WAC Thursday player arrivals and departures

Mr. Rogers chose the Provo neighborhood. Hey, every so often we lurch into correctness with our guesses.

Jared Eborn has the details here. Jim Rayburn offers up his takes on starting spots and playing time allocation at BYU here. Tony Jones checks in here and here. Jay Drew also provided this.

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Daniel Lyght fills us in on personnel comings-and-goings at Fresno State, with one more decision still to be made.

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Dayton Morinaga has the scoop on three UH basketball roster changes and Brian McInnis likewise is on top of the matter.

Jeff Portnoy has a new post up focusing on the Jeremy Lay and Dwain Williams situations.
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Marcus Williams, a hoped-for-signee of some New Mexico State fans, has decided on Sam Houston State. He's a 5-foot-10 junior college point who played at Cochise College in the Arizona junior college ranks this past season.

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Wednesday's WAC-aroni

The Babbitt coverage continues...ESPN's Diamond Leung checks in here -- a hat tip to slowhiteguy at the Silver and Bloue Sports Forum for originally posting this.

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Richard Obert is reporting that Utah State continues to check out a highly regarded Arizona 2011 prep backcourter. Our initial feeling: the young man lands in the PAC-10.

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Jared Eborn reports that it's D-Day (actually make that D-Afternoon) for recruit Stephen Rogers. Wouldn't it be a kick for Rogers to stroll into a press conference, put on/take off a sweater and say:

"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you -- (Logan/Salt Lake City) be mine?
Could you be mine?"

And then announce his choice.

No?

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Monday afternoon WAC offerings

It's probably too late at this point in the 'recruiting season' but buying stock in Verizon and the like prior to this time is probably the closest thing available to a sure moneymaker. Jared Eborn is all over the Stephen Rogers Situation here and here with Tony Jones talking with Stephen Rogers and getting the latest decision deadline here.

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There's Alec, Billy, William and Stephen but Nevada fans are hoping it's Illiwa Baldwin who has the best next two years. Chris Murray writes about the big 'big' here.

Deonte Burton's call is next in line and Chris talked with him and reports back here. UCLA has 'supposedly' offered (will we ever know the truth?) but also made Burton feel like 'backup plan' (which he was) by having him wait until Ray McCallum and Trey Ziegler made their recent decisions. We've been told that Burton is a much better talent fit for the WAC than the PAC-10 or the Big East -- if such will influence his decision.

Here's more from Chris on the upcoming Babbitt Decision here.

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Chris also offers something on Magnum Rolle working out for the NBA draft. We just had a thought: is Rolle more of a wing forward, get-up-and-down-the-floor type, NBA-wise, rather than a true four? At least physically? He's not necessarily a creator offensively -- at this point -- and he looks mighty thin for the paint pounding he'll face. But do give him credit for putting the time and effort in to be ready.

Friday's WAC links and notes

If David Carter signs Illiwa Baldwin, will this effect Luke Babbitt's NBA decision? We pose this question because Baldwin would give Nevada a plus down low -- the ability to score inside -- and thereby elevate the Wolf Pack's chances to go Big Dancin' in 2010-2011.

There is no doubt that Babbitt will play in the NBA therefore we still think the critical question is in what venue will he have the best opportunity to improve his game?

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 Dayton Morinaga has the details as does Brian McInnis on Gib Arnold's latest player acquisition who looks like just what UH needs upfront -- as long as he is content to stay in the paint.It's best to get a junior college transfer with three years remaining and that's the situation with this young man.

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Daniel Lyght has more on the Paul George will-he-or-won't-he choice. PTW's take is that George has a much greater potential upside than Quincy Pondexter and there is always someone who falls in love with the big P.

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New Vandal signee Deremy Geiger's numbers sure look impressive -- specifically the 52% shooting overall, 47% from long distance and 79% from the foul line in junior college -- but it will be curious how he is deployed by Don Verlin. Will it be at the point? As more of a scorer than a passer?

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Jim Rayburn offers the news that Stephen Rogers will start his BYU visit today and also lays out the competition Rogers will be facing.

