Slightly OT : Marcus Sikes

[Duke Dawg]

Gordon Johnson's teammate, Marcus Sikes, signed with Georgia over offers from Iowa State, Georgia State and others.

I think pg, '84, Dukester and I all agreed that Sikes was a little better than Johnson (at least I did), but Gordon had the better numbers at Notre Dame.

I wish we had gone after Sikes. He would have been a star in the CAA.

[dukaholic]

Good luck to Sikes there, I know I wouldn't wanna be going to UGA right now....DD, was he an SEC quality player, or was UGA just in a scramble to fill some holes now?

And where is PG?

[Dukester]

Must admit I'm a little surprised Georgia (& Iowa St) offered him a 'ship. Interesting how those two schools have had very troubling off-seasons. I agree he was a little better then Gordon.

I saw him play some in the regional game of the capitol classic and he appeared a little over matched. I like his size & focus. It will be interesting to see how he does in the SEC. It seems to me he would be a bench warmer at best for a top 25 team, but we'll see.......

[Duke Dawg]

He'll make it at Georgia, no doubt about it. I only saw him the one game, but I thought he was definetly a higher caliber player than the CAA. He's 6'6"-6'7" with good physical size (not skinny at all), can handle the rock and has a very smooth jumper out to the three point line. He would have been a very tough matchup for most CAA wing guards/forwards.

At the time we saw him, he had grade issues and the only schools recruiting him were mid-majors and A10 schools. I believe he I read he had verballed to UVa after his junior year.

[dukaholic]

I don't remember ever hearing about his verbal to UVA after last year but I could be wrong...

[Dukes84]

This just goes to show you that teams can still ink quality players during the Spring signing period. Georgia and Iowa State are big-time programs and for some reason I had thought that West Virginia had been interested in him as well at some point. DD, I agree that on that particular night that Sikes was a little better than Johnson. Johnson's a little big bigger and perhaps more athletic; Sikes is more confident and aggressive and a better shooter. Ironically, the Post named Johnson and the guard from Notre Dame Academy (Joe Posey) to the Independent league All-Conference team, but not Sikes.

This is also affirmation that Johnson is a pretty good player (given the level of interest in Sikes). I definitely rate Johnson as a better player than Cathlin, for example, but Cathlin seems to be more highly regarded by Hoopscoop. It's tough to tell, though, because they're included in different categories (4th year player vs. 5th year player). In any event, as I've said before, I doubt that any incoming JMU recruit (Freshman class) is as good or better than Johnson. Johnson may start as a Freshman and/or get significant playing time. Keep in mind that Kossepka is coming off a major knee injury and might not be ready to go at the outset.

This also begs the question, as DD said: "Why didn't JMU recruit Sikes?" If the coaching staff had done their homework, they would have noticed this guy. Doing your homework, means scouring scouting services, attending camps, games, talking to sources, etc. From what I saw, he would have been a better player than Cathlin, for example.

From reading a number of posts and some rankings, I'm coming away with the impression that the CAA did quite well in recruiting for basketball, especially with a late Spring push. Saving a ship or two for the Spring might not be bad idea. Wilmington, ODU, Drexel, Hofstra, Delaware, Mason and even Towson have had good recruiting classes. W&M has at least one very good pick-up as well and VCU has been in the running for some excellent players.

DD and Dukester -- We should set up on our basketball recruiting network. That would be a lot of fun!

[jski1977]

I think JMU's recruiting class stacks up pretty nicely this year. And not just because 3/4 of their team will be freshman next season!

I'm not really too aware of what schools got what recruits late

ODU seems to have gotten a point gaurd from NC that was an invited walk-on at UNC. That doesnt necessarily tell me a whole lot about the player (probably similar to Miller)?

Drexel got some nice recruits early, but if I am not mistaken their only spring recruit was Maurece Madden. From a couple of first hand sources, Madden is probably a stretch to play at the CAA level.

I think its a crap shoot - I'd probably want to get the guys I wanted early though. A lot of risk in waiting (i.e. Kevin Bower).

[Duke Dawg]

Why didn't JMU recruit Sikes?


The same reason 95% of colleges didn't recruit him. He wasn't going to qualify. I still think he hasn't qualified, so he may never even put on a Georgia uniform.

[Dukester]

While I agree our recruits match up with anyone in the league, in the CAA I believe coaching is equally as important. When you recruit in the mid-majors, you have to recruit players that are not as well rounded or polished and develope them. Teaching, and building players is the key to success at our level. Hopefully we'll have better luck with the third generation of players.

[jski1977]

I clearly agree that coaching is a big issue. I dont doubt that our talent the past few seasons hasnt been a little better than where we have ended up.

Thinking back over Sherm's tenure, I think only VCU and Mason have had better talent. Maybe UNCW too, but aside from Blizzard, I'm not sure about the rest of the guys.