Brian Morris v. Bamba Fall

[Stallion]

it almost happened. Oak Hill the No. 1 team in the country played Morris' Jefferson team in an Oregon Tournament during the Holidays-and Jefferson almost won. Jefferson is 23-3 and still alive in the Oregon 4A Tournament semifinals. One of those losses was against Oak Hill by only 5 in a game they got outscored 28-15 in the 4thQ. Unfortunately Bamba Fall did not even make an appearance in the game. Morris had 10 points on 4-5 shooting and 2 rebounds in only 16 minutes-he fouled out.

One Oregon site stated Brian Morris, 6-8 senior post showed that he wanted the ball when it counted and came up big with tough baskets around the basket when it counted. Morris made some great passes out of the post to open players cutting down the lane or on the weak side perimeter.

Morris is somewhere between 6-7(Rivals) and 6-9 and weighs in the 260 range. He claims to have lost 15 pounds since last summer. ANYBODY KNOW HIS ACCURATE DIMENSIONS? During the Summer last year Morris was rated the No. 107 player in the country by Rivals. Despite a seemingly successful senior year he has dropped out of the Rivals Top 150 List. He is rather rare because it appears that at least he has a frame that should enable him to play early. Jefferson just won in the Quaterfinals with Morris scoring 13 pts and 7 reb. As a Senior he has averaged 16.2 ppg as of a week ago. As a Junior he was the Portland Interscholactic League's Player of the Year averaging about 16 ppg. Chosen to play at the USA Basketball Festival along with 47 others where he averaged 2.4 ppg and 4 rpg. As a Soph was Third Team All State .

Here's quote from Morris-which shows he may be a much different type of recruit we haven't seen around here in awhile.

"I love to bang the big guys. I know the reason that a lot of colleges are looking at me is because I bang. So I will do what they want me to do. A lot of dudes here are big but they want to go out and show the colleges that they can hit the jump shot but I'm going to show them what they want to see."

If nothing else it appears this is the kind of kid who can lay the wood on Bamba to simulate a tough inside game. I still think most programs in this situation would have gone for an experienced JUCO-and that SMU will suffer big-time inside next year because of recruiting deficiencies inside-but at least this guy has the body to mix it up next year.

[Hoop Fan]

Morris is a 3 star on Rivals, not bad. More importantly, he is the prototype player we need and have been missing. Lets hope he signs. Wouldnt mind getting another one like him, preferably a Juco, but I think SMU is out of scholarships if he signs. Might have to promise immediate playing time to seal the deal with Morris anyway. If I was a coach at SMU, i sure would take a chance and make a few promises of playing time to get some capable bigs. I think you have to when you are in a mid major type conference.

As for why Bamba Fall didnt play in the Jefferson game, I doubt it was a coach's decision since the guy started for Oak Hill most of the year, including the Espn game. Wonder if he had minor injury. By the way, Morris is the player I actually suggested that would complement Fall and make him better and less vulnerable to getting pushed around even if he stays skinny. A guys like Morris can match up with the other teams banger and allow Fall to do what he is going to do best, swat shots. If we get Morris, this goes from a good recruiting class for SMU to a very good class in my opinion with Willingham, Fall, Morris and Williams.

[Stallion]

If Bamba starts every game which I've never seen confirmed-its symbolic only. They split the playing time 3 ways based on what I've seen from numerous sources.

[Hoop Fan]

If Bamba starts every game which I've never seen confirmed-its symbolic only. They split the playing time 3 ways based on what I've seen from numerous sources.

whats wrong with that? The guys he is sharing time with on that team are high major recruits. David Palmer was committed to #1 Illinois at one time. And either Fall is real efficient or he got some significant minutes in their end of year championship game to get 7 blocks. Not sure why you have such a special disregard for this one guy.

[The XtC]

Oregon's 4A tournament is over. Jefferson lost to Lake Oswego a week ago, then Oswego lost to Portland Jesuit in the championship game.

Morris is a very good pickup for us, although I will be a little nervous until his name is on the bottom line. Other schools were watching, and if he hadn't injured his ankle during the season they might have pursued him harder. The injury is probably part of why his Rivals ranking dropped. Hopefully we'll get him signed in April.

