Our new guys

[vu72]

Thought I'd post a few things about our new guys.  some I'm sure you've seen, but I think it's good to remind us that they come with very solid credentials and may make an immeadiate impact.

The first is Ben Boggs.  Ben was a First Team Big School All State Player in Virginia after his Junior year.  He broke his leg during the first couple of games his senior year and missed the whole season. To me, he seems like a Matt Kenney clone--6'4" 200 lbs plus and built!  One of our coaches told me he was a "Jake Diebler type--only better here are some interesting articles:


http://virginiapreps.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=914&CID=788803

Ben Boggs

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/vtbasketball/wb/198867

Next is Justin Edwards.  Justin "Richie" Edwards, is 6'8" and was named a First Team All American Section 8 player after this last year. He averaged 18.6 ppg and 6.8 boards while shooting 71% from the FT line and 34% from the 3.

http://www.njcaa.org/colleges_college_player.cfm?sid=4&collegeid=1360&category=Roster&slid=2&teamid=105624&athleteid=266622

All-Suncoast Conference Men's Basketball Teams


First-team: Justin Edwards, Hillsborough; Sidney Sanders, Polk State; Olivier Mbaigoto, St. Petersburg; John Miller, State College of Florida; Aaron Martin, St. Petersburg; Ernest Wiggins, St. Petersburg; Rayshon Mack, Polk State; Markee Teal, State College of Florida; John Florveus, Hillsborough; Robert Gilchrist, Polk State; Josh Mason, State College of Florida; Terran McClendon, Hillsborough.



Second-team: Justin McCoy, St. Petersburg; Odi Oneyeka, State College of Florida; Josh McMillian, Hillsborough; David Baroum, St. Petersburg; Curshawn Banks, Polk State; Davon Usher, Polk State; Eric Williams, St. Petersburg; Emmanuel Tiluscar, St. Petersburg; Derrick Robbins, State College of Florida; Ante Gospic, Polk State; Jarrel Joye, Polk State; Derrick Austin, Hillsborough.



Honorable Mention: Adewunmi Barek, St. Petersburg; Eric Halliwell, State College of Florida; Daverick Hunt, State College of Florida; Deon Murvin, Polk State; Reggie Baity, State College of Florida; Kenny Bellinger, St. Petersburg.

Player of the Year: Justin Edwards, Hillsborough
Coach of the Year: Matt Furjanic, Polk State



http://www.njcaa.org/sports_awards.cfm?sid=4&divid=1&slid=2

Lastly is Dino Jakolis, who may be the real sleeper. Remember this kid played on the same team with Hanner Perea who is a freakish athlete and committed to Indiana, as well as a bunch of other D1 talent, yet still averaged in double figures.

Here is a good article on their team.  Not a whole lot of individual things about Dino, but still, a 6'7" kid who can hit the 3 isn't all bad!

Becoming big time



Boasting a roster full of Division-I talent, including IU verbal committment Hanner Perea, La Lumiere boys turning into stellar prep school
By Drew White
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, November 19, 2010 5:01 PM CST
LA PORTE — A few years ago, La Lumiere began a journey to build a program that would attract top-tier basketball talent, allowing the Lakers to play among the elite prep schools in the nation.

With a schedule that features two meetings with perennial national power Findlay Prep (Nevada), La Lumiere has not only been able to bring their schedule up to par, but they have a roster to go along with the schedule, highlighted by recent Indiana University verbal commit Hanner Perea.

A junior, Perea comes to La Lumiere after having played at last year at United Faith Christian Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina.

First-year Laker head coach Alan Huss said it is great for the school to boast an Indiana recruit, but doesn't know just how big of a draw Perea will be.

"I think having an IU commitment would probably be a bigger deal in other parts of the state than it is here," Huss said. "Whether the seats are full or not, we're still going to play."

Perea isn't the only Laker committed to play Division I basketball at the next level. Junior guard Antonio "Bo Bo" Drummond has committed to play at Southern Illinois.

Huss says there are a few others with high-level college potential as well, including 6-3 guard Stan Wier, 6-7 forward Dino Jakolis, and 7-0 center Obij Ager.How he gets the newcomers to mesh with returning players is what Huss says is, "the million dollar question."

"Chemistry is going to be critical, blending old with new," Huss said. "I feel the guys have pretty well bought into what we've told them thus far."

Huss replaces former Indiana Mr. Basketball and Rogers High School graduate Delray Brooks as head coach and Director of Basketball Operations. He also serves as an assistant director of admissions at the school.

Last year he coached at Culver Military Academy, another boarding school.

"It's really pretty similar to what I've done in the past," Huss said. "I'm doing the same day job and it is the same schedule. It is eerily similar."

One challenge of compiling a team full of top talent is balancing playing time among kids that are used to being on the court. While Perea and Drummond should be regulars in the starting lineup, Huss expects to see a steady shuffle.

"We have guys that aren't going to get as many minutes as they are used to," Huss said. "We've got seven or eight that are capable of starting. It could change half a dozen times by Christmas, honestly."

The Lakers open their season this weekend when they travel to a tournament in New Haven, Connecticut. Their first home game is Nov. 30 when they host New Creation at 7 p.m.

[wh]

Excellent post!  I'm already excited about next year.

[sectionee]

excellent post, nice to change topics for a while!  I'm really looking forward to the upcoming season. 

[DMvalpo18]

excellent post, nice to change topics for a while!  I'm really looking forward to the upcoming season. 

i feel optimistic about the new guys coming in!

[milanmiracle]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

[vu72]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Not the 5, but Richie averaged almost 7 bounds per game in JUCO.  So he can rebound and probably play the 4, at 6'8".  Kevin will be the 5 and, at this point, either Cam or Vucic will have to back him up.

