Scouting Mine – Sept. 20, 2011

After the Miners held off the Aggies over the weekend, Angel Luna has some more good news with a truckload of basketball recruiting information.

September 9th was the start of “basketball contact period” and all the coaches around the country are making big pushes for their main targets. The Miners are looking into some big prospects…at least 2 ESPN.com Top 100 (Winston Shepard and Xavier Johnson)…

SF Winston Shepard, a 6-8 205 pounds from Findlay Prep (Nev.), has an offer from UTEP. Shepard has offers from Texas, Memphis, Missouri, UNLV, New Mexico, Georgia, Oklahoma St and San Diego St among others. According to LoboLair.com Shepard narrowed his list to San Diego St, UNLV, New Mexico, UTEP, Georgia and Oklahoma St.

Shepard is a very athletic and active forward with great rebound skills on both ends especially on the offense glass. He always plays with a lot of intensity and has a nice mid-range shot. He’s great in the open court; he is not afraid of contact and likes to attack the rim with power.

Rating:

4 stars, #40 overall & #10 SF on the Rivals.com list for 2012.

4 stars & #10 SF by scout.com

ESPN Top 100 (68^th) 4 stars, #20 SF and 93 grade by espn.com

Video:

SF Xavier Johnson 6’6 205 pounds from Santa Ana, CA (Mater Dei H.S.) received an offer from UTEP a few days ago. Johnson also has offers from Arizona State, USC, UCLA, Harvard, Oregon State, San Diego State, Colorado and UNLV. Rumors are that San Diego State is among his top choices.

Johnson plays with great energy at both ends and has great open court speed and ball handling ability for somebody of his size. Johnson, a lefty with great work ethic and physical attributes, has the ability to drive and handle the ball with both hands which helps him keep defenders off-balance. He has great leaping ability and likes to use his length and bounce to attack off the dribble. He has the ability to guard multiple positions, good rebounder and possess great hands to make a lot of steals.

Ratings:

Johnson is among ESPN.com 2012 top 100 players (86^th)
4 stars, 24 SF, grade 92 by ESPN.com
4 stars and #16 SF by scouts.com
4 stars and #17 SF by rivals.com

Videos:

SF Twymond Howard 6’6 190 pounds from Pearl, MS (Pearl HS) will visit UTEP this weekend, per his high school coach Russell Evans.

Howard has offers from UTEP, Arkansas, Arkansas St., Baylor, Georgetown, Marquette, Mississippi, Mississippi St., Oklahoma St., Tennessee and Wake Forest among others.

Howard is a super athletic small forward who gets it done with strength and toughness. He has a nice mid-range shot, and does most of his damage around 12-15 feet. He is a great finisher at the rim. Howard has good ball handling and rebound skills for his size. He always plays hard and is a very productive on both side of the court.

Rankings:

4 stars, #20 SF by scout.com
4 stars, #69 overall, #14 SF by rivals.com
3 stars, #37 SF by espn.com

Stats (junior season): 22.8 ppg, 11.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 blocks, 1.3 steals

Stories: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29884776/31210882

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKmKZIyOaQ

SF/SG Billydee Williams 6’5 200 pounds from Winter Park, FL (Brandon Faith Baptist HS) received an offer from UTEP. Williams has offers from Oklahoma State, Richmond, FAU, Murray State, UNF, Towson and James Madison among others.

Williams is an excellent perimeter shooter. He can score the ball in multiple ways from the perimeter and can attack the rim. Williams can put it on the floor and finish in the paint with some strong physical play. He also is a good rebounder.

Rankings:

3 stars by rivals.com
3 stars by scout.com
3 stars, #40 SF, 89 grade by espn.com
Williams was the No. 5 ranked senior on the Orlando Sentinel’s Class of 2012 area prospect list.

Stats: 9.1 ppg, 6.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocks

Video:

G/SF Enoch Rhemadji 6’3 210 pounds from Phoenix, AZ (Westwind Prep International)

Rhemadji is a great athlete with tremendous jumping ability. He handles the ball with great control and sees the floor well. He uses his athleticism to get to the hoop and also rebound the ball well. At Westwind Prep, Rhemadji helped lead the team to a state title while averaging 11.8 points (shooting 63%), 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game. He was a 2011 All-state honorable mention

Rhemadji has UTEP and SFU as hit top two schools.

Stories:

Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv5o1ujTn1g

According to a few reports PF Luke Cothron 6’8 210 pounds from Red Springs, NC is considering transferring to UTEP.

Cothron was in the ESPN top 100 #45 overall prospects in the class of 2010. A super talented forward out of Flora MacDonald Academy in Red Springs North Carolina, Cothron was courted by several Division I schools. Cothron committed to Auburn out of high school but was not academically eligible. Later, he attended UMass for a short period of time but didn’t play. Then, he decided to enroll at the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) which is a member of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC).

Bottom line… He is a great prospect with a lot of issues.

Story: http://magicvalley.com/news/local/twin-falls/article_7e466d58-9dff-5a9c-bbab-ae98535c3764.html

It’s never too late for 2013…

2013 SG Tyree Robinson 6’4 180 pounds, from San Diego, CA (Lincoln HS) received an offer from UTEP. Robinson also has offers from Arizona, Arizona St., UCLA, Oregon, San Diego St., New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska, LSU, Miami, Florida St., UNLV, Washington and Washington states.

Like his twin brother Tyrell Robinson (6-4, 200), Tyree is highly sought after in two sports. The twins will be recruited in football and basketball out of the class of 2013.

Rankings:

4 stars, #91 overall, #21 SG by scout.com
4 stars and #69 overall by rivals.com

As per espn.com:

“Robinson is quite the physical specimen for a rising sophomore. He has an impressive arsenal of scoring weapons and he possesses that highly coveted 2nd gear in transition. At this stage he is a bit of a tweener. He doesn’t possess the ideal size of a scoring guard and on the other end of the spectrum he doesn’t yet possess the savvy to man the point guard position at the next level. He apparently is a D-I prospect in football as well so it will be interesting to see how his basketball skills improve in the coming seasons. Playing both sports will hinder his growth, especially if he has any aspirations of being a point guard.”

Videos:

Recruiting