Juco Players

[tornado]

I did a search of all the top juco kids this season, and their stats, and where they ended up.

Here are a few observations.

The TOP scorer in all of NJCAA/junior college was Tyler Kepkay.
He averaged 28ppg for the College of Eastern Utah and was 1st Team Junior College all American. But the quality of his opponents was suspect, and as a 6 foot 180 lb shooting guard, lots of recruiters shied away, as he got almost all his points on 3-pointers.
He ended up with only 4 D-I offers (Duquesne, San Diego State, St. Johns, and Utah) and chose Utah which is presently rebuilding under new coach Jim Boylan.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=294&sid=1093218

The guy who finished 2nd nationally in scoring, Tony Dennison, Broward Co., 27.7ppg, was named 3rd Team All American and still hasn't gotten a D-I offer.


In fact, of the top 10 scorers in NJCAA Junior College Division I, only ONE ended up with a really top D-I offer, and that was the 3rd best scorer, Marcus Thornton from Will Franklin's old school, Kilgore College, who's going to LSU.
One other kid is going to Ole Miss and a few others are going D-I to places like Oral Roberts, TCU, Southern Utah.

Theron Wilson, who just signed with Bradley is the #20 scorer nationally at 19.4ppg.

So it would appear that just putting up really good numbers is not enough to get a lot of D-I interest.



So I checked on guys who hit the best 3-point shooting pct....surely they will get lots of offers, right?
Not so.....believe it or not, the national leader in 3-point shooting pct this past season set an all time NJCAA record for accuracy!
Sammy Ricks of North Dakota State College of Science hit 63 of his 80 3-point FG attempts for an astounding 78.75% accuracy....an all time high.
Ricks put up sometimes astounding numbers, was named the National PLayer of the Week in January when he recorded a triple double (and nearly a quadruple double) with 14 pt, 13 rebs, 12 asst, and 5 steals. (interestingly, Ricks shared the National POW award that week with Theron Wilson.)

http://www.njcaa.org/sports.cfm?menu=15&sid=4&cid=5548&divid=1&gender=m&slid=2

But, sadly, Sammy Ricks has not gotten a D-I offer yet!
Of the top 10 3-point shooters, the #9 guy, Desmond Stephens seems to be the only one getting a D-I ride to Utah State.

Again...I guess all those 5-11 and 6-0 shooters are not real desirable at the D-I level.
One guy, just outside the Top 10 Matt Culliver (at #12), is going to Northern Iowa.



How about the nations's top rebounders?
The National Leader, Steven Toyloy from Miami Dade JC, did not get a D-I offer.

Of the Top 12 nationally in rebounding, only a couple ended up getting D-I interest.
The #6 guy, Henry Salter is going to Texas Christian.
The #9 guy, Justin Nabors signed with Lamar U.
The #12 guy, Theron Wilson signed with Bradley
and the #13 guy, Reggie Huffman, decommitted from New Mexico when Ritchie McKay left, then signed with UAB.



The top assist guy in the nation was Marlo Davis of Lake Region State College (ND), at 11.2 assists per game, he was 2nd Team All American, but he didn't get a D-I offer. Davis was also 4th nationally in steals at 3.4 spg.

The top guy in steals, Jacolby Davis, Georgia Perimeter College (3.6 spg) is getting interest from Appalachian State, but has yet to sign.

Some of these guys might yet sign with D-I's but I found this interesting that the best statistical guys are not getting much interest!

So it seems that the top guys in almost every category, are guys who just didn't get much D-I interest.
Only the kids (like Theron Wilson) who seemed to be more all-around players got the interest.

http://njcaa.org/sports.cfm?menu=3&sid=4&stat_type=i&gender=m&divid=1&slid=2&seasonselect=347&report_id=2264&requesttimeout=500

Here are the kids from the 1st Team Juco All American list and where they signed:

--Nestor Colmenares F 6'7 225 So Indian Hills Community College-Ottumwa --- Not signed yet
--Cory Cooperwood F 6'6 200 Fr Wallace State Community College-Hanceville --- Signed with Northwestern State (Louisiana)
--Julian Allen G 6'4" 200 So Garden City Community College --- Signed with Georgia Southern
--Marcus Thornton G 6'3" 190 So Kilgore College --- Signed with LSU
--Donald Boone G 6'3" 185 So Southwest Tennessee Community College --- Has not signed yet
--Tyler Kepkay G 6'0" 180 So College of Eastern Utah --- Signed with Utah
--JaMarcus Ellis G 6'6 220 So Chipola College --- Signed with Indiana (Ellis was National Player of the Year)
--Mantus Gristaner F 6'7 205 So Three Rivers Community College (MO) --- Has not signed yet
--Omar Leary G 5'10" 170 So Northeastern Junior College (Teammate of Rashad Austin) --- Has signed with Colorado State
--Steve Harley G 5'11" 165 So South Plains College --- Has signed with Nebraska, and would be a teammate with Shang Ping,
but a recent report said he is not going to qualify academically and may not be with Nebraska.

