a top 40 player, I'm only saying that a top 40 guy would be more likely to have that kind of impact.

I guess what I'm really trying to say, is there is a lot of grey area between being known to everyone, and falling through the cracks.  While Dawson clearly didn't fall through the cracks, I believe that he may have suffered from some degree of lack of exposure due to his being from Clovis, New Mexico, and I'm not sure that he might not end of being better than all of the guys that MU missed on.

[chapman]

On a side note, just looked up Jordan Leslie, Jimmy's basketball challenger and adoptive brother.  He's now a sophomore wide receiver for UTEP and their second leading receiver so far this season with 19 catches for 287 yards and 2 TDs.

http://www.utepathletics.com/sports/m-footbl/utep-m-footbl-body.html

[texaswarrior74]

I've never seen a board that eats its own like this one does.....

 

[MuMark]

Otto Porter didn't play AAU ball either and he was still a top 100 guy..

The point is it's still possible for guys like Crowder and Butler to fall through the cracks. Obviously if you play AAU ball it's easier to get noticed but mistakes still do happen.

[GGGG]

Otto Porter didn't play AAU ball either and he was still a top 100 guy..

Not until late in the process though.  He was a relatively unknown throughout most of his HS career.

[Groin_pull]

Are you 18?

And that would matter, why?

[Pakuni]

Who has a bigger network of coaching buddies that he stays in frequent contact with then Buzz?  It's always very risky to bet against what Buzz knows.

Please re-read the sentence. I'm not suggesting Buzz has a lack of knowledge of Dawson. I'm suggesting none of us know what Buzz knows. So all of the talk in this thread about what Buzz sees in the kid - i.e. that he'll eventually be a "presence off the bench" or that Buzz likes his offensive skill set - is mere speculation.

[Pakuni]

Otto Porter didn't play AAU ball either and he was still a top 100 guy..

The point is it's still possible for guys like Crowder and Butler to fall through the cracks. Obviously if you play AAU ball it's easier to get noticed but mistakes still do happen.

Crowder didn't fall through the cracks.
He simply wasn't that good of a high school player. Don't confuse being a late bloomer with being overlooked.

[tower912]

Mr. Dawson, if you are who you say you are, welcome to the MU family.    Please understand that this, like many other message boards, has a give and take that may seem hurtful at times.    But for the most part, we are happy to have your son at MU and look forward to watching him grow.    

[Dawson Rental]

Please re-read the sentence. I'm not suggesting Buzz has a lack of knowledge of Dawson. I'm suggesting none of us know what Buzz knows. So all of the talk in this thread about what Buzz sees in the kid - i.e. that he'll eventually be a "presence off the bench" or that Buzz likes his offensive skill set - is mere speculation.

Awkward phrasing on my part, I was trying to reinforce what you said, as in "and Buzz obviously knows a lot."

[77ncaachamps]

Welcome to the Marquette family, JohnJohn!

I look forward to the effort, growth, and energy you will bring to ths program!

[kmwtrucks]

Great to Have John on board!!  I love the fact the he understand how much hard work is ahead of him.

[mileskishnish72]

Ratings only tell you so much, and their accuracy is not always spot-on. I think even Al was on record as saying he didn't want ALL his recruits to be stars - he recognized that complementary players were an asset.
And just because this kid doesn't have a 4 or 5 star rating doesn't mean he can't be a star. From what I've read, I think it's more important that he seems to have a good head on his shoulders and has solid values and a supportive family. I'd rather have a talented kid with the right attitude than a somewhat more talented kid with a bad attitude. John sounds like he's not afraid of hard work or a challenge. I hope he gets to MU, works his butt off and has a great career - then some of the posts in this thread will make for entertaining reading in a few years.

[wadesworld]

Maybe, maybe not. Wade was one of the best players in college his entire career and developed into one of the best players in the world. He got missed by the big boys in Chicago. Some guys get missed, no matter their talent or location. Is Dawson one of those? No clue. But I do think Buzz has a better shot at spotting those types than anyone on this board.

Wade was a stud and everyone knew it. He was also a partial qualifier and the "big boys" in the big conferences couldn't bring in partial qualifiers. Had he had his grades in order all of the "big boys" (OK, most instead of all) would have been in on him.

Just sayin...

[Rudy]

I meant to say that I second this in every way.

Welcome to your son. He sounds like a fine young man.

Bob

First off, Congratulations to you as a parent!  Not many kids get D-1 offers, and to get some is a great testament to the hard work you and your son have put into him becoming an elite basketball player and person!  Secondly, as a fan of MU I'm biased, but can tell you Buzz Williams is as good of coach, developer of talent, and mentor to young men as you could ever hope to find.  I have no doubt your son will maximize his talent as a basketball player, and maximize his potential as a person under Buzz.

Lastly, this board and any message board at any school, can at times be critical of players, coaches, etc. - I'd imagine it is hard not to take that personally when a parent has to read such criticisms about their son - but please realize 99.5% of this message board and other boards have never played D-1 baseketball, and are just hardcore fans who sometimes forget the players we criticize are only 18-22 years old...and are doing their best.  We LOVE our basketball team at MU, and are very passionate about it - sometimes that can result in criticism - but most of the time in praise and love.

Welcome to the MU family and we look forward to seeing your son in a Marquette uniform!

[RJax55]

Wade was a stud and everyone knew it. He was also a partial qualifier and the "big boys" in the big conferences couldn't bring in partial qualifiers. Had he had his grades in order all of the "big boys" (OK, most instead of all) would have been in on him.

Just sayin...

Perhaps... What's your definition of "big boys?" If your talking UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, etc., I doubt it. If your thinking of Illinois, Purdue, etc, maybe.

Yes, teams were scare off of Wade due to his partial qualifier status, but he was also very much a late-bloomer. In his final AAU season, he was his team's 6th man. There's a reason why he didn't make most top 100 list.

It really wasn't until his senior season, that things started to click. He had a monster season at Richards and that when his notoriety really began to soar. If his grades were in order, he would have been a hot spring signing commodity, but I doubt that would have translated into a scholarship offer from a traditional power.

[nyg]

he's 6'3 and still growing ..... i'm his dad and will tell you that he truly had 37 offers with high majors still calling even though he chose MU.  he didnt just grab the opportunity because he felt it was a one time deal, but because he trusted GOD for his path and was strongly recruited by buzz and brad and who flew out to our home 3 times this month alone and showed him great love from a great program!!! .... just recd 13 calls yesterday from BCS schools that want him to not sign with MU in NOV so that they can get on board.  JohnJohn is EXCITED to be a part of the MU family and so are we!!! .... long way from home ..... lots and lots of hard work .... and is excited to get even better!!! .... i truly believe MU is and will be blessed by his talent .... i'm excited!!!

Let your son lace them up with the others and do his thing.  See how he does against Big East level talent, has access to the best basketball facilities and wish him all the best.  Welcome....

[Earl Tatum]

Hopefully Dawson will have a successful career at MU. Nunn, by waiting to long, didn't want to be at MU. Turned into a prima-donna.. Sounds like Dawson wants to be here. Which means, he will give us the best he has. Now lets get Joe Embiid, if Buzz is still going for him.
Sounds like it's Illinois, DePaul and MU.