Top 20 5-Star Recruit Verbals to low mid-major, FIU

[tornado]

Isiah Thomas is getting it done...
first he lands a Top 100 kid Chris Coleman

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9785654/Sources:-Isiah-lands-high-major-recruit-for-FIU

Now he has just gotten a verbal from previous Kentucky commit, Dominique Ferguson according to Jeff Goodman of FoxSports

http://twitter.com/goodmanonfox/status/3180250120

[tornado]

as predicted...even without anyone playing any games.....the newest rankings drop Dominique Ferguson significantly....
he goes from Top 20...and drops down now to #54 in this ranking....
Does verballing to a non-BCS school have anything to do with it?

http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/09/29/northstar-basketballs-class-of-2010-terrific-125-player-info-update-2.aspx

Even this same service (North Star) rated Ferguson at #31 just two months ago!...so he drops 23 spots without anyone playing any more AAU games.

http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/07/18/northstar-basketballs-class-of-2010-terrific-35-midjuly-edition.aspx

Rivals and Scout had already both dropped Ferguson out of the Top 20 and down to the 40's...now evidence he's falling further!

[tornado]

Here's a followup........
5-Star recruit Dominique Ferguson has now finished his first year at FIU under Isiah Thomas...

Some had said this kid had the kind of talent as Terrence Jones - and could be in the NBA in one year...

Keep in mind -- he wasn't playing in a vacuum down at FIU -- they also had a couple other 4-Star rated kids - and a coach who has NBA coaching experience!

well, their season in the Sun Belt -- ended at 11-19...5-11 in the Sun Belt
Ferguson averaged only 7 ppg, 4.8 rpg in 27 minutes per game but was reported to have off-court issues, Legion averaged 13/5 but was dismissed for issues as well...


gotta wonder what's the attraction to FIU and why would any decent kid want to go there and disappear...

[TylerDurden]

Ferguson had off-court issues in HS, too.

He had a lot of people in his ear and transferred from Lawrence North in Indianapolis (same school as Oden, Conley, Eric Montross and many other DI players) to Hargrave Military in Va.

His family maintained that he wasn't going to be an academic qualifier if he stayed at LN.

Most think he left for other reasons, including run-ins with the LN coach. In most seasons, Lawrence North is one of the premier teams in Indiana and is recruited heavily.

[tornado]

yet another Lawrence North stud, Michael Chandler just announced this morning he's leaving high school there and moving elsewhere and is currently verballed to UCF but some say he mioght end up with Isiah...

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110406/SPORTS02/104060338/1057/SPORTS02/Michael-Chandler-leaves-Lawrence-North

[sousaman2089]

I always thought FIU would slowly transform into a Kentucky type basketball program. No, not the historic winning, but with the talent that would go there. Lesser recruits who have an eye for the NBA, I would think, would want to play at FIU because of Isiah knows what it takes to get then and he is, sad as it is, still mover and shaker in the NBA.

Plus, its' Miami. Who wouldn't want to hangout with Dan LeBatard?

[Bravesfan]

Here's a followup........
5-Star recruit Dominique Ferguson has now finished his first year at FIU under Isiah Thomas...

Some had said this kid had the kind of talent as Terrence Jones - and could be in the NBA in one year...

Keep in mind -- he wasn't playing in a vacuum down at FIU -- they also had a couple other 4-Star rated kids - and a coach who has NBA coaching experience!

well, their season in the Sun Belt -- ended at 11-19...5-11 in the Sun Belt
Ferguson averaged only 7 ppg, 4.8 rpg in 27 minutes per game but was reported to have off-court issues, Legion averaged 13/5 but was dismissed for issues as well...


gotta wonder what's the attraction to FIU and why would any decent kid want to go there and disappear...

Ouch! Not good.

[tornado]

yet another Lawrence North stud, Michael Chandler just announced this morning he's leaving high school there and moving elsewhere and is currently verballed to UCF but some say he might end up with Isiah...
http://www.indystar.com/article/2011...Lawrence-North

Here's something that helps explain why this kid didn't go higher -- perhaps everyone knew this and did not offer...
he is not qualified...AND there are rumors he tried to peddle his commitment through "a runner"..

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/31616853?source=rss_teams_UCF_Knights

[Indy_BB]

The moon falling out of the sky and Chandler qualifying had equal probability. He's no longer a Xavier commit, but hes sort of emblematic why their recruiting always looks significantly better than it actually is. Taking commits from players who will never qualify is just pointless. you can probably gear up the semaj christon story for next year too.

This is an every class sort of thing.

Chris Mack thinks a Registrar is a pirate asking him to check out. A transcript? A sexual confused writer. :-)

[tornado]

Here's yet another story of a one time VERY HIGHLY rated recruit - who has somehow squandered
numerous great opportunities and who has now landed about as LOW as a college basketball player can land...

Martez Walker -
Originally a Class of 2008 kid who was rated at one time as a TOP 20 prospect in his class...
he played and starred on his high school's varsity team as an 8th grader...

http://louisville.scout.com/2/249233.html

Got an offer from Rick Pitino to Louisville BEFORE he even enrolled in high school!
He was rated as THE TOP BLUE CHIP recruit at a major high schooler camp even when he was NOT YET in high schol - LINK

He was labelled as "can't miss" and "star in the making" - this article says
he is one of the top three most highly ranked prospects in his class and has a 3.2 GPA student!
LINK

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=299512

This article says he was at GPA 3.5 in high school - LINK

But he bounced around to at least 5 different high schools, two different prep schools, then THREE different junior colleges, and now that he's finally finished at juco he's headed to....
Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, FL - an obscure and troubled HBCU NAIA school - to play hopefully his final two years of eligibility.

http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1264045