Pretty surprising that of the 10 members of the 1st Team AA, only a couple will play at top D-I schools.
Theron Wilson, Tyrone Cole-Scott, David Collins, and Rashad Austin all were fine juco players but did not get mention on any of the all American teams (1st, 2nd, 3rd, nor Honorable Mention).



My take on all this is that the D-I college coaches and recruiters know a whole lot more about talent than the writers, the media people, and the "juco experts".

[audacious_aficionado]

interesting thread tornado. some of that stuff is really surprising. when you mentioned the fact that short shooting guards aren't very desirable at the D-1 level i immediately thought of TC-S. i'm curious to see how he fits in with our team. still worried about his free throws too.

[tornado]

Cole-Scott is a true "COMBO GUARD" who can play both the "1" and "2" positions
and is actually a pretty good point guard as a backup to DRuff.

I think those other scorers lacked significantly in the ball handling and shot-creating category.
If all they can do is stand flat footed and nail a wide open three,
then maybe they can get a few of those against juco opponents, but they won't get them at the D-I level.



Also, it is apparent that recruiters know where the very best juco ball is played.
All the junior colleges in Kansas, Texas, and Florida sure do get a lot more attention
and their kids seem to go way higher when they are recruited and sign.
Some of the top Kansas, Florida, and Texas jucos had 3 and 4 or more of their kids get D-I offers.

[audacious_aficionado]

yeah, i've noticed that the majority of good jucos come from those states. the term "combo guard" scares me a little because it means that he's not true to one position. if, in fact, he can legitimately play both the 1 and 2, we are looking at a terrific backup point and all-around ball-handler. makes me think of franklin. he has significantly better stats than franklin did in juco though.

[tornado]

Just a slight veer off topic, but did you see where Rodney Alexander....just as soon as he got signed by Illinois out of junior college,
jumped from a 3-STAR to a 4-STAR recruit (per scout), and of course he hasn't even touched a basketball in that interval.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3112616

Rivals still has him rated zero stars



Also...Chipola (junior college) head coach Greg Heiar has been offered a D-I assistant spot

http://www.emeraldcoast.com/sports/article_display.php?a=232

[DannyCooksey]

Just a slight veer off topic, but did you see where Rodney Alexander....just as soon as he got signed by Illinois out of junior college,
jumped from a 3-STAR to a 4-STAR recruit (per scout), and of course he hasn't even touched a basketball in that interval.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3112616

Rivals still has him rated zero stars



Also...Chipola (junior college) head coach Greg Heiar has been offered a D-I assistant spot
http://www.emeraldcoast.com/sports/a...play.php?a=232

I wonder if Heiar will go the Jans' route? Still 2 more spots on Jank's staff. Maybe only 1 spot, but we'll see.

[chitownBUB]

Did any d2 juco kids get scholarships?

[tornado]

Good question, as I didn't really have time to check all the kids in DII junior colleges.

But as I researched all the kids on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Hon Mention All Amer. teams for DII junior colleges, I couldn't find any of them who got D-I (four year college) offers!

I did find a few other DII juco kids that went to D-I colleges, though, and one was the point guard from ther DII National Champion, Mott Community College, Rob Giles, who is going to Ball State.

Des Moines Area CC has two kids going D-I, Dusko Stojnic (Wyoming) and John Holmes (Bethune-Cookman), but very few other DII juco kids got offers anywhere.

This brings back the argument about the difference between DI and DII junior colleges.
If loads of DI junior college kids get top DI offers - some even going Big Ten, and BU is bringing in FOUR of them, and if as many as 4-5 and more on the same team (Chipola) go to top D-I, 4-year schools, then you even try to find a DII juco kid who got any offers from someone higher than Ball State, you begin to realize the huge difference in caliber between the two junior college divisions.

[tornado]

Re: Juco Players

...........
--Omar Leary G 5'10" 170 So Northeastern Junior College (Teammate of Rashad Austin) --- Has signed with Colorado State....

In a bit of a surprise, Rashad Austin's junior college teammate Omar Leary, who had signed with Colorado State, has now asked for and received his release from Colorado State, and has now signed with Oklahoma!

[DUBulldog]

Good question, as I didn't really have time to check all the kids in DII junior colleges.

But as I researched all the kids on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Hon Mention All Amer. teams for DII junior colleges, I couldn't find any of them who got D-I (four year college) offers!

