Wisconsin lands 2018 PG; will this help Iowa land DJ Carton?

[Franisdaman]

Tai Strickland commits to Wisconsin
By Marcus Fuller

MARCH 27, 2018 — 3:36PM; link: http://www.startribune.com/gophers-2018-pg-target-tai-strickland-commits-to-wisconsin/478091413/


St. Petersburg (Fla.) guard Tai Strickland won’t be visiting Minnesota next month, because he gave an oral commitment to Wisconsin on Tuesday.

“It was a tough decision,” Strickland told the Star Tribune on Tuesday. “It felt like home to me."

Strickland, the son of former NBA point guard Rod Strickland, had the Gophers, Badgers and Rutgers in his final three. He visited Wisconsin and Rutgers this month.

Minnesota coach Richard Pitino and assistant Kimani Young visited with Strickland last Monday and scheduled an official visit for April 6-8. Strickland had high praise for the Gophers and Pitino’s program being able to turn things around next season, but he was sold looking back on his Madison visit.

"I talked with my family," Strickland said. "I felt it was best to go ahead and commit and get ready for next year.”

 

[icwesthawk]

DJ, come on down

 

[BirdistheWord]

Not bad genes

 

[Hawksfor3]

Tai Strickland commits to Wisconsin
By Marcus Fuller

MARCH 27, 2018 — 3:36PM; link: http://www.startribune.com/gophers-2018-pg-target-tai-strickland-commits-to-wisconsin/478091413/


St. Petersburg (Fla.) guard Tai Strickland won’t be visiting Minnesota next month, because he gave an oral commitment to Wisconsin on Tuesday.

“It was a tough decision,” Strickland told the Star Tribune on Tuesday. “It felt like home to me."

Strickland, the son of former NBA point guard Rod Strickland, had the Gophers, Badgers and Rutgers in his final three. He visited Wisconsin and Rutgers this month.

Minnesota coach Richard Pitino and assistant Kimani Young visited with Strickland last Monday and scheduled an official visit for April 6-8. Strickland had high praise for the Gophers and Pitino’s program being able to turn things around next season, but he was sold looking back on his Madison visit.

"I talked with my family," Strickland said. "I felt it was best to go ahead and commit and get ready for next year.”

Unrelated. Chris Mack from Xavier is Louisville's new coach. C'mon Fran, start a thread!

 

[Hawksfor3]

Not bad genes

Yes indeed about the genes. Is he a 4 star?

 

[hooper56]

Certainly this should eliminate a strong contender for Carton's services, one would think.

 

[Buffalo43]

I liked watching Rod play back when he was playing at DePaul

He was very much a pass first point guard and very smooth never in a hurry

 

[jwardelt]

I liked watching Rod play back when he was playing at DePaul

He was very much a pass first point guard and very smooth never in a hurry

Seems like Tai inherited that a bit, based on limited highlights I’ve seen. This probably takes us out for Carton but who knows. It’s recruiting, anything can happen.

 

[tWarnerHawk]

Hope we can land a '18 pg

 

[Ihawkhoops]

WI and MN had Carton on their radars, but were pursuing others. What is Fran's Plan B? Is the Locure kid a legit prospect or just someone whose name keeps surfacing?

 

[Hammer93]

Carton better not get caught up in recruiting. If he has choice made he needs to get on that bus. He could get caught with no seat.

 

[Suterman]

Fran's Plan B is Tyrelle Terry who is playing with Patrick in AAU this summer. I'm not sure how interested Fran is in Locure. The fact that he hasn't offered says something.

 

[perryhawk]

Fran's Plan B is Tyrelle Terry who is playing with Patrick in AAU this summer. I'm not sure how interested Fran is in Locure. The fact that he hasn't offered says something.

I would prefer DJ....but the Terry kid appears to be a real possibility and I think would be a very good player. That said there needs to be a plan C and D etc....If I were Fran I would be recruiting tough, physical, athletic combo guards that would fit the Villanova model.....that of course is easier said than done. I see many fans, not just here, that jump on the idea that we have to have multiple guards so that we can do what Nova does (play 3 guards most of the time and sometimes 4) but to compete with the Kansas's and Duke's and Carolina's you better have some good bigs as well.

I think with Garza and if Cook were to stay and both continue to improve we could very well have a front court to compete with the big dogs (this includes our backups) and I find it very disheartening that we could lose Cook.

