ASU F Kraidon Woods to transfer

HooverDam · May 26th, 2009, 07:58 PM

According to Hode over at Scout/DevilsDigest ASU tweener Forward Kraidon Woods is going to transfer away from the ASU program. Its really no surprise as he's been here for two years and barely touched the court. He's now been buried on the depth chart by higher rated/more promising recruits at his position. When ASU landed him I was happy to have him, we needed bodies but the somewhat rapid maturation of the program has him lost in the shuffle.

The good news for ASU in this situation is it means they can now sign a total of 3 more players for next year (a total of 4). They already have a nice (but probably not great) recruit in local combo guard Corey Hawkins. But Herbs offered a bunch of really top flight guys and I hope having this extra scholarship/less competition for those guys to worry about will help us land a few of them.

MaoTosiFanClub · May 26th, 2009, 09:18 PM

Which highly rated kids is Herb on for 2010? Most of the top 50 players ASU has targeted are committed or leaning elsewhere. I read some guys in the 50-100 range are definite possibilities but none of those guys are "top flight" as you suggest.

HooverDam · May 27th, 2009, 01:19 AM

Herb has offered the following 4 star players who aren't committed anywhere as of yet: (numbers in parenthesis are their ESPN rating)

(95)#4 SF Cameron Clark, 6'6'' 180lbs, Sherman, TX
(95)#8 SG Trey Zeigler, 6'5'' 195, Mnt Pleasant, Michigan*
(93)#10 C Alex Kirk, 6'11'' 220, Los Alamos, New Mexico
(93)#11 C Richard Solomon, 6'9'' 200, Los Angeles, California
(94)#12 SG Anthony Brown, 6'5'' 155, Huntington Beach, California
(93)#13 PF Tobi Oyedeji, 6'7'' 190, Bellaire, Texas

*His dad is the coach at Central Michigan, so I assume he'll go there.

Additionally, ASU hasnt offered 5 star Phil Pressey but they might since his cousin Brandon Thompson is coming here which may give them an in.

All of the above players according to Scout have medium interest in ASU, and none have high interest in any school. All of those players are top 15 at their position, which is higher than any player ASU brought in this year.

They also have high interest from 3 star/#17 Will Regan, 6'8'' 215lb Center from Buffalo. He's only ranked as a 3 star, but he still seems to be a solid recruit from everything I can tell.

It seems as if you have some hyper specific, pedantic definition of 'top flight' and you're just being your typical semantic self. If you're only talking about 5 star James Harden type guys, then no ASU isn't in on anyone like that, but if they get 2 of the players off the above list, that would be a great class for us.

MaoTosiFanClub · May 27th, 2009, 08:06 AM

Pressey, Clark, and Oyedeji are most likely staying in Texas, perhaps somewhere else in the Big 12 or Memphis at the furthest as Oyedeji is a Houston Hoops player. Brown will probably end up at Arizona should Miller decide to recruit him heavily as he's been a UofA fan his whole life. ASU does have an outside shot at Ziegler from what I understand and a realistic chance at one of Kirk and Solomon but probably won't be able to land both C's due to PT concerns.

Regardless, it's not semantics that these aren't top flight kids. Good prospects yes, but certainly not can't miss as you suggest. None of the ones that are realistically left have even been offered by the UCLA which is the elite program in the region. Perhaps we have different idea of what a top flight player is but I consider that a kid who's getting recruited by national programs (ie UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, UNC) and not regional ones. The kid from North High that both local schools lost out on would be an example as would Nick Johnson in 2011.

ASUCHRIS · May 27th, 2009, 08:35 AM

This "top flight" argument is starting to sound like the "elite program" discussion. Regardless, with the top two prospects in 2011 (hopefully sticking) and with a couple decent recruits in 2010, Herb could be putting together some really decent recruiting classes. Not elite, but certainly trending in the right direction. Hopefully he doesn't bail at the first great opportunity.

Gaddabout · May 27th, 2009, 10:31 AM

Mao comes back to put ASU fans in place.