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This batch of links is much better than this morning's group

 Let's dive right into it:

Bumpus and Utah State have endorsed each other for 2010.

Jared Eborn is reporting that Harcum (Philadelphia) Community College's Antonio Bumpus has accepted the offer of an Aggie scholarship. He's a 6-foot-4 shooting guard. Go here.

What's been the most interesting aspect of USU the past few years is the bringing in of junior college backcourters of which a number later decided to head elsewhere. See Richard Sirju, Desmond Stephens and DeUndrae Spraggins. Did we miss any?

Bumpus decided on Logan even without experiencing the 'crowd' at The Spectrum. Do break the existence of Bill Sproat to him gently and definitely stress he's on the side of the Blue Crew.

This latest addition makes it seem that backcourter Steven Thornton, out of Stoneridge Prep, is no longer a player of interest for Stew Morrill. 

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Daniel Lyght checks in here on The Jahmar Young Situation -- which is not to be confused with The Jimi Hendrix Experience but is reaching a similar level of bizarre-ability (if we can invent a word). The headline above the article perfectly captures the yin-yang of Young's Las Cruces tenure so far.

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Tony Jones has a scoop here on the recruitment of Stephen Rogers, breaking some news. Hint: Provo or Logan? Logan or Provo? The PTW gut-meter still feels Rogers will go with the less-scripted offensive system but who knows besides Mr. Rogers and yes, The Shadow.

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Nick Jezierny provides some new information here on the Disappearing Greg Graham Recruiting Class. You can't pick your in-laws but you can with your own recruits.

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Chris Murray checks in here with more on the Luke Babbitt Decision-To-Be, plus a new offer extended by David Carter to a SoCal frontcourter. Chris also offers a link here to an Andy Katz piece on Leon Rice.

Sunday's links from late Saturday night

This will probably spoil having something for you tomorrow but here goes anyway -- we're back late after watching some youth basketball -- 14, 15, 16 year olds -- at the Olympic Club in downtown San Francisco (don't worry, we came through the garage entrance so as not to upset the high and mighty) and figured we might as well post what we currently see on-line. Man, we're living the high life -- out and about two of the last three nights.

Jared Eborn blogs that a junior college shooting guard is checking out USU.

Here is something from the athletics site at the young man's college.

Here is the young man's Twitter page.

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Tony Jones offers an update on Stephen Rogers -- based on nothing tangible, we still say he'll land at BYU.

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Here is a Dan Hinxman interview with Kirk Snyder's wife. It provides the background necessary to understand Snyder's current situation.

Here is a letter of apology from former Wolf Packer Kirk Snyder.
The victim of Snyder's attack suffered painful injuries, no ifs, ands or buts. While making no attempt to minimize broken body parts as a result of the horrific attack, Snyder was clearly in the grips of psychosis when he perpetrated the beating. It serves no purpose for him to be incarcerated as his actions weren't willful. He needs treatment and that is best served outside of any house of detention. And yes, as 'cheap' as it sounds or as impossible as it may seem to truly calculate, we would feel the same even if we were the recipient of the blows.

The WAC Hump Day edition

Leon Rice has reached out to UW -- the Wyoming version -- for his third assistant. He's a former Colorado big with almost a decade of play in Europe under his belt which should prove attractive to some recruits. A tip o' the hat to ianforheisman at the broncountry.com basketball message board for this news.

Also, staff reporter Jared Crews at broncocountry.com has the scoop that Grag Graham signee Chris Kupets, a 5-11 Texas junior college point, has undergone a change of mind/heart. A Scout sub is required. The article makes it sound like BSU isn't totally out of the picture but that will be dependent on the willingness of Kupets and Rice agreeing to a period of courtship.

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Joshua Parrott/The Daily Advertiser is reporting that Nikita Johnson, the associate head coach at Louisiana Tech, is heading to Louisiana Lafayette. What doesn't make a lot of sense -- at least to us -- is Johnson's salary uptick will be just $10k although Parrott also reports another source indicated it's a $20k increase. Johnson had a Canadian connection that resulted in Olu Ashaolu coming south and the almost landing of D.J. Wright.

