2017 Recruiting

Nice to see McSwiggan officially signed. Seems like a quality pickup.

Rule question - I believe each prospective student-athlete is limited to 5 official visits, correct? Would a situation like Haruna's result in him using one of his official visits on the UP trip? (travelled to Portland, worked out, no offer extended)

Article regarding Josh's signing now up at PortlandPilots.

Noteworthy comments:

"Josh will be a good fit on campus and is expected to be an impact player for our program," Porter said. "He has great size for his position and will be a versatile wing in our system. Josh is extremely athletic, can shoot with range, and is a good passer."

At the risk of being accused of being excited about a recruit, Porter's assessment regarding Josh suggests he will be on the court for meaningful minutes and be a contributor for the next three years.

His community college coach speaks highly of Josh, as have previous coaches.

"Josh is one of the most talented, versatile guys we have had come through here that has ever put on a Thunderbird uniform," said Casper head coach Dan Russell. "He is a tremendous kid who excels in the classroom and is a great teammate. He has played a vital role in the Thunderbirds success this year, and it is because of his tremendous work ethic."

"Portland is expected to sign more players in the coming weeks."

The comment implies that we are done for the day and perhaps for the next week or two.

We need some bodies for sure. We have not spoken of a power forward need but with Gabe's departure--who played both forward spots--do we need another power forward? Does Smoyer slide to the power forward position next year?

Link: http://portlandpilots.com/news/2017/4/12/mens-basketball-portland-basketball-signs-6-7-wing-josh-mcswiggan-to-nli.aspx

Casper's McSwiggan Talks U of Portland Commitment

"It's a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders. Coming back the goal was to get to that level and now I feel I finally decided where I want to go. It's a lot of pressure off my shoulders. It's given me a chance to have a bit of relief to work towards the next step after that and getting pro. It's to prove myself I know I can play at the highest level in the states and I think playing in that conference gets me the chance to play the Nigel Williams-Goss' and stuff like that, really show what I can do at the national level."

http://www.k2tv.com/sports.php?id=7829

SoundVoltex wrote:Casper's McSwiggan Talks U of Portland Commitment

"It's a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders. Coming back the goal was to get to that level and now I feel I finally decided where I want to go. It's a lot of pressure off my shoulders. It's given me a chance to have a bit of relief to work towards the next step after that and getting pro. It's to prove myself I know I can play at the highest level in the states and I think playing in that conference gets me the chance to play the Nigel Williams-Goss' and stuff like that, really show what I can do at the national level."

http://www.k2tv.com/sports.php?id=7829

Who would have thought that the Zag success would help us with recruits? Apparently the coaches who may have sold the talent in the conference to our prospective recruits.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Nice to see McSwiggan officially signed. Seems like a quality pickup.

Rule question - I believe each prospective student-athlete is limited to 5 official visits, correct? Would a situation like Haruna's result in him using one of his official visits on the UP trip? (travelled to Portland, worked out, no offer extended)

Yup, regardless of the results, an official visit paid for by the school counts as one out of five.

Now, an unofficial visit, at one's own expense, is a different story, they are unlimited!

Josh McSwiggan took an unofficial visit to UP and the "Dam City Classic" in December during Casper's winter break.

DoubleDipper wrote:Marcus Shaver was once considered a top recruiting priority by Terry Porter's staff, but in November he signed with UCSB. Now, after UCSB went 6-22, and there's been a coaching change, Shaver has been released from his NLI.

Shaver is back on the board....and all indications are he's still of interest to UP.

Josh Gershon @JoshGershon wrote:   Seattle has offered 2017 Phoenix PG Marcus Shaver.  

Has he already come and gone on a Northwest trip?

Various tweets would seem to indicate Ty Cockfield has visited Jacksonville State and South Florida, and now he's visiting Eastern Kentucky.

Obviously still undecided, but he'll shortly run out of official visits.....

DoubleDipper wrote:Two did visit, but the 7-0 post was not offered a scholarship.

But in the last 9 days Haruna has gotten known offers from East Carolina, Duquesne, South Florida, UNC-Charlotte, Stetson, and VCU.  

The UP staff is obviously trying to find the fit and skills that match their system while others schools are wowed by the dunks more than they are concerned by a lack of defense or the ability to play back to the basket on offense.

DoubleDipper wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:Two did visit, but the 7-0 post was not offered a scholarship.

But in the last 9 days Haruna has gotten known offers from East Carolina, Duquesne, South Florida, UNC-Charlotte, Stetson, and VCU.  

