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Good length, combo guard. We had a needed another point, so glad we can get someone who can play that spot if we need. Sounds a little like Shake from descriptions - basically does a little of everything and his team won the state title 2 of the last 3 years.

There was a lot of buzz about him being the player of the year in Arkansas and taking a step forward, but he didn't really take it and was second team all state. People wanted him to take over and dominate, but he is a team guy and does what it takes for his team to win. Sounds like he had offers from several mid majors.

JasonB wrote:Good length, combo guard. We had a needed another point, so glad we can get someone who can play that spot if we need. Sounds a little like Shake from descriptions - basically does a little of everything and his team won the state title 2 of the last 3 years.

There was a lot of buzz about him being the player of the year in Arkansas and taking a step forward, but he didn't really take it and was second team all state. People wanted him to take over and dominate, but he is a team guy and does what it takes for his team to win. Sounds like he had offers from several mid majors.

Really, what offers?

He is an enigma. Highly rated player his senior year and Arkansas puts out a few pretty good players. There has to be a back story to this.

JasonB wrote:Sounds like he had offers from several mid majors.

zero offers. i've scoured for evidence, if you can, please provide proof of ANY offer, much less a "mid-major".

verbalcommits.com doesn't even show an SMU offer (much less commit), and they create a player profile page only after an offer is created. 247 profile has ONLY SMU visit, offer, commit.

Well we gave him a scholarship so that page is slightly delayed, but I have not seen any other offers.

Some blogs I read said he wasn’t the 4th best On a state team, but when given a chance he was probably the best player an if he kept his progress might be the best player in Ark. looks like a solid everything player but not a lot of flash. Serious utility. We need bodies and if he doesn’t work, he may not fit going forward. Let’s hope he does. I keep thinking of Elijah, tom w, big Aussie, sedrick....

Some of the blogs I read indicated he was being offered by several mid-majors. It could be that those were "pending" offers, or that they came from mid-major programs that don't tie into the services as much?

The discrepancy is probably that those schools expected that step up that everyone else was waiting for, and it never happened - he just continued to be a very solid role player. So they verbally said they were going to offer and then never pulled the trigger when he didn't take a step forward.

Kind of interesting, it seems that his projection as the 8th best player in the state going into the year was based on some time his Junior year when their star guard was injured and he stepped in and had some huge games. But he just kind of stayed in role player mode.

The athleticism is there to compete at the D1 level. Nice consistent and quick release. He might just be a solid glue guy. Definitely more 2 than 1.

https://247sports.com/college/southern- ... 119674365/

mrydel wrote:He is an enigma. Highly rated player his senior year and Arkansas puts out a few pretty good players. There has to be a back story to this.

Hopefully Jank will break the code to fully cultivate CJ’s potential.

So it is...July. We need a PG. We had not landed a single HS commitment in exactly 8 months. He has zero offers. And, while, he may be a reasonable take for the 11th, 12th, or 13th spot on the bench as a long-term development, we're taking him while still under sanctions, and when he can't make an immediate impact on any meaningful level. And we've reached the stage where we have to "hope" Jank somehow unlocks his potential far enough down the road that his tenure will either be a success or mired in failure by that point. Reads a lot like an SMU hoops recruiting story from an era with 2500 fans in an outdated arena with the hopes that one day we might get into the CBI.

SMU: 1
Prep Schools: 0

DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:

mrydel wrote:He is an enigma. Highly rated player his senior year and Arkansas puts out a few pretty good players. There has to be a back story to this.

Hopefully Jank will break the code to fully cultivate CJ’s potential.

Yes, like he did Tom Wilson, Froling, Barefield, Dashawn, Landrum, Ray.......

I still say there is some kind of back story to this kid. No reason he would not at least have offers from UALR or UAPB, or even ASU. Something does not add up. I am hoping we have stumbled onto something good, but until I can learn what the deal is, I just do not understand the whole situation.

Maybe he’s like Dennis Rodman. His only offer was Eastern Oklahoma (or whatever it was). Or maybe he’s 25 like the kid at Hillcrest.

Looks like someone to compete with Memphis Doug for minutes. Never know how big a heart and desire a kid has until he arrives on campus and either clicks or doesn't. Obviously has skills.

mrydel wrote:I still say there is some kind of back story to this kid. No reason he would not at least have offers from UALR or UAPB, or even ASU. Something does not add up. I am hoping we have stumbled onto something good, but until I can learn what the deal is, I just do not understand the whole situation.

Here is what I've built out...

Was a role player on his HS team, which was a good team the past three years. Late in his junior year, one of the big players was injured and he took a bigger role and did really well. Because that player graduated, he was expected to blow up this past season. Made top ten lists across Arkansas. On the list for several mid-majors.

Then, this past season, he settled back into the role player mode for a team that went to the state championship. Team leader, and does a lot of things, but didn't score a ton. good luck finding stats for his HS league. Only thing I saw was him averaging 10 PPG in 8 games as a junior).

Played AAU for the first time in the spring of 2018...his AAU team is The Woodz.. He also only played for them half a season, but actually came in and played decent minutes and integrated with the team quickly:

https://www.woodzelite.com/news_article/show/932013

Either way, colleges watch AAU, and his HS basketball team obviously isn't very visible if their statistics aren't online. So, he had a couple of months this spring in front of college scouts. Has good size, plays well defensively, and has a decent shot with a quick release.

On The Woodz roster, they list him as class of 2019. This could be the case of someone who reclassified at the last minute? Reclassification might help clarify why schools were said to be offering but never pulled the trigger.

My take is that we were hoping to hit on a couple of players here at the end of the cycle, some HS, some GT. We missed, White reclassified at some point, we saw or heard something decent and decided to take a reach. Hoopmanx might know something else, but this guy only playing half a season of AAU would explain why he isn't on anyone's radar.