I did find a few other DII juco kids that went to D-I colleges, though, and one was the point guard from ther DII National Champion, Mott Community College, Rob Giles, who is going to Ball State.

Des Moines Area CC has two kids going D-I, Dusko Stojnic (Wyoming) and John Holmes (Bethune-Cookman), but very few other DII juco kids got offers anywhere.

This brings back the argument about the difference between DI and DII junior colleges.
If loads of DI junior college kids get top DI offers - some even going Big Ten, and BU is bringing in FOUR of them, and if as many as 4-5 and more on the same team (Chipola) go to top D-I, 4-year schools, then you even try to find a DII juco kid who got any offers from someone higher than Ball State, you begin to realize the huge difference in caliber between the two junior college divisions.

According to jucojunction.com, one of Mott's reserves just signed with ETSU (E Tennessee St), and up to 4 other Mott players supposedly have D-1 interest.

The Stojnic kid you mention from DMACC is no longer going to Wyoming....their new coach apparently didn't want him.

There have been several D-2 jucos in the MVC in recent years who have played significant roles at their MVC school.....Al Stewart and Pete Eggers at Drake, Terrence McGee and Shelton Cowell at SMS, David Gruber at UNI come to mind immediately (all played D-2 juco ball in Iowa). I'm pretty sure that Dominic Bishop from Creighton also played D-2 juco ball.

The D-2 jucos in Iowa and Kansas routinely send 1-2 players to D-1 every season. DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College.....which isn't really in the Des Moines area) and Kirkwood (Cedar Rapids) each routinely send 1-3 players to D-1 programs every season. One of Nevada's starters came from Kirkwood (Iakovlev....sp?)

I'm pretty certain that the school with DeAaron Williams, Brandon Lee and Shang Ping is also a D-2 juco.

Also, off the top of my head, Ira Brown from Phoenix CC will be attending Gonzaga next season.

I'm not disputing that there is a large difference between D-1 and D-2 jucos; but it's not at all unusual to see D-2 juco players play for D-1 colleges.

[tornado]

I'm pretty certain that the school with DeAaron Williams, Brandon Lee and Shang Ping is also a D-2 juco..

No question....it is....but
I stand by my statement that the D-II jucos rarely ever produce kids that are successes at upper echelon D-I four year schools.

Even if you want to count Al Stewart, you surely can't count DeAaron Williams, Ping, and Lee, as they haven't done much, have they?

And by even bringing up Bishop and some of those other names, I think you have helped make my point.

[DUBulldog]

I'm pretty certain that the school with DeAaron Williams, Brandon Lee and Shang Ping is also a D-2 juco..

No question....it is....but
I stand by my statement that the D-II jucos rarely ever produce kids that are successes at upper echelon D-I four year schools.

Even if you want to count Al Stewart, you surely can't count DeAaron Williams, Ping, and Lee, as they haven't done much, have they?

And by even bringing up Bishop and some of those other names, I think you have helped make my point.

I guess I was interpreting what you wrote differently than what you had intended. The original question you were responding to was whether any D-2 juco players had gotten D-1 scholarships at all. At least that's how I interpreted the question, and that's why I listed the names that I did.

If you're intention was to say that D-2 juco kids rarely, if ever, contribute at the BCS level, then you are certainly correct. But, there are certainly D-2 juco players capable of contributing at the MVC level.

D-3 jucos are another thing altogether. Drake made the mistake of recruiting a D-3 juco player 2 years ago. He just finished his Drake career with a grand total of 1 point!

[chitownBUB]

One thing that bothers me is that there are no decent junior colleges in Chicago for all the local talent to play.
And the only one that is well known, Kennedy-King, has not been consistent in winning and doesn't even seem to want
to go hard after the talent.
Many of the top local kids end up elsewhere like Jamarcus Ellis, Stefhon Hannah, and even Tony Bennett.
If someone could do for junior colleges what Loren Jackson did for prep schools in Chicago, he'd have a monster team from the get-go.

[Da Coach]

Here is the list of NJCAA Div II All Americans. Including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Hon. Mention teams, there are a total of 20 kids. The only 1 I can find that got a scholarship to a Div I college is Ira Brown. And I doubt he will be much more than a backup at Gonzaga.--

http://njcaa.org/sports.cfm?sid=5&divid=2&gender=m&slid=2&menu=5

By contrast, here are the NJCAA Div I All Americans. There are 50 total, and the majority of them will be playing at Div colleges next year. There is an enormous talent difference between Div I and Div II jucos.

http://njcaa.org/sports.cfm?sid=4&divid=1&gender=m&slid=2&menu=5