Bamba did have an injury around the time of the Christmas holidays. Thats why he was here in Dallas, while his team was on the road playing. If you remember, he attended a couple games in Moody at that time.

Just out of curiousity, what are your numerous sources?

[Hoop Fan]

X, are we out of scholarships now assuming Morris signs? I've lost track due to Brian Miller's spot and I dont know how Dement Jr. counted this year.

Any news are where Chris Low might end up? I heard New Mexico State but dont know if thats right.

[Stallion]

Not all the kids in that 3 man rotation are super star recruits. 6-6 Alex Smith signed with William & Mary after getting some looks from the Ivy League type teams. But listen to what Bob Gibbons of Rivals has to say in his 1/07/05 report on the commitment of Alex Smith:

"This season Smith is in a 3 player rotation along with SMU signee 6 ft 11 Bamba Fall and unsigned 6 ft 8 David Palmer, at the post for Coach Smith. In the games I have watched the physically imposing, aggressive Alex Smith has been the most effective"

There are plenty of box scores on the internet where Bamba played limited minutes-heck he played limited minutes in the National TV game. I watched a good 2/3rds and missed him completely.

[Hoop Fan]

ok, but Smith is still a D-1 caliber player and Palmer still has high major talent whether he has signed yet or not. Sounds to me like the recruiting analyst thinks Smith might be underrated too by calling him "physically imposing". Even with that, still dont understand why you are so down on this one kid for SMU. His upside alone makes him a good recruit for SMU. I know you want a juco stud and I do too, but why does that make Fall a bad recruit which is what you have all but said? Maybe you should criticize the pickup of Williams instead of getting another big man if you need something to criticize.

And its not all about next year. Tubbs wants immediate contributors I'm sure, but he's only going into year two and needs to make sure he gets quality pieces that can put something together by his fourth and final contract season. He shouldnt panic and go after any old Juco just to make people feel better about next year.

[Stallion]

I'm raising the same questions I raised when Dontas Raskascus was called a "Top 15" Center on this board and people raved about Ike Ofoegu scoring 12 ppg in a small junior college division. As LA Mustang has pointed out for awhile SMU keeps signing long term projects especially at post and has not gotten the kind of results necessary to raise the level of play to an NIT or NCAA level. That's MY standard. Heck in MOST YEARS SMU has so many players recruited as projects they have no depth. Meanwhile the teams beating us for the last 10 years at least have almost without fail met their immediate needs with transfers, JUCO and CC players to go to championships. And that is true of the Tulsa WAC Championship teams, the UTEP NCAA Torney teams, the TCU teams under Billy Tubbs, the Hawaii teams that have made the NIT, the Fresno teams et al. The fact that SMU is going after Freshmen means a potentially good year next year won't happen. BHop's potential senior year and a nice complement at other positions except inside will go largely wasted. I think MOST programs would have the freedom to seek immediate help. Let me be clear that I think the real problem lies in past recruiting mistakes-but nevertheless we are in a 2-3 year building mode now. I have no problem with taking either Fall or Morris as long as you concede this has consequences for the near term and as long as some of you realize that Bamba may be the answer in 2008-2009 but not likely 2005-2006. I read literrally hundreds of reports on Fall and I think I'm giving the straight skinny on Fall and our fans would better served by understanding that he is a long term project and not the immediate saviour.

[The XtC]

Yes, if Morris signs and no one transfers, this is our last scholarship.

No one I've talked to knows where Chris Low is going. Maybe nowhere. There's an off-the-court issue at work here. I wont say anything more about it on the board because his parents are SMU alums and I know people who are friends with them read this.

