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Evaluating Terry Whisnant to ECU

Written by Michael Rogner on .

FSU head Coach Leonard Hamilton doesn't look it, but he's 64 years old. Long ago he was a star high school basketball player in Gastonia, North Carolina, and he began his college career at the local community college. But once he left for Tennessee-Martin he was out of North Carolina for good.

But throughout his career he has maintained his ties to his home state. He's cultivated relationships with high school and AAU coaches. And he goes there and wins recruiting battles. FSU currently has four players from the state.

Terry Whisnant II (6-3, 185) grew up in Cherryville, just down the road from Gastonia. His family was rooted there, and Whisnant stayed home instead of transferring to a big high school, largely because of his family. That, and he got to break all his father's scoring records. He was Mr. Basketball as a senior - the only 1A public school player to ever win the award. And he scored. A lot. He averaged over 32 points a game.

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Kentucky's 2013-14 Championship odds slightly better than last year's

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Now that Andrew Wiggins has made his college choice (you're not really expecting me to put a link on that, are you?) the Vegas sports books have begun releasing their odds for the 2013-14 college basketball national title. Bovada and Vegas Insider both dropped today, and they both have Kentucky as the favorite with 5/1 odds (bet $1 to win $5).

This is better than last year's favorite -  Indiana - which had 7/1 odds. Right behind Indiana was Kentucky, with 15/2 odds. And pretty much every expert in the nation had Kentucky in their top 3 to start the season. Of course, they ended in the NIT, while the Hoosiers fell in the Sweet 16. The champion last season (Louisville) began with 8/1 odds, while the runner up (Michigan) was at 20/1.

Eight teams begin this season with odds as good as Michigan's were or better.

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Even without Andrew Wiggins, SEC dominating recruiting

Written by Michael Rogner on .

No one had any idea where Andrew Wiggins was going to play his one year of college basketball. He chose Kansas, which will obviously give the Jayhawks class a huge boost. But this is the time of year when I like to begin looking at recruiting by conference.

To begin, I focus on the consensus top 100 recruits, rather than any one service. RSCI hoops is the best site for this but they won't update their rankings until everyone's final lists come out. In the interim I make my own. I take every player's ranking from several recruiting services, and then apply some formulas, and boom, there's the top 100 list. It's the crowd sourcing approach to recruiting, rather than trying to pick your favorite person out of that crowd.

The immediate impact of Wiggins was on the upper end of that scale - the can't miss, 5*, top 25 kids. And looking at just those top 25, the SEC is killing everybody. Imagine if Kentucky would have gotten Wiggins.

The initial reaction is that of course the SEC is killing everybody because of Kentucky. But even if you remove all of Kentucky's recruits from the equation, the SEC still has more top 25 recruits than any other conference.

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Douchebags of Twitter vs Andrew Wiggins

Written by Michael Rogner on .

 

 

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Your RTF Guide to the Andrew Wiggins Announcement

Written by Michael Rogner on .

1. When is he announcing his college choice?

Students will be assembling at 12:15 Tuesday for the ceremony. Expect an announcement between 12:16 and 12:30, with a potential for lingering until dinner.

2. Where will he be announcing?

From St. Joseph's Central Catholic High School, in West Virginia.

3. But he goes to Huntington Prep.

True. But Huntington Prep is not a high school. It's an all-star basketball team that practices at Marshall University. The players attend classes at St. Joe's. That's how stuff works these days.

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Michael Jordan vs Martin and Charlie Sheen

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Incredible video, converted from VHS by this guy.

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The Wiggins Reporter gains nearly 6,000 Twitter followers overnight

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Everyone in basketball has been waiting for Andrew Wiggins to announce his college destination. Yesterday, the news finally dropped that the announcment was coming on Tuesday.

A few details emerged about the announcement as well. It's happening at St. Joseph's Catholic High School in West Virginia. His parents will be there. And television cameras will not be there. This will just be a celebration with friends, family, and classmates.

The other interesting note is that a local reporter will be allowed to attend. Grant Traylor is a sports reporter at the local paper, who - until the announcement was made - was currently focused on the Marshall University softball team.

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Andrew Wiggins to announce his decision on Tuesday

Written by Michael Rogner on .

The wait is almost over. Rob Fulford, the head coach at Huntington Prep, tweeted this evening that Andrew Wiggins will announce his college choice on Tuesday, around 12:15. He'll choose between Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

 

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2013 Consensus Top 100: Spring signing period

Written by Michael Rogner on .

With the spring signing period closing on Wednesday, and just one top 100 recruit left out there to sign (hello Andrew Wiggins), recruiting outlets are making the finishing touches on their final prep rankings. This allowed Run the Floor to release our consensus top-100 rankings, which will next be updates once all the services have finalized their lists.

These rankings weigh several factors, including where prospects are ranked, and how often recruiting services include them in their top 100.

We used to wait for the RSCI hoops rankings to be released, but these tend to drag far past the spring signing period. So in the end, we created our own matrix. The point of consensus rankings is to reduce the variability in the numerous ranking systems. Instead of depending on Scout or ESPN, it's wiser to get a broad perspective on what the experts feel about the potential of recruits.

In the next several days we'll be breaking down how these recruits will be impacting their conferences and their teams. Regardless, here goes:

rank player team
1 Andrew Wiggins  
2 Julius Randle Kentucky
3 Jabari Parker Duke
4 Andrew Harrison Kentucky
5 Aaron Gordon Arizona
6 Aaron Harrison Kentucky
7 Chris Walker Florida
8 Kasey Hill Florida
9 James Young Kentucky
10 Dakari Johnson Kentucky
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Bibliography: Andrew Wiggins at Bleacher Report, April 10 - May 10

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Andrew Wiggins' Canceled Visits Suggest Coveted Star Must Be Close to Decision

Andrew Wiggins' Canceled Visits Will Have Zero Effect on Recruiting Battle

Andrew Wiggins Choosing an ACC School Is What's Best for College Basketball

Andrew Wiggins' College Choice Won't Impact Star's Draft Stock

Andrew Wiggins' Decision Will Be Worth Wait for School That Lands Prep Phenom

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