Last week Wisconsin added a fifth recruit to this fall's incoming class of freshmen. The kid's name is Ryan Evans, and he's a 6-6 forward from Phoenix. Apparently he's grown about 10 inches since his freshman year, and still growing. My thoughts:
-Like that this adds athleticism to the class, and have hopes for Robert Wilson and Evans as defenders/slashers.
-I saw at least one comparison to Ray Nixon, but when I saw the measurables and a picture, the name that came to mind was Maurice Linton.
-He seems to have been an under-the-radar type who was a long shot to land a scholarship from a BCS school. In fact, the talk had been that he might come to Madison as a walk-on. Some observers are startled at the move, but Evans was one of the best players on one of the best teams in Arizona's largest high school division, so I'm confident he has some game.
Check out this video suggested by Mr. Man. You'll see a lot of dunks, some made 3-pointers (jumper will probably need a little tweaking), and some nice hustle.
-Like the 3.3 GPA.
-Don't like that this class ties up five scholarships. Having that many tied up in one class leads to imbalance that we have not seen yet under Bo. Bo's first class had five signees, but one of them never made it to campus.
-When Schwalbach emailed me the Evans news, his subject line was "No Jamil Wilson." And my heart dropped! Because in theory, that's what this means - we now have two scholarships open for next year's class, and those are committed to Diamond Taylor and Mike Bruesewitz.
Here's the thing, though: Jamil has said he won't make his college choice official until March 8, 2009, his late mother's birthday. I've also read that he's delaying his announcement in order to get his high school teammates some recruiting attention, which if true is admirable.
As evidenced from the redshirt post, lots can happen in a year, namely transfers. I wouldn't bet against a departure from the program sometime in the next 12 months. It's inappropriate to start or advance rumors on who, but there is at least one logical candidate given the two 7-footers arriving in Madison this fall.
In the short term, it's exciting to add another prospect to next year's team. Time will tell if giving Ryan Evans a scholarship was the right move.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Introducing Ryan Evans
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5 comments:
While agree Gavinski is the most likely to go, I doubt he'd want to leave. According to him, his greatest achievement in life is being a badger. Something I'd see happening is if one of the other recruits wants to come to UW, he'd give up his scholarship and become a walkon. I believe his family can easily afford the tuition.
If Gavinkski voluntarily gave up his scholarship, that would be on the coolest things ever. He and his parents would have my eternal respect. I would actually go to the Dells and ride the ducks in their honor.
Regarding Evans, I highly encourage everyone interested to look at the following highlight reel--
http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/907/630849.mov
Obviously, it's a highlight reel, and not a live game feed, but it's impressive nonetheless. And he led his team to the state semi-finals for the first time, and should have taken them to the finals, barring a phantom technical that got called on one of his teammates with a few seconds left in the semi-final game.
I think it's unlikely, Ben Strickland gave up his scholarship on the football team (although that was for a current walkon and friend Steve Johnson.)
A guy at Washington State gave up his scholarship just earlier this year so they could add a recruit. His family had the means and he thought it would help out the team. So it's not totally outlandish.
http://wsucougars.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/100407aab.html
If that didn't work, it was junior guard Taylor Rochestie who gave up his scholly.
Millie
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