A tip o' the hat to chew4219 at Bulldog Barks & Bytes basketball message board for posting the above.

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And then there were three. Jared Eborn reports Utah State remains in the running for junior college star Stephen Rogers (along with BYU and New Mexico). Who really knows other than the parties involved but could the number of annual departures from Utah -- four and counting so far this off-season -- plus Coach Jim Boylen's 'limited vocabulary' be factors for the Utes being dropped?

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Gib Arnold's hire and resulted ina nice chunk of change for UH basketball as Ferd Lewis reports.

Brian McInnis tells us that Arnold finally had the opportunity to meet individually with his players.

The Friday edition of around-the-WAC

Here is Nick Jezierny's feature on the new Bronco basketball assistant coaches.

Linder can afford a pay cut since he is coming to Boise from the uber-expensive Bay Area housing market but part of his quote about recruiting mystifies us to a degree. USF has two players from France and one from Czech Republic on the roster as well as three community college transfers.

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We agree with Teddy Feinberg's conclusions on Jahmar Young and the NBA draft here. Become a defensive force (the size, quickness and long arms are there to do it) and show some dribble-drive proclivity to set up teammates and the pro contract will bring more zeroes.

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Shawn Harrison puts a wrap on USU's season here and the highlights are his selections for various Aggie honors.

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Tony Jones has the very latest on the recruitment of Stephen Rogers here and we'll venture a gut level guess: the 'long arm' prevails again and Rogers chooses BYU. We see Utah State as a close second with too much turmoil and iffiness surrounding Utah for Jim Boylen to win out. Feel free to shower PTW with praise or scorn once the choice is made.

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Dayton Morinaga has more on Walter Roese, who will be aiding Gib Arnold, here. A number of the rosters of various community colleges feature Brazilians and most are of the center and power forward variety. Idaho had two players from Brazil on its 2009-2010 roster in Luciano de Souza and Luiz Toledo.

Brian McInnis tells us that Gib Arnold's wallet will grow larger if he can gets a greater number of cheeks in the seats.

Ferd Lewis features the same subject matter.

Your Tuesday WAC casserole

Jared Eborn has a conversation with Aggie recruiting target Stephen Rogers, plus also northern California 'big' Zach Nelson.

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Jason Groves talks briefly with Marvin Menzies and also provides important recruiting timeframes here.

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With a tip o' the hat to fulingyu at the SportsHawaii.com message board, Coach Gib Arnold and Hawaii have received a verbal from a California prepster:

GV star off to Hawaii
Wiseman is third SCV boys player to go straight to Div. I
Cary Osborne
Signal Sports Editor
March 29, 2010

Even the greats are taunted — as Trevor Wiseman learned during a Foothill League basketball game at Valencia High this season.

The crowd chided the Golden Valley point guard, chanting “Where’s your offer?” as their own player, junior Lonnie Jackson, has received a lot of interest from NCAA Division I schools.

Wiseman now has a response — “I have one. Mahalo.”

The Foothill League co-Player of the Year verbally committed late last week to play basketball for the University of Hawaii...

Go here for the remainder.

We've followed Wiseman for some time. He appears to be a talent but one who is working on keeping his emotions under control. Here's a link to a Eric Sondheimer-penned Los Angeles Times article on Wiseman. Also, Wiseman took the SAT this mid March.

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It's a year away since he's a 2011 recruit but Collins Woods, an Arizona high schooler, has received a Utah State recruiting mention. Adam Gorney has a feature up on the backcourter here (a Rivals sub is required). Here is Woods' own web site (more players should do this).

Tony Jones with more on Stephen Rogers

Tony Jones connected with USU recruiting target Stephen Rogers after Rogers' trip to Logan this past weekend:

Aggieville speaks with Stephen Rogers
Tony Jones
Salt Lake City Tribune
3/29/2010

The 6-foot-8 small forward from Mesa Community College in Arizona is a wanted man. He officially picked up an offer from Utah State this weekend, and he will add that to the offers from Utah, New Mexico, UC Santa Barbara and Colorado State...

