Jajuan Johnson at Madness

[reinko]

Here is an update on Johnson.

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jajuan-johnson-visits-marquette-weighing-next-move/

Do me a favor, if JJ doesn't commit, don't bash the kid on Twitter.

[GGGG]

Here is an update on Johnson.

http://zagsblog.com/articles/jajuan-johnson-visits-marquette-weighing-next-move/

Thanks.  Did you not notice it was posted about ten posts above yours?

[KenoshaWarrior]

Guys he is not coming here.

Most commits like Kendrick Nunn commit right after the visit.  Same thing in buying a car, they give you the hard at the dealership and they wont accept "I am going home to think it over"  cause the minute you leave the dealership your not coming back

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Do you honestly think that any recruit ever has told the HC "I'm comin' here for the awesome parties"? Not at UNLV, not at UCLA and certainly not (of all places) at Marquette.

No, I do not think a recruit has ever said that.

I was responding (and quoted) this specific post that contains the hypothetical:

So your saying if Diamond Stone told buzz that he wants to go to Marquette for the parties that Buzz would all the sudden say "You know what Diamond I think we can move on without you, but thanks for showing up"     Dont kid yourself, Buzz is like all of us he wants the best players

[Dreadman24]

Guys he is not coming here.

Most commits like Kendrick Nunn commit right after the visit.  Same thing in buying a car, they give you the hard at the dealership and they wont accept "I am going home to think it over"  cause the minute you leave the dealership your not coming back

I totally agree. Chances of him coming here is very slim.

[wadesworld]

Guys he is not coming here.

Most commits like Kendrick Nunn commit right after the visit.  Same thing in buying a car, they give you the hard at the dealership and they wont accept "I am going home to think it over"  cause the minute you leave the dealership your not coming back

So since he has taken all of his visits and remains uncommitted anywhere, he is not playing basketball in college?  Gotcha.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Triple J wants an uptempo game which features strong guard play. MU #16 and Bama #298 in tempo, with the Tide down in Bucky's sleep walking territory.  MU is a guard's school, and will play BE games in his hometown. I remember being at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando a couple of years ago, and Bama had 20 odd hoops fans in the stands. If the kid wants the best fit for his game, the choice has been made.

[bilsu]

Guys he is not coming here.

Most commits like Kendrick Nunn commit right after the visit.  Same thing in buying a car, they give you the hard at the dealership and they wont accept "I am going home to think it over"  cause the minute you leave the dealership your not coming back

This is illogical, because Johnson has now visited all three final schools and will end up committing to one of them. It just means he has two or three choices he likes and is going to do his due diligence. Also, what we do not know is whether he is plan B. By that I mean, maybe Buzz will give him the scholarship only if Embiid decides to go elsewhere. There were posts that Embiid really liked Kansas, but he did not commit there and now Kansas just got a commitment from a highly ranked guard. Was Embiid plan B for Kansas? I think Johnson will decide this week. The Alabama board thinks it is between them and MU, which probably means he will go to Miami.

[Dawson Rental]

Guys he is not coming here.

Most commits like Kendrick Nunn commit right after the visit.  Same thing in buying a car, they give you the hard at the dealership and they wont accept "I am going home to think it over"  cause the minute you leave the dealership your not coming back

So, by your logic he's not going to go to Miami or Alabama, either.  Geez, I guess he'll have to start his recruitment all over.

Damn it wadesworld beat me to the punch!

[Tugg Speedman]

When Duane Wilson committed in March and said he made the decision to attend MU in Janaury, two months earlier.  So, yes sometimes you get a recruit after he gets on the plane to go home.

JJJ has no more visits, correct?  If so, being the last is still the best position.

[bilsu]

What struck me about the Zags article was that Johnson said they told him what position he would play, which seems contrary to Buzz's belief that players do not have postions.

[BrewCity83]

What struck me about the Zags article was that Johnson said they told him what position he would play, which seems contrary to Buzz's belief that players do not have postions.

Yeah, Buzz told him he'd be a "Switchable".

[brewcity77]

What struck me about the Zags article was that Johnson said they told him what position he would play, which seems contrary to Buzz's belief that players do not have postions.

How I read that was that Milwaukee's Best told him what position he'd play. Seems DW, Burton, and McKay make up the effective 1, 3, 4, so it may be the incoming players told him he'd be the 2.

[THEultimateWARRIOR]

How I read that was that Milwaukee's Best told him what position he'd play. Seems DW, Burton, and McKay make up the effective 1, 3, 4, so it may be the incoming players told him he'd be the 2.

Dawson will also be playing the 1 or 2. I believe Johnson would be above him in the depth chart, but would he get much playing time as a freshman? He would have Blue, Mayo, Thomas, and Ferguson ahead of him at SG position. Throw in Dawson and Wilson, thats 7 guys battling for time at SG. If he wants to win MU is the place to be, but if he is looking for significant playing time his freshman year its probably not going to happen here.

[brewcity77]

I won't blame Johnson either way. At Miami, he has the chance to be a star but I'm not sure how good the teams will be. At Alabama, he can be an instant contributor and play on likely pretty good teams, but they will always be overshadowed by football and don't exactly play up-tempo. At Marquette, he will probably win more than the others, but will have to wait his turn.

