Ben Eze has decommitted from Harvard....visiting Pitt

[ChicosBailBonds]

Sorry if this was posted elsewhere.  Pitt is all over him apparently.

[Gwaki]

Well I saw this week on ESPN that Harvard had some problems with somethign like rule violations for recruits so that could be this problem.  I guess they were letting players in who didn't meet their standards and it was ticking off other ivy league shcools since harvard doesnt offer scholarships to bball players

[spiral97]

interesting.. are we going to let the fact that we're over-committed by one get in the way of recruiting him again?

[mosarsour]

interesting.. are we going to let the fact that we're over-committed by one get in the way of recruiting him again?

God, I hope not!

[bma725]

interesting.. are we going to let the fact that we're over-committed by one get in the way of recruiting him again?

It isn't stopping Pitt, who is already over committed by 2.  They only lose Benjamin, Cook and Ramon.  But they've got 5 guys already committed, including former MU target Dwight Miller, and Tyshawn Taylor's teammate Travon Woodall.

[downtown85]

i hear ben eze is a beast down low.  we don't need anyone like that, we should be out looking for another guard. 

[nyg]

This de-commitment was probably based upon the inquiry being conducted by Harvard trustees in recruiting guidelines.  Ben-Eze did not have a good senior year playing at O'Connell in the DC Catholic League.  I do not know his final statistics, but I am presuming it was about seven points per game. 

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

i hear ben eze is a beast down low.  we don't need anyone like that, we should be out looking for another guard. 

Dude scored 8 points a game this season. Beast.

[nyg]

He would be a project, hopefully Chris Otule is alittle more advanced at this stage.  The real star  at O'Connell High School is Ben-Eze's teammate Kendrell Marshall, class of 2010 point guard, a five star recruit who has already committed to North Carolina.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

Well, if you have a 5star PG like the one nyg mentioned, Ben-Eze doesn't need to drop 20 points a game. 

What are his other stats?  Boards, blocks, steals, assists...maybe he's a good passer?  Anyone know?

[Murffieus]

Gray is doing well in the NBA----Pitt has good leverage because of that!

[nyg]

I tried to locate stats, but unsuccessful. Saw him play against DeMatha early in the year and he was pretty slow on his feet, but energetic and trying hard. 

[Eye]

I'm guessing you're very surprised Gray is playing well in the NBA Murf?

[Murffieus]

Yes I am surprised as he's doing better than I expected----not exactly setting the NBA afire, but a good prospect going forward!

Averaging 4 ppg in 9 mpg. Saw him play the other day and has decent court saavy!

[🏀]

Yes I am surprised as he's doing better than I expected----not exactly setting the NBA afire, but a good prospect going forward!

Averaging 4 ppg in 9 mpg. Saw him play the other day and has decent court saavy!

By NBA afire you mean like that dime-a-dozen PG has been playing?

[bma725]

Well, if you have a 5star PG like the one nyg mentioned, Ben-Eze doesn't need to drop 20 points a game. 

What are his other stats?  Boards, blocks, steals, assists...maybe he's a good passer?  Anyone know?

Right now, he's not particularly skilled at anything.  He's just a big guy that you hope can develop because he's got above average athletic ability.  He's only been playing basketball for a little over 3 years, and it would be a few years before he's ready for prime time.  Otule is much further along and put up much better numbers in a tougher conference. 

If MU is going to continue recruiting bigs while being overbooked, than Luka Mirkovic is a much better option.  He's also 6'11, but he's your typical skilled European big man.  MU is in his final three along with Louisville and DePaul.  He's already visited MU unofficially, and plans to visit officially next month.  He fills a bigger need than Ben-Eze at this point.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

Well, if you have a 5star PG like the one nyg mentioned, Ben-Eze doesn't need to drop 20 points a game. 

What are his other stats?  Boards, blocks, steals, assists...maybe he's a good passer?  Anyone know?

Right now, he's not particularly skilled at anything.  He's just a big guy that you hope can develop because he's got above average athletic ability.  He's only been playing basketball for a little over 3 years, and it would be a few years before he's ready for prime time.  Otule is much further along and put up much better numbers in a tougher conference. 

If MU is going to continue recruiting bigs while being overbooked, than Luka Mirkovic is a much better option.  He's also 6'11, but he's your typical skilled European big man.  MU is in his final three along with Louisville and DePaul.  He's already visited MU unofficially, and plans to visit officially next month.  He fills a bigger need than Ben-Eze at this point.

Aww, well in that case, SWEET!

I donno why, but I was under the impression the Ben-Eze was a beast.  Glad to hear that Otule seems to be the better guy, and he's coming to MU.

And hmm...Luka Mirkovic, 'ey?