Stallion, I read the article you quoted above, because you also referenced it once before. Afterward, I read another article on Rivals, I believe dated 2/10/05 that claimed Oak Hill was such a small school that they didnt have a basketball gym and had to play all their games on the road. Did you believe that one, too? Here is where we disagree, I dont see Rivals as being a legitimate source of information, They're a business that produces, packages and sells one product: Hype. Anything they say has to be taken with a grain of salt, alot of it will turn out to be true, but I usually like to see it written or said somewhere else to support it, before I buy it. Thats why I asked what your other sources were.
I liked Bob Gibbons long before he started writing for Rivals, he scouts alot of games and alot of players. Although he does tend to put too much emphasis on the tope tier guys, and perhaps not enough on the guys who wont be recruited by Duke, but will still make good college players. I'm sure he saw 3-4 of Oak Hills games, and wrote down his honest impressions. However, if you look at the date of that article, it was written right after the time when Bamba was struggling with a muscle strain (No jokes about how skinny he is.) So, perhaps he didnt see Bamba at his best. Alex Smith wont be a center in college. He's a physical player, but at 6'6" he'll be a forward.

In a different post I mentioned that Morris was 6'8" and 260. Thats what I believe his real dimensions are. Weight probably fluctuates somewhat during the season.

[Stallion]

so what year do you think he is going to make a strong contribution to the team. 2005 at 7 ft 200 pounds. Look I'm not going to post all the luke warm reviews I've seen about the kid but there are plenty out there. Most do say that he has a large upside which I readily admit but he has got a lot of work to do as far as I've heard. He is reputed to have extremely raw offensive skills and physically simply is not ready for Division 1A next year. I'm sure his lack of offensive polish has been made even worse by the fact that he doesn't even get a chance to polish them on his AAU, Nike and Oak Hill teams. We have too many people on this board who have had unrealistic expectations for every single football and basketball team during the last 15 years. I think my view of Bamba Fall is much more in line with the general consensus than those expecting him to produce significantly in the next two years.

[Hoop Fan]

For the tenth time, I'd like a juco all american center in here for next year too, but I guess I just dont feel like fantasizing right now. Even if we got one, that doesnt effect Falls worth and potential worth. And who exactly has made these whopping assertions that Fall is going to be a developed, polished player by next year? What I have said has been consistent all along which is I think the guy could help us defensively right now, meaning this year I think he would have been a bigger defensive presence than Castro and Simpson. I'm looking for ways this team can improve and post defense was a huge issue this year, moreso than overall scoring offense. Anything that can help us on defensive ability can help this team. I'd like to see Fall come off the bench for 10-15 minutes a game next year. As I said before, I dont expect any offense from him to start out. Is Fall a top big man? No, not right now, but at least he has the chance to be with his size and good lateral movement along the baseline. Rack has been hurt, but he never moved well. Different type of player. At least we now have a center with defensive potential. I cant remember the last time I said that about any SMU recruit, so dont imply this is one more in the line of hyped recruits by me.

[RGV Pony]

If you're talking about Chris Low from Tyler and TK Gorman, well I must say I didn't know he was interested in transferring from ASU. I used to play golf with his dad in Tyler...nice guy.

[Stallion]

he has already transferred and is sitting out this year at a local CC. I don't think he is probably the answer either.

[White Helmet]

Arguing with Stallion about anything optimistic is pointless. Stallion would be upset if we signed Derek Caracter or Darrel Arthur. "Gee these guys are decent but I want something better." Every college team in the country...every single one... is looking for a good big man, the problem is if you are a big man that already has offensive and defensive skills you are looking to cash that big NBA pay check. Even good NCAA teams are big man defecient, Cincinatti 8th in the country in rebounding and not a starter of 6'7", Illinois who plays down low for them Roger Powell Jr and Augustine neither is an offensive threat, decent rebounders but neither is gonna give you a 20 point outing. Even teams we play in conference with are not exactly big man dominant, Fazekas looked good last night except when he was trying to defend Klotz in the second half where he looked like a lost little kid getting posted up like someones little brother in the driveway. Fazekas good offense, defense is suspect. What do you want? You are not gonna get both offense and defense. If fall comes in here and blocks 4 or 5 shots and alters 5 or 6 more thats great thats 10 shots that arent going in. So stallion unless you can give a specific name of a big man with both offense and defense that would even thinking of playing here and let all of us know about your mythical big man, then maybe you should just be happy with what we have which will be a defensive improvment over last year.