The UP staff is obviously trying to find the fit and skills that match their system while others schools are wowed by the dunks more than they are concerned by a lack of defense or the ability to play back to the basket on offense.

It may have been the system the coaches were thinking about or it may have been the skill of the players already in the fold compared to Haruna. Hartwich and Smoyer have there strengths, Hartwich is clearly a good defensive center and Smoyer looks to have a well rounded game.  Tahirou Diabate (6-10, 215) and Austin Stone listed at 6'9" are skilled too. In the fall of last year Porter said this:

"Tahirou has the size, athleticism and talent to be a difference-maker in our conference," Porter said. "His on-court instincts and feel for the game, coupled with his physical abilities really got us excited. Scoring at the rate he did last season is remarkable, but when you watch him play it is clear he is not just a scorer. He understands the game and has a lot of tools to work with. Tahirou's visit last week really highlighted how good of a fit he will be on campus."

And this about Austin Stone:

"We are extremely excited for Austin," USC Salkehatchie head coach Corey Hendren said. "He will be a great fit for Portland. Austin is a relentless worker who will do whatever it takes to help his team win. He is a skilled post that can run the floor, defend, rebound and make shots. We have seen great improvement from Austin in his time here at USC Salkehatchie. He came in without a lot of accolades, but has really established himself as one of the best post players in the region by working hard every day."

"Austin Stone is a versatile post player that can score in a variety of ways and is a strong defender," according to JucoAdvocate.com. "He has the ability to score with both hands and has added an outside jumper to his game. He is a high character student athlete and is a very good signing for the Portland Pilots. Fans should be very excited about what he will bring to their team."

Perhaps Coach Porter thought after watching Haruna here on campus that we already had enough skilled bigs and that Haruna was not going to improve the lot.

Josh Gershon @JoshGershon wrote: Oregon junior point guard Casey Benson will graduate this spring and transfer. He's received a full release  

Benson was the starting point guard at UO during the 2015-16 season, and played in every game during his three years in Eugene.

If TP is looking for an experienced PG, and Cockfield doesn't sign, Benson could be the guy to jump start the team as a senior....just saying.

DoubleDipper wrote:

Josh Gershon @JoshGershon wrote: Oregon junior point guard Casey Benson will graduate this spring and transfer. He's received a full release  

Benson was the starting point guard at UO during the 2015-16 season, and played in every game during his three years in Eugene.

If TP is looking for an experienced PG, and Cockfield doesn't sign, Benson could be the guy to jump start the team as a senior....just saying.

eDuck says he's going to play for an ex-NBA coach, at Grand Canyon U. Dan Majerle is the coach, and Benson's brother is an assistant there.

Hmm. Ducks lose Dorsey and Dillon (and probably Bell) to early exit, and Benson transfers. Need to reload.

UCal had a two person signing class so far, one of whom might well have met some Pilot needs. Interesting that the Pilots passed on Anticevich.

Link: http://www.scout.com/college/california/story/1770587-cal-signs-sueing-anticevich

wrv wrote:Perhaps Coach Porter thought after watching Haruna here on campus that we already had enough skilled bigs and that Haruna was not going to improve the lot.

For sure!

Coach Porter has said UP will not make an offer to a recruit "unless he can make us better."

I kidded him about keeping the roster limited to 13 so he could save a lot of personal money, to which he concurred, but I don't think that will stop him from using his son's scholarship slots to pickup a transfer and get at least one more freshman 4/5 and point guard.  With more than 13 players, the Pilots are bound to utilize the redshirt option, IMO.

As it stands, there are a total of 11 players on the roster for next season, only six of whom are returnees from the 2016-17 lineup.

You have a list?

I completely lost track.

Hartwich, Tyson, Jackson, Smoyer, Porter, Porter.
Stone, Diabate, Walker, Fahrensohn, McSwiggan.

Gonna need a program for the first few games.

And this is by position from NPN a couple of pages back...I'm going on the premise that both Porters will be on scholarship until the roster reaches more than 13 players.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:2017-18 PROJECTED ROSTER
Scholarship players in regular font
Presumed walk-ons in italics
Reported active recruits in (parentheses)

PG: Walker, M. Porter, (Cockfield)
SG: Tyson, Jackson, F. Porter
SF: Fahrensohn, McSwiggan
PF: Stone, Diabate
C: Hartwich, Smoyer, (Haruna)

Is Porter following a plan in which the available scholarships will be used only if a player is an upgrade at his position, otherwise he will hold on to the scholarship until a transfer, with an ability to upgrade, indicates interest . . .and otherwise Porter is holding the scholarships until next years recruiting cycle? Stonehouse inquired about this approach earlier.

