Weekly recruiting roundup
A new junior target has emerged on the Maryland basketball program's radar.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported this week that the Terps are watching Aaron Brown, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound small forward from Penn Wood High in Lansdowne, Pa.
Maryland and Providence have expressed interest. If Maryland is eliminated early from the NCAA tourney, Terrapins coach Gary Williams is scheduled to visit Penn Wood next week.
• Word of God Academy (N.C.) power forward C.J. Leslie revealed his top five this week in a diary for DimeMag.com.
The crazy thing is I have the same list, but I read stuff that says I’ve cut my list of schools. It’s still UCLA, Oregon, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky and N.C. State.
• Progressive Christian Academy power forward Moses Abraham appears to be down to two schools, according to The Washington Post.
As for Maryland, [Joe] Boncore said he spoke to Terrapins coaches multiple times on Sunday, but has had no contact with them since then. At this point it would appear that Indiana and Georgetown are the two programs primarily in contention for Abraham's services.
• Maryland targets Quinn Cook and Mikael Hopkins powered DeMatha to an 89-38 win over Cathedral (Ontario) on Thursday in the opening round of the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament in Frostburg.
Cook had a game-high 18 points and six assists, Hopkins added 16 points and eight rebounds ...
• Maryland women's commitments Alyssa Thomas and Natasha Cloud met in the second round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AAAA tournament Tuesday. Cloud had 15 points, five rebounds, three steals, three assists and two blocked shots for Cardinal O'Hara, but Thomas' Central Dauphin squad prevailed.
Thomas, who helped Central Dauphin win the PIAA Class AAAA championship as a sophomore, was 9-for-16 from the floor and 9-for-10 at the foul line for 27 points and added 10 rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot to help the Rams (21-6) to a 50-42 state tournament second round win over Cloud and the Lions at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School Tuesday night.
Thomas will lead Central Dauphin against Cheltenham in a quarterfinal matchup tonight.
Alyssa Thomas might find enough room to roam in the open floor to score 35 or more points. Cheltenham isn't a walk-the-ball-up-the-floor team, and the tempo could be high octane from the opening tap. Thomas has scored 727 points this season alone. For most players, that's a pretty good career.
Football recruiting
• PressBox contributor Dave Lomonico took an extensive look this week at Maryland's in-state recruiting.
Ron Darby, a speed-burner from nearby Potomac High, received a verbal offer from Maryland before his sophomore year. Owings Mills junior offensive tackle Donovan Smith already has multiple Division I offers, but Maryland was one of the first schools on board.
"Sooner or later I’ll have to narrow down my favorites list," Smith said. "But Maryland will be there until the end because they offered me before these other schools."
• Ballou (D.C.) lineman Jamar Lewter visited College Park earlier this month.
“The only school I visited was Maryland a few weeks ago for the Duke game,” he said. “It was good. This time I attended a basketball game and it was just like the football game, even a little bit more hyped since they beat Duke.
• Red Lion, Pa., lineman Andrew Zeller has picked up an offer from the Terps.
“Duke offered me on Friday and then Maryland offered on Monday,” Zeller said on Thursday afternoon. “I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from schools. I’ve heard from UConn, and I’ve actually visited there. I’ve heard from Georgia Tech, Illinois, Oregon, Michigan State, Vanderbilt and Temple.”
Categories: Weekly recruiting roundup
Comments
Hey Matt why does it seem like Gary is only going swing players? Is MD the leaders for any bigs?
Posted by: Human | March 19, 2010 11:54 AM
Matt-
Thats an awfully small class next year. I guess we trust GW, but you figure he had to have wanted 1 more big man 6'9 or larger.
The thing is, Gary will get the most out of who he has, but, is it enough to get us over the hump, and back in the top 10?
Posted by: Ryan | March 19, 2010 12:18 PM
Matt- Looks like MD will not be a player for Leslie at all. Are there any other impact big guys that MD is looking at for 2010. any JUCO players that could help MD next year.
Love the way Jordan Williams plays. Pairing him with an athletic big guy would be an unbelievable duo.
I can't believe that a kid who could go almost anywhere would consider NC State. Sidney Lowe has done nothing with that program.
Oregon I understand (Nike).
Posted by: TL | March 19, 2010 1:55 PM
Human -- They're in the mix for Desmond Hubert for 2011. I'm sure more will emerge this summer. We didn't know about Jordan Williams or James Padgett until the summer before their senior years.
Ryan -- I think they feel comfortable with Williams, Padgett, Gregory and Pankey as their big men next year. They obviously have to address those needs in 2011.
TL -- There aren't any 2010 big guys that I know of that are serious targets. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but I haven't heard of any. I don't believe McKnight or Reddic were ever offered.
Posted by: Matt Bracken | March 19, 2010 3:13 PM
Matt-
This comment is NOT a rag on MD.
I see where Leslie has Oregon as does Ross.
What is wrong with these kids? They must pray they don't score over 20 points because they would run out of fingers and toes to count.
A program that has totally collapsed and now fired their coach. Meanwhile, MD is the 3rd winningest program in ACC play.
National champs, final 4s national games, play Duke and UNC.
I will NEVER figure out how these kids can't see the best way to teh NBA is through exposure and a solid coach, solid program.
Posted by: Ryan | March 20, 2010 12:59 AM
Ryan
These are 16 and 17 year old kids. Yur lucky if they remember to bring their tennis shoes to the game. The problem is the AAU coaches, mentors, hangers on... They are looking to "cash in" on these kids so NIKE.. summer camp pay outs, etc...
Posted by: Brian Wilson | March 20, 2010 11:51 AM
Ryan- Oregon has the power and wallet of Phil Knight and Nike behind them.
Matt, can correct me if I am wrong but I would imagine that Nike is probably the most powerful or one of the three most powerful corporations involved in sponsoring AAU basketball. A lot of these AAU coaches seem to be part coach/agent/handler and certainly are worried about there own interests as well. They wield a huge amount of influence and power over the decisions that their players make. Remember we are talking about 17 and 18 year old kids who have lived in a bubble.
I am actually shocked that Oregon does not have a top 5 recruiting class in football and basketball every year.
Posted by: TL | March 20, 2010 1:54 PM
Matt - do you know if UMD is pursuing any JUCO big men? i would love to see them get a JUCO big man. much better than having one class with 6 kids.
Posted by: Steve | March 20, 2010 2:49 PM
Steve -- I'm not aware of any JUCO big men they're after. Doesn't mean that they aren't recruiting any, but I haven't heard of anything at this point.
Posted by: Matt Bracken | March 20, 2010 2:59 PM
Matt----
I havent been following the recruiting to close, so forgive me if this has been answered long ago:
1) Including Aaron Brown and the two incoming small forwards, do you see any of them following Millbourne as a quick smaller power forward, or moving to shooting guard?
2) Is Terrence Ross a dead issue as far as UM staff are concerned?
Posted by: Jonathan Bryan | March 21, 2010 11:14 AM
Reddic is going to VCU. We probably never offered though.
Posted by: Joe | March 21, 2010 1:52 PM
Jonathan Bryan -- Haukur Palsson is kind of a bigger small forward. Not sure if he's quite in the Milbourne mold, but I think he might be closer to that than Mychal Parker. And Ross is definitely a 'dead issue' as far as the Terps are concerned.
Posted by: Matt Bracken | March 22, 2010 10:51 PM