OK, a lot of this thread is me reading the tea leaves - in other words there's a damn good chance that someone who knows what the hell they're talking about (Will, RK, Adam, etc.) can come in here and say I'm completely full of **** and I can't argue with them. That said, from the little bits I've seen, here is what I'm thinking for the 2015 recruiting class.
2015 (1-3 Scholarships)
* Nothing against the walk-ons, but this discussion will purely focus on scholarship athletes.
* I'm operating under the assumption that Spencer is gone. I know he has talked to some NBA guys and reportedly been told that he should consider coming back. That said, I think he has to go pro. If he returns, well, that's awesome, but it doesn't change anything for the 2015 class unless we use his scholarship.
* I'm also going to act under the assumption that are going to bank the scholarship we have with Spencer leaving.
* I put a possibility of 3 scholarships at top because of attrition/players going pro. Right now, I'm thinking we have 2 to use.
Big Target - I'm going with Bennie Boatwright. AllBuffs has him listed as a PF, but think of him more of a 3/4 combo. Athletic wing who can shoot from outside. Largely a top 50 recruit overall and considered one of the better players in California. He's pretty high on CU and his dad LOVES Boyle and the assistants. CU loves him. We're in a good position here, but it's a long way away from next November, and Kansas has offered.
Other Top Prospects - If you ask me, I'm always going to side with the big PG. So obviously, I'm pretty damn high on Justin Simon. I'm not alone. Scout just gave him a fifth star in their latest update. But he's a bit of a long shot as of right now (note: it's still early) as Arizona, UCLA and Kansas are all after him as well. Cameron Walker is a name that popped up here recently, and while I initially wrote him off (he's in the bay area so he spends a LOT of time with Cal & Stanford and he plays for an AAU team that is pretty close with UCLA), I was told today that we do have a shot there. Walker and his family love Coach Pri, so that's huge. Rex Pflueger is from the same HS that gave us XJ and Eli, so we have some inroads there, but he's going to be a hard one to land (although one that would be worth the battle if for no other reason that you might see RK explode with joy if we land him). There's also Jeremy Hemsley who tonight cut his list down to 8 (and included CU in it) and has described CU as a "dream school".
Names To Keep An Eye On - The first one is Austin Conway - however at this point it's appearing it'll be as a part-time player. It's looking more and more like he's going to go football in college. His rankings have dropped a bit lately, but could be good for 5 mpg or so off of the bench due to his speed. You'll also notice a lack of bigs on this list. From what I've heard, Tad is pretty happy with his frontcourt and doesn't feel it needs to be addressed in the 2015 class. Doesn't mean we won't end up signing someone like Rickey Brace, it just means that right now I don't think they're our top priority.
Gun To My Head Prediction - Boatwright and Hemsley become Buffs. That said, remember that we probably don't know about a lot of the Buffs targets right now. And I'm not just talking about sleeper guys as XJ was a prospect we didn't know was on CU's radar until September of 2012 - he signed 2 months later.
And 2016 is based around De'Ron Davis. He's the #1 target. I'd imagine that the other priorities are a PG and a scoring swingman.
2015 (1-3 Scholarships)
2014 Roster | |||||
Position | Senior | Junior | Sophomore | Freshman | Totals |
PG | Eli Stalzer | Dominique Collier | 2 Scholarship | ||
SG | Askia Booker | Xavier Talton | Jaron Hopkins | 3 Scholarship | |
SF | Xavier Johnson | Tre'Shaun Fletcher George King | 3 Scholarship | ||
PF | Wesley Gordon* Dustin Thomas | Tory Miller | 3 Scholarship | ||
C | Josh Scott | 1 Scholarship | |||
Totals | 1 Scholarship | 4 Scholarship | 5 Scholarship | 2 Scholarship | 12 Scholarship |
* = Redshirted | Italics = Walk On | Official CU Roster |
* Nothing against the walk-ons, but this discussion will purely focus on scholarship athletes.
* I'm operating under the assumption that Spencer is gone. I know he has talked to some NBA guys and reportedly been told that he should consider coming back. That said, I think he has to go pro. If he returns, well, that's awesome, but it doesn't change anything for the 2015 class unless we use his scholarship.
* I'm also going to act under the assumption that are going to bank the scholarship we have with Spencer leaving.
* I put a possibility of 3 scholarships at top because of attrition/players going pro. Right now, I'm thinking we have 2 to use.
Big Target - I'm going with Bennie Boatwright. AllBuffs has him listed as a PF, but think of him more of a 3/4 combo. Athletic wing who can shoot from outside. Largely a top 50 recruit overall and considered one of the better players in California. He's pretty high on CU and his dad LOVES Boyle and the assistants. CU loves him. We're in a good position here, but it's a long way away from next November, and Kansas has offered.
Other Top Prospects - If you ask me, I'm always going to side with the big PG. So obviously, I'm pretty damn high on Justin Simon. I'm not alone. Scout just gave him a fifth star in their latest update. But he's a bit of a long shot as of right now (note: it's still early) as Arizona, UCLA and Kansas are all after him as well. Cameron Walker is a name that popped up here recently, and while I initially wrote him off (he's in the bay area so he spends a LOT of time with Cal & Stanford and he plays for an AAU team that is pretty close with UCLA), I was told today that we do have a shot there. Walker and his family love Coach Pri, so that's huge. Rex Pflueger is from the same HS that gave us XJ and Eli, so we have some inroads there, but he's going to be a hard one to land (although one that would be worth the battle if for no other reason that you might see RK explode with joy if we land him). There's also Jeremy Hemsley who tonight cut his list down to 8 (and included CU in it) and has described CU as a "dream school".
Names To Keep An Eye On - The first one is Austin Conway - however at this point it's appearing it'll be as a part-time player. It's looking more and more like he's going to go football in college. His rankings have dropped a bit lately, but could be good for 5 mpg or so off of the bench due to his speed. You'll also notice a lack of bigs on this list. From what I've heard, Tad is pretty happy with his frontcourt and doesn't feel it needs to be addressed in the 2015 class. Doesn't mean we won't end up signing someone like Rickey Brace, it just means that right now I don't think they're our top priority.
Gun To My Head Prediction - Boatwright and Hemsley become Buffs. That said, remember that we probably don't know about a lot of the Buffs targets right now. And I'm not just talking about sleeper guys as XJ was a prospect we didn't know was on CU's radar until September of 2012 - he signed 2 months later.
And 2016 is based around De'Ron Davis. He's the #1 target. I'd imagine that the other priorities are a PG and a scoring swingman.