Likely big men for 2014 class

[Dawson Rental]

I hope that everyone likes Tory Miller, a 6-8 230 kid who plays at New Hampton School, and Johnathon Wilkins, 6-9 220 kid from La Lumiere School because those two are the guys that MU is most likely to get from this class.

Paul White seems headed to Arizona.  Goodluck Okonoboh is likely (shudder) Indiana bound.  Sean O'Mara has MU on his list, but it is a loooong list.  Myles Turner will be hard to get away from the Big 12.

If Buzz can land two bigs like Miller and Wilkins, we will be very fortunate, IMO.

[BCHoopster]

Paul White is more like a small forward, not physically big.  More like Bo Ellis in stature.  McKay and Taylor are better, Burton might be as well.  The 2 bigs you mentioned will be fine,
Miller is built like Devante a little bit.

[NotAnAlum]

Accept that we'll be small but fast in 2014-15 season.  Then clear the decks and bet the farm on Diamond Stone in 2015-16.  We could offer Diamond as many minutes as he can take with Taylor sliding back to the 4. 

[Jay Bee]

MANY possibilities.

Absolutely agree on Paul White - more of a 3/4 wingish guy than a big.

[TedBaxter]

Who knows which way next years class will fall. 

I'll be very honest, I see a ton of potential with Wilkins, but it's potential and you can't predict what he will be like in 4 years.  Not sure where MU stands with the likes of Miller, White and Malek Harris, although I don't want to categorize White and Harris as bigs right now.  Let's not forget, 6-8 240 Canadian Ray Kasongo is spending next year at St. John's Military Academy, so he could be looked at as well.

I don't worry about Buzz finding players.

[TheTulsaWarrior]

The thing about high school post players is many times they develop late.  I wish I had a dollar for everyone who did and a dollar for everyone who has the body but not the drive to develop.  Green Bay has an example of each.  They one that developed was Alec Brown.  He may be a first round NBA draft pick.  They had another seven footer from Menomonee Falls who transferred out after one year to a D3 program. 

How many times has Marquette under earlier coaches gone after a big based only on potential?

[Ellenson Guerrero]

I hope that everyone likes Tory Miller, a 6-8 230 kid who plays at New Hampton School, and Johnathon Wilkins, 6-9 220 kid from La Lumiere School because those two are the guys that MU is most likely to get from this class.

Paul White seems headed to Arizona.  Goodluck Okonoboh is likely (shudder) Indiana bound.  Sean O'Mara has MU on his list, but it is a loooong list.  Myles Turner will be hard to get away from the Big 12.

If Buzz can land two bigs like Miller and Wilkins, we will be very fortunate, IMO.

You phrase this post like landing Miller and Wilkins would be a bad haul. I'd be very happy with having those two up front. Okonoboh is the dream but has probably risen above our level, the Turner kid would be great but not a huge upgrade over Miller/Wilkins, I'll pass on O'Mara. White is likely AZ bound but you never know, and he really would be competing for time out on the wing, not solving any post problems.

The only downside from nabbing Miller or Wilkns would be giving Stone the appearance of competition for minutes.

[Jay Bee]

You phrase this post like landing Miller and Wilkins would be a bad haul. I'd be very happy with having those two up front. Okonoboh is the dream but has probably risen above our level, the Turner kid would be great but not a huge upgrade over Miller/Wilkins, I'll pass on O'Mara. White is likely AZ bound but you never know, and he really would be competing for time out on the wing, not solving any post problems.

The only downside from nabbing Miller or Wilkns would be giving Stone the appearance of competition for minutes.

Disagree on a few things, including Turner. He can be sensational overall, already a big time difference maker on defense. He'd be a tremendous addition.

[BCHoopster]

Buzz will take whomever decides first, he can not be picky when the center position is really open for 2014.  In looking at Top kids, it looks like Buzz will still have a hard time convincing
them to come to MU.  Kansas, NC, Duke, Arizona, Michigan, MSU, even IU get first dips.  That is why it really is amazing what Brad Stevens did at Butler, he gets 3rd or 4th tier kids. That
is a sign of a truly great coach, not a ball roller like most of those coaches.  As much as we all are enamored by Coach K, how really good is he at Duke?  Buzz, Bo Ryan, Brad Stevens,
Shaka Smart, those are really good coaches, they coach there players up.  Surprisingly this is why it is hard to understand why more kids do not gravitate to good coaches.  Hopefully,
Diamond Stone will see that.  I think how Duane Wilson plays this year and how much he likes it at MU will make a big difference in his recruitment of Stone.

[Windyplayer]

As much as we all are enamored by Coach K, how really good is he at Duke?  

