Eddren McCain update

[Da Coach]

It's always hard to find info about Eddren McCain, because he plays at a very small high school, in the smallest class in Louisiana, and in a small town, Reserve, Louisiana.

Here is a recent article that focuses on a past event in McCain's life, when he played for the state championship last March and his mother was killed on her way to the game--

http://www.nola.com/forums/prepbk/index.ssf?extlink?artid=62728

McCain's team, Reserve Christian HS, plays in Class C, which is the smallest class, that does not play football. Because they do not play football, their season starts earlier, and they play well over 50 games in the basketball season. Eddren is putting up some spectacular numbers, averaging well over 20 points per game, leading his team in rebounding and assists, and scoring many triple doubles. Here are a couple recent reports from a high school sports message board in Louisiana--
Reserve Christian won last night, with McCain scoring 28 points and a bunch of rebounds and assists--

http://www.nola.com/forums/prepbk/index.ssf?extlink?artid=62728

Here is a mention of a triple-double he had last month--

http://www.nola.com/forums/prepbk/index.ssf?extlink?artid=61126

Also, Eddren McCain made his school's A-B honor roll. Check out the last line of the 2nd page of this article--

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/library-141/1202625121150270.xml&coll=1

And he was recently named Senior of the Week at his high school (see last line)--
http://nola.live.advance.net/newslog...670.xml&coll=1

[Chico]

Can't wait for him to be in a BU uniform.

[Beninator]

Because they do not play football, their season starts earlier, and they play well over 50 games in the basketball season.

I am curious to see how the larger number of games they play in their season will translate to how well Eddren adapts to the college level.
--Just wondering if we are getting a more experienced player with a higher basketball IQ than the typical freshman player. --maybe a question for the coach next week!

[BUBraves06]

Seems like Eddren is going to end up being a great player for us. I like seeing the fact that he is on the honor roll, shows that he cares about school even though he has a basketball scholarship, I can't wait to see him in the red and white.

[ER3]

I am curious to see how the larger number of games they play in their season will translate to how well Eddren adapts to the college level.
--Just wondering if we are getting a more experienced player with a higher basketball IQ than the typical freshman player. --maybe a question for the coach next week!

Eddren will have played a lot more games than most incoming freshmen...true. But the problem I foresee is that he is playing an overwhelming majority of those games against the absolute lowest level of high school competition in Louisiana. So, it is unrealistic, IMO, to expect him to come to BU and be ready to contribute much as a freshman. It is difficult to gain an advanced basketball IQ playing night in and night out against players that don't challenge you and aren't physically gifted enough to take things away from you on the basketball court. Much like Will Egolf was in Alaska, I expect that Eddren is able to come out in his high school games and do all the things he wants to on a basketball court...and the overwhelming majority of the kids that try to guard him aren't as quick and aren't physically gifted enough to force him to make any adjustments and find different ways to acheive success on a basketball court.
You watch Sam Maniscalco play as a freshman, and you can tell that this is a kid that had to find different ways to score in high school games against guys like Demitri McAmey and Evan Turner...guys that were bigger, faster, more athletic than Sam...so Sam was already forced to learn how to make adjustments and play smarter as a high school player, and you can see that he is far better equipped to go out and succeed at the Division I level as a freshman than most first year players are...
For Egolf the adjustment period is a longer process...and I would assume that you will see much of the same from Eddren next year...If he is able to come from the lowest level of high school ball in Louisiana and move right into playing regular minutes in the Valley as a Freshman, then I think we will have a really, really special player on our hands...but I think it is unrealistic to expect that easy of a transition from him...

[tornado]

..and I would assume that you will see much of the same from Eddren next year...If he is able to come from the lowest level of high school ball in Louisiana and move right into playing regular minutes in the Valley as a Freshman, then I think we will have a really, really special player on our hands...but I think it is unrealistic to expect that easy of a transition from him...

Eddren McCain's high school, although a small school, is a well known local basketball powerhouse, with top names who have played there and gone on to star at big colleges.
Their team has played schedules over the years that are more like the big time prep schools play, as they travel from coast to coast for top competition. They play 50 games a year not counting the AAU summer games.

Here are some links that talk about last year and the year before against top teams from Florida, the east coast, and also, several games that Reserve Christian played in a tournament out west where they even faced one of the Top-5 high school teams nationally in Kevin Love's Lake Oswego, OR team.

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5043&highlight=eddren+mccain

http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/highschooloregonian/index.ssf?/mtlogs/olive_hssportsupdates/archives/2005_12.html

So.....I think people might just be a little pleasantly surprised by Eddren McCain, as he has already been seasoned with way more games and way tougher competition than Sam Maniscalco or most incoming freshmen have.
Now, having said that, watch the thought police get all in a tizzy claiming I am being irresponsible and will cause the kid to fail by saying too much good stuff about him and setting expectations too high.