 

[IamHawkeye]

DJ, come on down

But, but, Bettendorf didn't get to the state tournament! And he goes to an Iowa HS! Speaking seriously, did Bett. not have its usually good players surrounding DJ? And the DM rag did not pick him for its top five.!

 

[0418hawkguy1001]

I would prefer DJ....but the Terry kid appears to be a real possibility and I think would be a very good player. That said there needs to be a plan C and D etc....If I were Fran I would be recruiting tough, physical, athletic combo guards that would fit the Villanova model.....that of course is easier said than done. I see many fans, not just here, that jump on the idea that we have to have multiple guards so that we can do what Nova does (play 3 guards most of the time and sometimes 4) but to compete with the Kansas's and Duke's and Carolina's you better have some good bigs as well.

I think with Garza and if Cook were to stay and both continue to improve we could very well have a front court to compete with the big dogs (this includes our backups) and I find it very disheartening that we could lose Cook.

I don't think bigs are our problem. We have 2 top 100 big men starting and Nunge who was a finalist for Indiana Mr. Basketball last year, with 2 other top 50 recruits. We should be recruiting guards on guards on guards. You can play 4-5 guards at a time, you cant play 4-5 bigs at a time.

 

[perryhawk]

I don't think bigs are our problem. We have 2 top 100 big men starting and Nunge who was a finalist for Indiana Mr. Basketball last year, with 2 other top 50 recruits. We should be recruiting guards on guards on guards. You can play 4-5 guards at a time, you cant play 4-5 bigs at a time.

Yep...that's kinda what I said, or was trying to say. The point I was trying to make is that if we are going to compete with MSU/Purdue/Michigan etc you have to have elite level bigs as well. Garza and Cook are pretty close to that. Nunge has tremendous potential and I love what he brings but he is not there yet. So. let's say it takes a couple years to add whatever we need from the guard court (assuming they won't be top flight as freshman) then Cook is gone.....so hopefully Nunge is stronger, more confident, and more productive by that time......the window for high level success could be very narrow.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Mario McKinney is an option as well.

 

[anon_bb9wlf9kj42py]

Carton better not get caught up in recruiting. If he has choice made he needs to get on that bus. He could get caught with no seat.

0% chance that happens. Somebody will throw someone off the bus for Carton.

 

[DodgerHawki]

0% chance that happens. Somebody will throw someone off the bus for Carton.

Exactly. He isn't getting thrown off Iowa's bus. If he wants to come to Iowa, there will be a place for him.

 

[Hammer93]

0% chance that happens. Somebody will throw someone off the bus for Carton.

I respectfully disagree. If the bus is full in the Summer or Fall of 2018, then he can't be given/promised a scholarship to a program that does not have one open at that time for 2019. Unless he plans to wait around until March of 2019 to see what opens up, which I would assume he does not do.

 

[hawkland14]

Carton and McKinney look like the real deal! I hope we can get one of those two! I am not sold on Terry.

 

[hawkeye bb n fb fan]

May sound like a dumb question but I'll ask it anyway: Why are we going after so many 4 and 5 star prospects all of a sudden? Ones that that we have basically no chance of getting I might add. We were horrible this year and at the moment aren't even close to an attractive place to play for guys getting multiple blue blood offers. Now Fran thinks he can get guys like Robinson-Earl or Matthew Hurt? He should stop wasting his time on those guys if you ask me and go after some more realistic guys. Wieskamp and McCaffery are the only top notch guys Fran has gotten and it's obvious why. One has loved the college since he was little and the other is his son.

 

[perryhawk]

May sound like a dumb question but I'll ask it anyway: Why are we going after so many 4 and 5 star prospects in the future, all of a sudden? Wieskamp and McCaffery are the only ones Fran has gotten and it's obvious why. One has loved the college since he was little and the other is his son. Now he thinks he can get guys like Robinson-Earl or Matthew Hurt? He should stop wasting his time on those guys if you ask me

My guess is that Iowa staff feels like they can sell these upper level recruits because of the 2 high level recruits already on board.....making for a very strong team that they would be a part of.....just a guess.

 

[hawkeye bb n fb fan]

My guess is that Iowa staff feels like they can sell these upper level recruits because of the 2 high level recruits already on board.....making for a very strong team that they would be a part of.....just a guess.