Please don't lump us all into this category. However, Coach K built that program from the ground up so I'm guessing he's a pretty good coach to get them to where they are now. Obviously, having top flight talent year in, year out can obscure your ability to coach, but I'm pretty sure he's OK with that. And I actually don't think it's all that obscured--have you heard Vitale on ESPN lately, or any other talking head for that matter? I'm actually kinda disappointed that he hasn't walked on water yet.

[MUMonster03]

Please don't lump us all into this category. However, Coach K built that program from the ground up so I'm guessing he's a pretty good coach to get them to where they are now. Obviously, having top flight talent year in, year out can obscure your ability to coach, but I'm pretty sure he's OK with that. And I actually don't think it's all that obscured--have you heard Vitale on ESPN lately, or any other talking head for that matter? I'm actually kinda disappointed that he hasn't walked on water yet.

Once you build the program and win consistently then it is easier to get the big names there. I'm sure Coach K goy out recruited on some guys early on before landing Laettner, Hurley, and Hill who took them to the next level. There is a reason why USA basketball wated him and are begging for him to stay on for one more Olympics. As other coaches proved you can't just walk in and win with 12 superstars, you have to make them buy in to what you are doing and play as a team.

[Windyplayer]

For what it's worth, in Coach K's first three seasons at Duke, he compiled 47 losses accounting for 19.7% of his losses in 33 seasons as Duke's head coach.

[GGGG]

As much as we all are enamored by Coach K, how really good is he at Duke?  Buzz, Bo Ryan, Brad Stevens,
Shaka Smart, those are really good coaches, they coach there players up. 

Uh...what???

Are you seriously asking how good Coach K is?  4 national championships, 11 final fours, 12 ACC Regular Season titles and 13 ACC tournament championships?

And you are comparing him to Bo, Buzz, Stevens and Smart?  With 3 combined final fours between them.

Seriously, did you just insinuate that Shaka Smart coaches up his players more than Coach K does???

[Spotcheck Billy]

I give Coack K a ton of credit for being a great motivator as shown by his Olympic teams (besides his Duke squads)

[Windyplayer]

Uh...what???

Are you seriously asking how good Coach K is?  4 national championships, 11 final fours, 12 ACC Regular Season titles and 13 ACC tournament championships?

And you are comparing him to Bo, Buzz, Stevens and Smart?  With 3 combined final fours between them.

Seriously, did you just insinuate that Shaka Smart coaches up his players more than Coach K does???

If I coached for 40 years, I could do that, too. Law of averages.

[MU Buff]

If I coached for 40 years, I could do that, too. Law of averages.

Haha, well played.

[bilsu]

I would say that Coach K has been significantly more successful than Dean Smith or Boheim who are other all-time winningest coaches. Boheim has one title and Smith had one, maybe two. I believe Bobby Knight, Coach K's mentor, had three national titles and 900 wins. Rupp at Kentucky had several titles, but that was another era in college basketball where many schools would not accept blacks. The only more successful coach was John Wooden base on his 10 titles in 12 years.

[Dawson Rental]

MANY possibilities.

Absolutely agree on Paul White - more of a 3/4 wingish guy than a big.

Who knows which way next years class will fall.

I'll be very honest, I see a ton of potential with Wilkins, but it's potential and you can't predict what he will be like in 4 years.  Not sure where MU stands with the likes of Miller, White and Malek Harris, although I don't want to categorize White and Harris as bigs right now.  Let's not forget, 6-8 240 Canadian Ray Kasongo is spending next year at St. John's Military Academy, so he could be looked at as well.

I don't worry about Buzz finding players.

I'll come clean and admit that I couldn't find much encouraging news on the bigger name big guys MU was linked to and my post was kind of trolling for some more positive news from others more in the know.  As you guys point out, its early, there are many possibilities, and most of all, in Buzz we trust (for B-ball talent, anyway).

[Dawson Rental]

You phrase this post like landing Miller and Wilkins would be a bad haul. I'd be very happy with having those two up front. Okonoboh is the dream but has probably risen above our level, the Turner kid would be great but not a huge upgrade over Miller/Wilkins, I'll pass on O'Mara. White is likely AZ bound but you never know, and he really would be competing for time out on the wing, not solving any post problems.

The only downside from nabbing Miller or Wilkns would be giving Stone the appearance of competition for minutes.

While I ended saying that Miller and Wilkins would be good gets, I did down play them down at the start to kind of provoke a respond from anyone who might have better news.

As to the possibility of Stone shying away from MU due to the prospect of having to compete for minutes, I predict that if Diamond goes to a school other than MU, it will be to a school that has more competition in the post than MU, not less.

[JakeBarnes]

I really like what I see in Myles Turner.  He seems very set on the Big 12 (or at least that is where he is being the most recruited), but I like his defensive game and how he seems to be a very big student of the game.  Love in this clip all of his talk of "family" and development.  Two big angles you know Buzz is emphasizing are Marquette cornerstones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PT4aB3qBFs