[DMvalpo18]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Not the 5, but Richie averaged almost 7 bounds per game in JUCO.  So he can rebound and probably play the 4, at 6'8".  Kevin will be the 5 and, at this point, either Cam or Vucic will have to back him up.

so, is richie going to be tougher than cory was? it has been mentioned in some of the other topics a while ago that cory was pretty soft down low. no secret obviously. basically what i would like to know is how much can we safely expect out of edwards? i don't want to get my hopes up too high just yet.

[vu72]

I wish I knew!  Tough is a funny word when it comes to basketball.  Cory was not a great rebounder, but Ryan and Howard were very good rebounders, as was Brandon.  It isn't necessarily the size or toughness, but rather solid positioning and being a quick jumper.  I suspect Richie will be more like Ryan, when it comes to rebounding, just a couple of inches taller.

[rlh]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Not the 5, but Richie averaged almost 7 bounds per game in JUCO.  So he can rebound and probably play the 4, at 6'8".  Kevin will be the 5 and, at this point, either Cam or Vucic will have to back him up.

so, is richie going to tougher than cory was? it has been mentioned in some of the other topics a while ago that cory was pretty soft down low. no secret obviously. basically what i would like to know is how much can we safely expect out of edwards? i don't want to get my hopes up too high just yet.

I would disagree about Corey not being tough.  I think he was very tough, the problem wasn't his toughness, but his size.  Remember he was going against guys much bigger for most of his career.  I think he was plenty tough and if he could have played the 4 I don't think there would even be a discussion about it. 

[DMvalpo18]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Not the 5, but Richie averaged almost 7 bounds per game in JUCO.  So he can rebound and probably play the 4, at 6'8".  Kevin will be the 5 and, at this point, either Cam or Vucic will have to back him up.

so, is richie going to be tougher than cory was? it has been mentioned in some of the other topics a while ago that cory was pretty soft down low. no secret obviously. basically what i would like to know is how much can we safely expect out of edwards? i don't want to get my hopes up too high just yet.

I would disagree about Corey not being tough.  I think he was very tough, the problem wasn't his toughness, but his size.  Remember he was going against guys much bigger for most of his career.  I think he was plenty tough and if he could have played the 4 I don't think there would even be a discussion about it.  

well i suppose i may have gone a little too far in inferring that cory was not tough. he is definitely a tough player. but i think what i meant to say is how he appeared to lack the toughness and physical play of the guys he was matched up against. i give cory credit for all of the mismatches and tough defensive assignments he had to handle during his time here. but what i don't understand is why he fell in love with shooting the three pointer. i never had confidence in him shooting it that far out.

[wh]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Please remove the "thumbs up" sign from your half full/half empty glass, fill the glass to overflowing with cold water, and pour it all over every optimistic post in this thread! 

Wait, you already did...

[milanmiracle]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Please remove the "thumbs up" sign from your half full/half empty glass, fill the glass to overflowing with cold water, and pour it all over every optimistic post in this thread! 

Wait, you already did...

Sorry, I guess I forgot to drink my daily does of Valpo Kool Aid, can I borrow some, I know you have plenty to spare.

For the record I didn't say one bad thing about any of the new recruits, but I did discuss the elephant in the room...rebounding. Yet another year of rebounding problems, which in my opinion didn't get any better with the loss of Cory. Sure, Van Wijk can help some, but with his back, how much can you really count on him? Witt and Vucic are just warm bodies at this point.

And onto the topic at hand. Yes, I know that nobody on this list can really play the 5 (Cory did, but that was out of desperation) but can they rebound? It's a problem now, and it's been a problem for a long time.

[wh]

Can any of them play the 5 and rebound?

Please remove the "thumbs up" sign from your half full/half empty glass, fill the glass to overflowing with cold water, and pour it all over every optimistic post in this thread! 

Wait, you already did...

Sorry, I guess I forgot to drink my daily does of Valpo Kool Aid, can I borrow some, I know you have plenty to spare.

Touche 

[vu72]

Here are the rebounding stats for all of last season:

REBOUNDS................         1218         1185
Rebounds per game.....         34.8         33.9
Rebounding margin.....         +0.9            -

Truly terrible!!

Here are the stats for just the conference play:

  Us                                  198   426   624            
  Opponents                       195   404   599

That would be Offensive boards, defensive boards and total boards.

Also, astonishingly embarrassing!!

Oh Yeah, our rebounding margin was 6th in the conference.  Who was first?  Yep, you guessed it--UIC!!!!!!!!! (So much for out rebounding your opponents!) 

[sectionee]

You beat me to the punch vu72!  Darn this commute from Valpo to Michigan City!

Valpo is a decent rebounding team.  Sure, we don't have that one guy who grabs 10 boards a night, but we do have a handful of guys who will get you 4-6 boards a game.  Hopefully someone will step into Howards place and always have himself in the perfect spot for those offensive rebounds.

[lowposter]

Howard Little had a nose for the ball.  He will be hard to replace.  Rebounding is mostly attitude.  One must have offensive line (football) skills in technique on the defensive end and relentless pursuit on the offensive end. 

Hopefully Kevin will have recovered and be ready to go 25 minutes per game.

lowposter

[covufan]

I'm liking next year's team as well.  We have five, possibly six returning from the main rotation of nine.  We also have Kurth and the three previously mentioned recruits.  If Witt and Vucic can improve their game, we have the potential of having at least 9 and maybe 12 players in the mix next year.  Obviously, some of the minutes will be cut once the main rotation is vetted.  If Edwards and Jakolis are prepared for the college game, we could have another good season!