[BUBraves2006]

You beat me to it T! I was thinking the same thing immediately. If you look at Reserve Christian's schedule, look at how many bigger schools they play (The classes go up from C-B-1A-2A-3A-4A-5A):

For info go to: http://www.kenramsey.com

Right now, Reserve Christian is 33-8 and 6-0 in district. They've played eight games against the biggest schools in the state and are 6-1 overall against the big schools (Class 5A).

Edit: Reserve Christian also beat Christian Life, a 1A school by 11 points. Christian Life has gone on to win 28 in a row, with their record's only blemish against RC.

[ER3]

Well, I hope you are proven right, t.

I didn't realize they played that kind of schedule, so I stand corrected on the kind of competition that Eddren has been facing in H.S. I wrongly assumed that he was facing the equivalent of bad Illinois Class A teams night in and night out...good to know that isn't the case.

[Da Coach]

Reserve Christian also played a game against Oak Hill Academy 2 years ago when Oak Hill was the #1 high school team in the country. They do travel a lot and try to play other top teams. Here is an article about them that was in the USA Today from 2 seasons ago when they had a player who was a national recruit named Demond Carter, who set a number of national scoring records. He played and started a total 6 seasons with Reserve Christian, because they allow 7th and 8th graders to play varsity. It says that year Reserve Christian travelled 10,000 miles to play teams from all over the country that year.
Carter is now a sophomore at Baylor. The article focuses on Carter, and on the program at Reserve Christian.--

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/basketball/2006-02-16-demond-carter_x.htm

[Lakeview Brave]

Eddren McCain's high school, although a small school, is a well known local basketball powerhouse, with top names who have played there and gone on to star at big colleges.
Their team has played schedules over the years that are more like the big time prep schools play, as they travel from coast to coast for top competition. They play 50 games a year not counting the AAU summer games.

Here are some links that talk about last year and the year before against top teams from Florida, the east coast, and also, several games that Reserve Christian played in a tournament out west where they even faced one of the Top-5 high school teams nationally in Kevin Love's Lake Oswego, OR team.

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5043&highlight=eddren+mccain

http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/highschooloregonian/index.ssf?/mtlogs/olive_hssportsupdates/archives/2005_12.html

So.....I think people might just be a little pleasantly surprised by Eddren McCain, as he has already been seasoned with way more games and way tougher competition than Sam Maniscalco or most incoming freshmen have.
Now, having said that, watch the thought police get all in a tizzy claiming I am being irresponsible and will cause the kid to fail by saying too much good stuff about him and setting expectations too high.

Perhaps he will average 10 assists per game in by the time he is a sophomore that would be great!

[BradleyBrave]

I will be happy if Eddren is able to contribute as a freshman the way Andrew Warren did last year and Sam Maniscalco has this year. Having never seen him play (as is the case with probably 99% of this board), I think it's unfair to place any expectations on him. He sounds like a talented player, but most of our recruits do. Not all of them work out, especially not in the short term. Let's hope he does pan out, he's a very important recruit.

[Beninator]

So.....I think people might just be a little pleasantly surprised by Eddren McCain, as he has already been seasoned with way more games and way tougher competition than Sam Maniscalco or most incoming freshmen have.
Now, having said that, watch the thought police get all in a tizzy claiming I am being irresponsible and will cause the kid to fail by saying too much good stuff about him and setting expectations too high.

I remember reading some of the links about the type of competition Eddren has played which were posted on here in the past. That is the reason I made my previous comments. Guess I have a question for JL for next week's show.

T, as has been posted in the past, The Sporting News named Eddren an Honorable Mention High School All American in their pre-season magazine.
I just want to see Eddren make significant contributions in a BU uniform.

[Da Coach]

Here is a report I found about Eddren McCain's last game this past week, a 78-68 win for Reserve Christian over Country Day High School.

Eddren McCain had a triple double, he scored 16 points, 17 assists and had 11 rebounds

http://www.nola.com/forums/prepbk/index.ssf?searchart?artid=63149

Here is an earlier report from a game Reserve Christian won easliy 77-53, and Eddren Scored 28 points, and had at least 10 rebounds, and 10+ assists.--

http://www.nola.com/forums/prepbk/index.ssf?searchart?artid=62728

[jasonpeoria911]

Just keep prayin that his grades stay up LOL. Sounds like he at least will be a decent contributer like SM this year.

Jason