I think his best path to the NBA is here, as it is pretty clear that NBA teams are looking for guys with the Marquette work ethic. I have little doubt that WesMat's success played heavily in us having 2 first round picks and 4 guys drafted in the past 3 years. Honestly, MU guys right now are probably a bit overvalued by the league because of that. But if I'm a kid dreaming of the NBA, that's a good thing, not a bad one.

[GGGG]

My recollection of Grant at VCU is that his Maynor / Sanders teams always had decent pace.  Is his being slow out of necessity at Bama?

[brewcity77]

My recollection of Grant at VCU is that his Maynor / Sanders teams always had decent pace.  Is his being slow out of necessity at Bama?

No, they played pretty slow at VCU too. Per Pomeroy, here are the average number of possessions for his teams and where that ranked nationally:

2007 VCU: 66.1 (191)
2008 VCU: 65.1 (238)
2009 VCU: 66.8 (149)
2010 Bama: 65.6 (247)
2011 Bama: 64.9 (257)
2012 Bama: 63.1 (298)

That last year at VCU may have influenced him to play slower. In that season, his teams were 2-5 when the winning team scored 80+ points. The two wins were to a bad Citadel and miserable UNC-Wilmington, but they also had 3 sub-200 kenpom losses that year and in all three games they allowed over 80. So when the tempo turned up, his teams had a tendency to lose. Makes sense that he slowed it down even more at 'Bama, and has slowed it every year since that last year at VCU.

[BCHoopster]

The problem with JaJuan is that he sees Blue, Mayo, Wilson, even Jake Thomas, and Burton and says to himself, I might be sitting as a freshman, they want PT Time.  He should be
thinking I want to play with a good program and I am better than those guys.  Sometimes they believe that, and sometimes they do not.  Is he afraid of a little competition.  Alabama
is a football school, and Miami is as well.  They are barely seen on TV, do you want to play at the Garden of Mississippi State?  Auburn? 

[Groin_pull]

Guys he is not coming here.

Most commits like Kendrick Nunn commit right after the visit.  Same thing in buying a car, they give you the hard at the dealership and they wont accept "I am going home to think it over"  cause the minute you leave the dealership your not coming back

Totally agree. Once a recruit leaves your campus, it's highly unlikely that he's coming back.  

[Pakuni]

Totally agree. Once a recruit leaves your campus, it's highly unlikely that he's coming back.  

Which means Johnson will not be attending any of this three finalists, I guess.

[BCHoopster]

Which means Johnson will not be attending any of this three finalists, I guess.

Does MU really need him?  I think Joel Emblid is really a future need, a 6' 5" player can be recruited every year.

[Pakuni]

Does MU really need him?  I think Joel Emblid is really a future need, a 6' 5" player can be recruited every year.

It's not like MU gets to choose.
Pretty big risk passing on a consensus top 75 player because you hope another kid chooses Marquette over the likes of Kansas, Florida, Louisville and UCLA.

[BCHoopster]

It's not like MU gets to choose.
Pretty big risk passing on a consensus top 75 player because you hope another kid chooses Marquette over the likes of Kansas, Florida, Louisville and UCLA.

No, I get that, for MU, you take any player of that caliber. He might not play much his first year anyway.

[BallBoy]

The problem with JaJuan is that he sees Blue, Mayo, Wilson, even Jake Thomas, and Burton and says to himself, I might be sitting as a freshman, they want PT Time.  He should be
thinking I want to play with a good program and I am better than those guys.  Sometimes they believe that, and sometimes they do not.  Is he afraid of a little competition.  Alabama
is a football school, and Miami is as well.  They are barely seen on TV, do you want to play at the Garden of Mississippi State?  Auburn? 

Seriously?!?!  The problem with JaJuan?  Did you talk to him?  How do you know that he doesn't think that?  You don't. You are basing on the fact he may or may not want to come to MU. If you notice for Alabama he called out it was close to home and not that he would get immediate playing time.   Just because the kid didn't commit on Sat doesn't mean it was because he felt he should get immediate playing time.  Maybe he didn't mesh with his future teammates or Buzz. Hell we don't even know if he is not going to commit.  No one has put together a reason why he isn't going to commit other than he didn't but as you see elsewhere plenty of players don't committ on their visit.  I would bet a good number don't, especially with the number of press conferences which are out there now. 

To your other point, Buzz has been targeting a SG so I assume he knows something about what he needs so why not sign a player that you will fits in to that vision.  I didn't hear Buzz pull the offer so I have to assume he still wants him.

[KenoshaWarrior]

Most players commit after a visit.  Just like most people by a car at their visit to the dealership, and most people who buy a time share do it at that the time share presentation.  It is a hard sell, and hard sells are meant to work on emotion and the fact that you feel an obligation to buy (Free Test drive, the Free Vacation in a timeshare, all the free crap you get on an official).  Once you leave the environment it is 100 times easier to say no, and way harder to say yes cause you dont feel that pressure.   

The problem we have at MU is that the school has gotten too tame, and we dont have enough Jersey Chasers with daddy problems and broken homes that are willing to take one for the team like they do at SEC and Big 10 schools