Alan Major and his staff zeroed in on their local North Carolina area as well as a pipeline into Georgia to deliver a class with depth and balance. The three-man class could have easily wound up at higher levels. Willie Clayton (Thomasville, Ga./Thomasville), Darion Clark (Conyers, Ga./Oak Hill Academy) and Shawn Lester (Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville Senior) are all capable of contributing right away, while Denzel Ingram (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) and Ivan Benkovic (Charlotte, N.C./Evelyn Mack) will both bring depth to the backcourt.
This is a crucial year for Major and co. This is our last chance to show the A-10 that we can hang with them, and also show potential recruits that we will have a good chance to make the NCAA’s in a weaker basketball conference. I’m anxious to see how Major does without anymore excuses.
Other teams in CUSA have been recruiting well, just stating they weren’t mentioned. I believe last year we were included in a similar list by ESPN in top non power conference recruiting classes.
[quote=“Niner National, post:9, topic:26779”]I expect Clayton to have a solid impact his first year.
I hope the rest do too, but if I had to pick one that I think will contribute immediately, I’d have to pick Clayton.[/quote]
I think you are right that all signs point to Clayton. Remember that last year we all thought it would be E.Vic that contributed right away, and Henry turned out to be the real steal of the class (so far). I think we might be surprised by Lester if he can step into a role as a scorer immediately. A solid scorer is desperately needed, and if he can put the ball in the basket, he’ll get a good share of minutes out of simple necessity.
Edit: meant Lester, not Ingram, although hopefully Ingram can score as well.
100% agree - we need a scorer so bad and if he can hit a J with reasonable reliability we may finally see this offense start clicking. It is scary to think how good Braz could have been with some of our better shooters. If we can take just a little attention off him to operate it could be huge.
[quote=“X-49er, post:12, topic:26779”]Our ESPN grade would be better if they would quit lowering their grades of our recruits after we have signed them. >:( ???[/quote]I think a B+ is very fair. Houston signed two top 100 players (I think one was a 5 star on rivals) and they got an A-.
CUSA does not recruit quality basketball players they recruit quality FOOTBALL players. ::)[/quote]Is this your way of telling us Briscoe is going to a CUSA team?
CUSA does not recruit quality basketball players they recruit quality FOOTBALL players. ::)[/quote]Is this your way of telling us Briscoe is going to a CUSA team?[/quote]
WOW are you still stuck on stupid I mean Briscoe?
Its my way of telling you CUSA is a football conference basketball is irrelevant. Very fitting given the state of our program/coaching/recruiting right now.
I was thinking the same thing. I believe both Houston and Xavier have top 15 classes per Rivals. So our B+ rating looks fairly strong when compared to them receiving A-'s.
By the way, if we ever get a top 15 class it better be rated A+++.