Go here for the remainder.

The pickins' are lean for your Monday WAC report

Jason Groves reports that Jahmar Young will be looking for NBA draft feedback before making his stay or go decision. We still think Troy Gillenwater should do the same although there should be much more money awaiting him if he enters the draft after next season.

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Anthony Ray at ArizonaPreps.com says that Stephen Rogers visited Utah State this weekend and that Wichita State, Santa Barbara and New Mexico are also on the to-be-visiting list. Rogers just finished his freshman year for Coach Sam Ballard at Mesa College in Arizona. Go here for more (a Rivals sub is required).

More Friday WAC links

Brian McInnis reports that Jordan Coleman is still coming to Hawaii.

Dayton Morinaga offers some names as UH assistant coaching candidates, including one with key South American basketball ties. He also has the Coleman update.

Ferd Lewis fills in readers on Hawaii's 2010-2011 schedule.

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Stephen Rogers is a wanted man. No, no, no, he isn't on any law enforcement 10 Most Wanted list but he is on the respective Uncle Stew, Steve, Jim and Gregg Wants You recruitment posters issued by Misters Morrill, Alford, Boylen and Marshall. Tony Jones provides the details as well as an outline of the Aggie roster and lineup next season.

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Sean Patrick represents referees in his article about officiating, particularly regarding the recent WAC tourney.

Your evening WAC links

Tony Jones says Utah State is trying to figure out a way to land Mr. Rogers, who seemingly would make the beautiful nights in the Spectrum neighborhood, if possible, even better. And no, he doesn't wear a sweater when he plays.

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Dayton Morinaga reveals that the paths of Hawaii redshirt Zane Johnson and new head coach Gib Arnold have previously crossed.

Ferd Lewis tells us that UH has already implemented the fast break.

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SI's Stewart Mandel provides the opinion that the hoi polloi's (that's us) participation in "the nation's most egalitarian sporting event" (gotta love that phrase but we'll give any odds that the NCAA doesn't run with it) isn't just windowdressing. Read it loudly, say it proudly.

Stephen Rogers -- JUCO of interest to many WAC teams

We noticed a young man in the Arizona junior college ranks who is putting up strong numbers and had a hunch that some WAC teams must be involved with him. This turned out to be true.

Stephen Rogers is a 6-foot-8, 195-pound freshman playing at Mesa Community College for Coach Sam Ballard. He played high school ball in Mesa, completed his two year LDS mission and also previously redshirted a season at Arizona State.

As for his numbers: 20.9 points per game (second in the league), 49% overall shooting, 38% shooting on his three attempts (60-158) while grabbing 5.8 rebounds a contest.

According to Coach Ballard, Rogers "shoots with tremendous range stretching defenses, can put the ball on the floor with either hand and also post up inside."

Ballard calls him "a great kid."

Regarding any Western Athletic Conference connections, Utah State, Fresno State, Idaho and Boise State have all expressed interest.

Rogers has three years of eligibility remaining and can depart after this season if he decides the opportunity is right.

Arziona JC-er getting WAC notice

Currently at Mesa Community College, Stephen Rogers has certainly taken quite the circuitous route in his basketball young life so far with another move to D-1 basketball forthcoming. Anthony Ray has more:

Anthony Ray
ArizonaPreps.com Recruiting Analyst
November 19, 2009

Former Mesa Mountain View High School basketball star forward Stephen Rogers is back in the recruiting mix, after a two-year Mormon mission and a one-year redshirt season at Arizona State.

The 6-foot-8 senior graduated from Mesa Mountain View HS in 2006, after leading the Toros to a second consecutive 5A Division-I state title. Rogers would average 15.3 points and 6.6 rebounds...

Utah State, Bresno State and Boise State have all show interest.

Go here for the remainder and a Rivals sub is required.