Needless to say, ASU recruiting is a step better than it has been in more than a decade. That's something worth celebrating.

HooverDam · May 27th, 2009, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaoTosiFanClub

but certainly not can't miss as you suggest.

I suggested this where exactly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaoTosiFanClub

Perhaps we have different idea of what a top flight player is

Indeed, these guys are all highly ranked by scout (4 stars) and ESPN (93 or better) and are all top 15 at their positions. Are they James Hardens? Probably not, but they're all guys that coming from where ASU has come from Im thrilled we're in on.

MaoTosiFanClub · May 27th, 2009, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaddabout

Needless to say, ASU recruiting is a step better than it has been in more than a decade. That's something worth celebrating.

Agreed, it's just not as elite or top flight recruiting as some make it out to be. Arizona Football is recruiting better now than it did under John Mackovic but that doesn't mean it's top flight or anything. UofA is in the same boat, there's a lotof mistrust amongst AAU programs and HS coaches due to the last 2-3 years.

Even Arizona is behind the eight ball from a recruiting standpoint. The three best players in Arizona in 2010 are heading elsewhere despite attention from ASU and UA. And now it appears the four best players in the 2011 class will be attending other schools not in Arizona. Both Arizona and ASU are having a very difficult time right now protecting it's borders in both football and basketball recruiting which doesn't speak well to the future prospects of the programs being elite.

PoolBoy · May 27th, 2009, 06:53 PM

there goes my 5 on 5 team at the SRC for next year.

AZBALLER · June 29th, 2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaoTosiFanClub

Regardless, it's not semantics that these aren't top flight kids. Good prospects yes, but certainly not can't miss as you suggest. None of the ones that are realistically left have even been offered by the UCLA which is the elite program

No offense fan club, but you're missing the point that Herb wins with decent kids...Now he appears to be recruiting great kids(See Turner and Caudill).

AZBALLER · June 29th, 2009, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaddabout

Mao comes back to put ASU fans in place.

Needless to say, ASU recruiting is a step better than it has been in more than a decade. That's something worth celebrating.

Jokes and lies don't put anyone in place...

HooverDam · June 30th, 2009, 12:05 AM

Why are you replying to posts over a month old? And then doing it in multiple posts to be extra obnoxious? Couldn't you have replied to both of them in one post?

AZBALLER · June 30th, 2009, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Why are you replying to posts over a month old? And then doing it in multiple posts to be extra obnoxious? Couldn't you have replied to both of them in one post?

My bad buddy, I just don't check this sight out very often(I quit checkn it once ua fans started being here all of the time)...I'm certainly not trying to be extra obnoxious...I'd leave that to ua fans that post on ASU message boards...
gotta love the thread police...

Russ Smith · June 30th, 2009, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaoTosiFanClub

Pressey, Clark, and Oyedeji are most likely staying in Texas, perhaps somewhere else in the Big 12 or Memphis at the furthest as Oyedeji is a Houston Hoops player. Brown will probably end up at Arizona should Miller decide to recruit him heavily as he's been a UofA fan his whole life. ASU does have an outside shot at Ziegler from what I understand and a realistic chance at one of Kirk and Solomon but probably won't be able to land both C's due to PT concerns.

Regardless, it's not semantics that these aren't top flight kids. Good prospects yes, but certainly not can't miss as you suggest. None of the ones that are realistically left have even been offered by the UCLA which is the elite program in the region. Perhaps we have different idea of what a top flight player is but I consider that a kid who's getting recruited by national programs (ie UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, UNC) and not regional ones. The kid from North High that both local schools lost out on would be an example as would Nick Johnson in 2011.

Allegedly UCLA offered Trey Ziegler recently but that's from Rivals, Scout is saying it's not true. Of course his father Ernie used to be an assistant to Howland at UCLA before getting the CMU job.

UCLA had Solomon at the skills camp this weekend but he's one of the 2(along with Bryce Jones) who left camp early complaining about the demands put on the kids by howland. Which is why Howland runs a tough camp, he wants to weed out the kids that won't want to play for him later.