• IU track Alumni

    His short area quickness and burst is going to a problem! He will make an immediate impact and great multi positions defender from day 1. Great pick up!

  • ImYourHuckleberry

    Just highlights but man this kid is aggressive around the rim. Gonna need to beef up but you know he’s going up against quality competition in practice against Cam Reddish. Can’t wait for next years class.

  • TomJameson

    I like his explosiveness. He appears to have really good handles, and I think that because of the way he “snagged” a couple of not-so-perfect passes. Like Huckleberry said, I like his aggressiveness too. I’ll make that separate from his attitude, because I absolutely love his Sheehey-like attitude. Did anybody else catch that flex?

    Yeah, he’s going to become one of the IU Nation’s favorites, book it. 🙂

  • So IN Hoosier

    I like this kid more and more every time I see him! Looks like a player who can thrive in Archie’s system. Like to see if he can step out a little and shot it but other than that I love how the kid can move.

  • KelvinSampson87

    Is it the video or does this guy look way undervalued at his current rankings?

  • TomJameson

    Haha .. good one! 🙂

  • Gigileen

    Waaaay undervalued- reporters and analysts at his games agree. So frustrated and confused by the process of determining rankings?

  • inLinE6

    Not sure if he’s undervalued but he still looks a bit raw. But I agree his ceiling is high and gets very impressive footwork.

  • Sandra Wilson

    I wonder why you would think that. They never show a shot he’s taken outside of 3 feet. At 6’8″ he’s not going to be posting up a lot of college players, at least for a while. I would say JS was much better in high school than JF and he’s barely playing on a weak team. JF has got a long way to go, particularly developing an outside shot. If he’d even hit one, they would have put it in the video. He may be great eventually, but I think it’s going to take a while.

  • Sandra Wilson

    i don’t think rankings mean much to a coach that’s sitting in the stands watching the player in person, which they all do. They know what they’re looking for and it’s pretty easy to see out on the floor. The fans are the only ones that really care about the ranking of a player that’s coming to their school. It gives them something to brag about. If reporters and analysts knew anything, they’d all be rich and wouldn’t need to do that job anyway. They just guess like everyone else.

  • Gigileen

    You missed him yesterday at Slam Dunk at the Beach. He had 25 pts. – 10 of them from the 15/17 ft range AND tied the tournament record for most blocked shots in one game.

  • ImYourHuckleberry

    If I were putting together a highlight video and had a slew of ferocious dunks and put backs to choose from you can bet I’m including those over (yawn) boring mid range jump shots. Just because they aren’t providing them on his highlight reel doesn’t mean he isn’t making them. They didn’t show him shooting free throws either so he must shoot free throws like DD.

  • KingofKentucky

    But can he dunk?

  • KelvinSampson87

    He looks extremely strong at the rim, aggressive, strong and very athletic. He is also 6’9 (not 6’8 and the same height as DJ White and Noah Vonleh) and has a 7’1 wingspan. That is plenty tall to post up on any one in the NCAA and defiinitively large enough to be a solid starter at the 4 in any lineup.

    To be clar im not thinking heshould be getting an invite to the mcdonalds all american game but sure looks like a top 10-20 PF or top 100 overall and not mid 100s.

    Justin Smith did look great in highlight videos and I would be interested tohear why he doesnt have a bigger role this year. That being said his highlight videos were mostly HS games against teams full of rich 5’5 white boys on the northside of chicago.

  • Outoftheloop

    Good info.

  • IU_Nation

    This kid has got to be ready to play next year. We have minimal front court depth next year. The only guys I see being able to play quality mins in the front court are DD, JM, and JS. Hopefully Clifton Moore and Forrester are ready to be backups when our starters get in foul trouble. Next year could be a really special team if we land Romeo, but we need to have more depth up front.

  • who’syourhoosier

    Don’t forget the redshirt, Race

  • Piker

    He seems to play low handling the ball, loves contact, goes after it. Not worried about him being perfect at anything as a high schooler. Good pickup. But there are probably some bad tapes somewhere.

  • Darrell Allen

    Then that would make him a typical high school player starting his college career? 🙂

  • inLinE6

    That’s right… Not the star that starts from day 1 at a major program, but would evolve into a very good college player. ESPN has bumped his rating to 4-star so I think that’s a very fair assessment.

  • Gigileen

    Everything you said-YES!