Per Rivals:
Ht: 6-foot-10
Wt: 205 lbs (?!  Damn...it's sad that at 5'8, I weigh more than him.  And I'm not even all that much of a fatty...husky, you could say)
Shooting: Outstanding (that's good, Novak's 6'10)
Rebounding: Good
Handle: Good
Passing: Good
Strength: Developing (If he's only 205 lbs, 196 of that better be muscle.  This is Blackledge skinny, we're talking)
Class: 2008 (High School)

Personally, I'd like to see more traditional bigs.  Someone like Burke stretched out to be a couple inches taller...and with a better skill set, of course.

[Marquette84]

First, the scholarship situation should be no problem for any team.   Ben-Eze was already prepared to pay his own way, as the Ivy has no athletic scholarships.  If Ben-Eze could afford Harvard, he can afford Pitt or MU.

[ChicosBailBonds]

NY Times (take it for what it's worth) is reporting UCONN, BC, Pitt, DePaul, Rutgers, Cincinnati have all called in the last day.  



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/sports/ncaabasketball/11harvard.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[The Lens]

i hear ben eze is a beast down low.  we don't need anyone like that, we should be out looking for another guard. 

Dude scored 8 points a game this season. Beast.

I think what TC needs to do is take multiple post players in the same class and hope one pans out.

[Marquette84]

Yes I am surprised as he's doing better than I expected----not exactly setting the NBA afire, but a good prospect going forward!

Averaging 4 ppg in 9 mpg. Saw him play the other day and has decent court saavy!

If Gray's Pitt experience led to poor expectations, why would they have "leverage" in recruiting? 

I don't think it's a strong argument to tell a player "Come to Pitt and we'll make sure people have low expectations for you--that way if you average 9 minutes/4 point a game in the NBA, people will be surprised at how well you're playing."

The unstated implication here is that Dixon had something to do with Gray making the NBA.  In reality, Gray's favorable gene pool deserves about 99.9% of the credit. 

[4everwarriors]

First, the scholarship situation should be no problem for any team.   Ben-Eze was already prepared to pay his own way, as the Ivy has no athletic scholarships.  If Ben-Eze could afford Harvard, he can afford Pitt or MU.



While the Ivies don't extend athletic scholarships per se, do not for one minute think financial aid wouldn't be made available to a recruit athlete. Its called grant-in-aid, aka, athletic scholarship.

[bma725]

Per Rivals:
Ht: 6-foot-10
Wt: 205 lbs (?!  Damn...it's sad that at 5'8, I weigh more than him.  And I'm not even all that much of a fatty...husky, you could say)
Shooting: Outstanding (that's good, Novak's 6'10)
Rebounding: Good
Handle: Good
Passing: Good
Strength: Developing (If he's only 205 lbs, 196 of that better be muscle.  This is Blackledge skinny, we're talking)
Class: 2008 (High School)

Personally, I'd like to see more traditional bigs.  Someone like Burke stretched out to be a couple inches taller...and with a better skill set, of course.

I'm not sure how accurate the weight information is.  Most listings have him at 6'11 220.  But the information seems to vary depending on the source.   He was originally a DePaul commit in September but decided not to sign, and an article on Scout from back then listed him at 6'11 and 230.  An article from a month ago on Scout lists him at 6'11 and 220.  HoopScoop has him at 6'11 220.  Rivals says he's 6'11 205.  HoopMasters had him at 6'9 205 a month ago but back when he signed he was listed at 6'11 220.  Depending on what is correct, that's possibly bigger than Novak as a freshman.

I don't know that he's necessarily a Novak type player.  Louisville seems to view him as a Padget type player.  Someone with a  inside skills who has a good jump shot, not necessarily a guy that will make his living outside of the arc.  He averaged 25 points and 13 rebounds this year, so at the very least he's go the skill to make a difference.  Louisville is the leader right now, in part because played his high school ball for DelRay Brooks, who played for Pitino at Providence.

[MarquetteVol]

For a reasons even I don't understand, I've watched a lot of Bulls games this year. I find it to be an enormous stretch to suggest a college prospect would choose Pitt because Aaron Gray plays garbage minutes for a horrendous NBA team. He's a sluggish, un-athletic 7-footer who can't hold his own on defense at this level.

Now, if Ben-Eze was looking at Florida, I could buy the argument that he's impressed with the NBA success of Horford and Noah. They are both much, much better pro prospects than Gray.

[MarquetteVol]

Personally, I'd like to see more traditional bigs.  Someone like Burke stretched out to be a couple inches taller...and with a better skill set, of course.

I'd prefer a couple of big men in the mold of Beasley or Durant. You know, near 7-footers who can post, dribble, shoot the 3 and completely dominate every facet of the game. Let's get a couple of guys with that skill set.