2009 class. 5 Star recruit from Los Angeles Dominguez High School. What's the story on this kid? what kind of game? One and done?
Looks like we are getting together a nice roster for 09. I dont like how we are taking guys out of california and nevada though.
They were talking about him on the radio this morning. He's 6'7", quick and athletic (obvious). They said he put up 28pts/11rebs per game. Yeah, at this point I'd guess one and done. Still, it sounds like UT is putting together a nice class for 2009.
Also supposed to be a fantastic ball handler/distributor. This makes a pair of top 10 rated 5 stars along with another 4 star in 2009, plus Tristan Thompson, the #5 overall prospect in 2010. manbearpig -- Avery Bradley spent part of his youth in Texas and then moved away. Damion James will probably declare early, and Atchley and Abrams will graduate, but 2009 is shaping up quite nicely with the current trio of commits along with Mason, Johnson, Pittman, et. al. And we should win the Big 12 this year as well.
I guess you're right despite the fact that he is the 5th highest ranked player in the nation and the fact that USC offered him and was make a very strong late push.
UCLA? You mean that team Texas just beat last year and will probably beat again this year? And LOL @ bringing up USC in the first place.
you make it sound that Texas handedly beat ucla last year and that simply wasnt the case...we lost by 2 after a furious second half rally. almost could have won the game too but Luc's 3 came up short in the final seconds. I do believe UCLA did go after hamilton but Coach Howland was more focused on getting Stephensen and Sidney. From what I was told Howland like hamilton but was wary of him..not sure why and how do you think Texas will fare better this year? Augustin lit everyone up last year and he is gone ...who their PG now? Abrams? James? As for their incoming freshman I dont believe they got anyone this year that will make an impact. Compare that with UCLA who will be returning Collison considered one of the best PG in the nation coupled with the best incoming freshman class in the country, in fact best freshman class in a long time. Howland got 5 top 50 recruits including a consensus 1-3 (depending on ranking but never seen him ranked lower than 3) recruit in Jrue Holiday. if we are going to be talking about recruits for the 09-10 season then yeah maybe then if Howland can get Stephensen and Sidney then its just going to be more trouble for the Pac-10.
All I said was "Texas beat UCLA". I never said anything about it being a blowout. I watched the whole game. That's a whole lot different from "Hamilton wasn't good enough to get into UCLA/USC". That adoo kid was probably just trolling and posted that as bait. The doubters said the same thing last year. "Texas will falter with Durant out". Instead they won more games and went further in the tournament. I can easily see the same thing happening again. Our starting PG will be Justin Mason, who is already becoming a clone of Royal Ivey. While he doesn't have the handles and scoring of Augustin, he's MUCH better defensively. Abrams is a SG in a PGs body, and James is a SF. We're not better without Augustin, just like we weren't better without Durant (imagine if both of those studs were on this roster ). Our scoring from the other positions will make up for DJ's scoring, and we'll be better defensively with Mason starting. Mason isn't an offensive liability either. Barnes is well known for turning low star recruits into solid college basketball players, and I could easily see Mason playing better on offense. In addition to Mason, Abrams (will probably lead the team in scoring), and James (should have a monster year), Gary Johnson should be ready to become a force in the paint, Connor Atchley will be a matchup nightmare for any defense and is a shot blocking demon, we are loaded on the bench with other big guys (Dexter Pittman, Alexis Wangmene, Matt Hill [back from injury]) As far as incoming freshman... Meet Dogus Balbay, our backup PG from Turkey. He's not your typical college freshman. He gained tons of experience playing international ball. Because it was considered "professional", the NCAA suspended him for a ridiculous amount of games, but Barnes and co. appealed and got a reduced suspension (very insignificant). As far as Texas vs UCLA, it's @ Texas, and we're more experienced than UCLA. UT should win. Should be a great game either way. In Vitale's preseason poll, UCLA is #4 and Texas is #5. I'm a big fan of this Big 12/PAC 10 challenge. Hope it continues.