Ok, I can buy that. Was just curious because we don't look like a destination for top players right and it seems like a waste of time

 

[hawkeyeguy69]

I would prefer DJ....but the Terry kid appears to be a real possibility and I think would be a very good player. That said there needs to be a plan C and D etc....If I were Fran I would be recruiting tough, physical, athletic combo guards that would fit the Villanova model.....that of course is easier said than done. I see many fans, not just here, that jump on the idea that we have to have multiple guards so that we can do what Nova does (play 3 guards most of the time and sometimes 4) but to compete with the Kansas's and Duke's and Carolina's you better have some good bigs as well.

I think with Garza and if Cook were to stay and both continue to improve we could very well have a front court to compete with the big dogs (this includes our backups) and I find it very disheartening that we could lose Cook.

I say send Maishe Dailey to Chris Doyle for the summer. Then we'll have one big, tough, athletic and physical guard... Get MD 20 more pounds and he could be a beast! He certainly has the athleticism and ball handling skills..

 

[anon_bb9wlf9kj42py]

I respectfully disagree. If the bus is full in the Summer or Fall of 2018, then he can't be given/promised a scholarship to a program that does not have one open at that time for 2019. Unless he plans to wait around until March of 2019 to see what opens up, which I would assume he does not do.

He absolutely can be offered and could easily accept. There is a thing called Creaning, where you basically accept the offers and then let things shake out at the end of the year. People may not like it but it happens all the time.

 

[Ihawkhoops]

Not sure how much stock you can put in these, but interesting to see UNI, Creighton, Wisconsin, and ISU in the top 50.

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings?Position=PG

 

[anon_bb9wlf9kj42py]

Not sure how much stock you can put in these, but interesting to see UNI, Creighton, Wisconsin, and ISU in the top 50.

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings?Position=PG

That's actually kind of interesting - for 2018, the top 20 PG's are basically 4 star prospects. in 2019, the top 50 PG's are all 4 star prospects basically. Is that just an especially good year for PG's?

 

[Kurt Warner]

Didn't know tyger Campbell signed with ucla

 

[Carlton]

While BB recruiting is very fluid, I have no reason to believe that DJ no longer remains Wisconsin's first and highest priority at point guard for the 2019 class. I doubt that DJ is afraid of competition.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Ok, I can buy that. Was just curious because we don't look like a destination for top players right and it seems like a waste of time

It's one of those situations where Iowa will keep recruiting the player as long as there is mutual interest. You don't land the big fish you don't cast for, or whatever butchered analogy one wants to use. Having Patrick McC as a highly rated player committed to Iowa is likely a role here. Good players want to play with other good players.

 

[HawkTex]

That's actually kind of interesting - for 2018, the top 20 PG's are basically 4 star prospects. in 2019, the top 50 PG's are all 4 star prospects basically. Is that just an especially good year for PG's?

And Fran's 2018 recruit at PG is?

 

[L. Wade Childress]

May sound like a dumb question but I'll ask it anyway: Why are we going after so many 4 and 5 star prospects all of a sudden? Ones that that we have basically no chance of getting I might add. We were horrible this year and at the moment aren't even close to an attractive place to play for guys getting multiple blue blood offers. Now Fran thinks he can get guys like Robinson-Earl or Matthew Hurt? He should stop wasting his time on those guys if you ask me and go after some more realistic guys. Wieskamp and McCaffery are the only top notch guys Fran has gotten and it's obvious why. One has loved the college since he was little and the other is his son.

I can’t believe we wasted time on Cook and Garza!

 

[hawkeye bb n fb fan]

I can’t believe we wasted time on Cook and Garza!

One every other year...

 

[L. Wade Childress]

One every other year...

Check your calendar

 

[MepoDawg#]

One every other year...

And Woodbury and Gesell.

 

[hawkeye bb n fb fan]

Check your calendar

Shit, my bad. One every year is fine as long as they all pan out

 

[JerryDennard]

So we are getting Wisconsin's sloppy seconds in DJ Carton?

 

[RocknRollface]

Fran's Plan B is Tyrelle Terry who is playing with Patrick in AAU this summer. I'm not sure how interested Fran is in Locure. The fact that he hasn't offered says something.

I believe Terry was offered first.

 

[Hawktucson]

I can’t believe we wasted time on Cook and Garza!

What's wrong with the Garza signing with us and his first year's numbers? Why is he a waste of time? I see Cook's a possible leaving for Europe maybe. But I thinks Garza had a good first year. He is a fierce competitor has good hands, rebounds well, had around 12 pts a game. Didn't see any other freshman center that made the impact he did. My hope is they both play next year. Garza is leadership material, very vocal and a rallying sort of attitude.