There is only one scholarship offer out that we know of publicly. Obviously there may be others which are unknown, but generally we know of more offers at this stage, particularly when there are potentially four to offer.

If this is in fact the approach Coach Porter is taking, can you conclude that he now thinks we have enough incoming talent to right the Pilot boat?

I don't think the staff is anywhere close to being done.

There's not enough depth at PG (fingers crossed for Cockfield) and not enough depth down low when you consider that Stone is coming off a serious injury and Diabate has a massive jump to make from Japanese HS ball to D1.

Dean Murdoch wrote:I don't think the staff is anywhere close to being done.

There's not enough depth at PG (fingers crossed for Cockfield) and not enough depth down low when you consider that Stone is coming off a serious injury and Diabate has a massive jump to make from Japanese HS ball to D1.

100% agreement there, Deaner.

Whether Coach Porter stops at 13 or goes to 14 or 15 players on the team, he has got to bring in at least one more 4/5 and a point guard.

As I've stated before, if the team has more than 13 players, 4 point guards would not be too many. Just a quick search through the JUCO ranks did not turn up anymore potential recruits who fit the academic requirements that need to mix with the athletic requirements at UP.

Still plenty of high school players and D1 transfers out there who could make the team better.  One high school point guard who already has an offer from UP, Marcus Shaver, comes to mind.

Cockfield and Shaver aside, there is some correlation between the lateness of a signing and the quality of a recruit. I do not believe we have a history of signing quality recruits well after signing day.

By the way, it is not clear that UP has extended an offer this spring to Shaver, is it? We offered last year but the report we have received is that Seattle has offered--nothing mentioned of an offer from Portland for next year.

Sure hope this year is different.

Last summer, UP, UC-I, Texas-Arlington, New Mexico, and UCSB made known offers to Shaver.  When Shaver early-signed with UCSB in November, he came off the board.

Since then, with the coaching change there, Shaver has received his release from UCSB, and Hawaii and Seattle are known to have offered him since then.

I have to think UP's offer still stands....I know the staff was very high on him last summer, and the "only" thing that has changed since then is UP's loss of 4 point guards, including Jazz, and the addition of Walker.

As Shaver is considered a "combo guard," but is also an excellent point guard, one can easily see how a Walker/Shaver combo could develop much as the Wintering/Johnson combo did....if not this coming season (depending upon Cockfield's decision), then in a couple of years from now.

UPDATE: I just learned that Colorado, Utah, and especially Clemson, are considering signing Shaver.

I think Deante Strickland's name has been thrown about a few times in this thread. Looks like PSU offered him a scholarship tonight, apparently his first offer.

Regarding Shaver, apparently he's visiting a WCC program this weekend...

@ArizonaPreps wrote:Marcus Shaver Set To Visit WCC Program This Weekend http://dlvr.it/Ntn345 #ArizonaPreps

Dean Murdoch wrote:

@ArizonaPreps wrote:Marcus Shaver Set To Visit WCC Program This Weekend http://dlvr.it/Ntn345  #ArizonaPreps

Haha, if I weren't so concerned about the difficulty of canceling my subscription to Arizona Preps after taking advantage of their 2 week free trial, I'd sign-up and see where Marcus is visiting....

I'm sure we'll know soon enough!

wrv wrote:Cockfield and Shaver aside, there is some correlation between the lateness of a signing and the quality of a recruit. I do not believe we have a history of signing quality recruits well after signing day.

You are probably correct.  I don't know the history of how UP's late recruits have faired, but it is safe to assume that most of the good ones are taken by signing day....and I think that is especially true of post players.

Every team wants good post players who can use either hand, distribute the ball, play with their back to the basket, have good footwork and good hands, and play defense!

UP has had players like that, but only a few, and at this point it could very well be that TP will have to play the "Rev card" and look for an "under the radar" type who will redshirt and develop in time to join the lineup in 2018-19.

We all know "bigs" generally develop late.  If UP brings in a high school 4/5 at this point in the recruiting process it will likely be someone we've not yet heard of, and it will likely be someone the coaches believe will develop into a D1 player....eventually.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Regarding Shaver, apparently he's visiting a WCC program this weekend...

@ArizonaPreps wrote:Marcus Shaver Set To Visit WCC Program This Weekend http://dlvr.it/Ntn345  #ArizonaPreps

Don't know if it means anything, but Marcus Shaver is following @KramerKnutson on Twitter....