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Trendon Watford


tigeraddikt

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never take a glance at AU? A huge in- state recruit with NBA potential should have merited at least a glance Auburn's way, particularly with Bruce at the helm. TIA.

I'm not saying Bruce and his staff have not desired to have TW, but that TW hasn't shown interest in AU at all. 

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Not an insider but I've heard there has been some funny business with his recruiting. What's his top group? Bama, Memphis, LSU, and Duke I think? $ketchy group there especially in that first 3

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I haven’t heard of any funny business.  I’ve heard his family is solid (dad might be a cop?). Avery started walking the halls when tw was in junior high.  Tw goes to a predominantly pro Bama high school.  He loves penny.  Now that duke has shown up they are a big factor.

tw didn’t have auburn in his top 7.  I personally think tw is soft.  Okoro dominated tw at the palms tourney.  Makes me wonder if CBP liked other kids better.  I asked someone if it was an anywhere but auburn thing and they didn’t think so.

I think it’s just one of those things.  FWIW tw plays for a third state title this afternoon

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18 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

never take a glance at AU? A huge in- state recruit with NBA potential should have merited at least a glance Auburn's way, particularly with Bruce at the helm. TIA.

I'm not saying Bruce and his staff have not desired to have TW, but that TW hasn't shown interest in AU at all. 

Besides Wiley who was a AU legacy what high profile state of alabama kid have we got under Bruce? That is your answer. Sketchy stuff in the state on the AAU circuit. That is why we go to Georgia and other places for our stud recruits. 

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1 hour ago, GwillMac6 said:

Besides Wiley who was a AU legacy what high profile state of alabama kid have we got under Bruce? That is your answer. Sketchy stuff in the state on the AAU circuit. That is why we go to Georgia and other places for our stud recruits. 

unfortunately, two of our more prominent Alabama recruits were sketchy too.   Regretfully,  AU is not in much position to throw stones.... 

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13 hours ago, doverstutts said:

okoro held him to what?...3 points wasn't it?.....i remember reading about it and i think that he just dominated him from start to finish

Was single digits for sure. I remember reading it also.

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I'm pretty sure it was 4.  I got a little more info recently.  Don't want to be that guy (I guess I do since I am typing it), but I'm gonna keep some of it for now.  this week it looks like watford to duke.  this is me putting a couple of pieces of info together and projecting ... but a high school coach to bama in some capacity.

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  • 3 weeks later...

New al.com article implying Watford might be taking a look at AU now. MB Head Coach Bucky McMillan at the center of things as well. Probably just click fodder, but an interesting read. Wonder if there's any truth to it?

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1 minute ago, tigeraddikt said:

New al.com article implying Watford might be taking a look at AU now. MB Head Coach Bucky McMillan at the center of things as well. Probably just click fodder, but an interesting read. Wonder if there's any truth to it?

By EVAN DANIELS 11 hours ago

ATLANTA -- As five-star forward Trendon Watford was nearing forward the end of his college recruitment, there's been a couple of shake ups. 

Two of the schools heavily involved in Watford's recruiting process have had coaching situations. Alabama parted ways with Avery Johnson, and LSU has suspended head coach Will Wade.

Both schools have been heavily involved in Watford's recruitment process. To go with those two, Watford is being pursued by Memphis, Indiana and Duke. 

The Birmingham (Ala.) Mountain Brook standout broke down his situation to 247Sports on Sunday at the McDonald's All-American festivities. 

Where are you at with the recruiting process?
I’ll most likely be deciding at the Jordan Brand in about a month or so and a lot of things are changing right now. Avery Johnson just got fired, Will Wade has a situation going on and a lot of my recruitment is starting to pick up so it’s just a lot of things changing.

Are Alabama and LSU out?
No they’re not. If they hire a new coach before Jordan Brand.

So you’re definitely deciding at Jordan Brand?
Most likely yeah, the 20th during the game.

After those two who does it leave?
Memphis, Indiana and Duke.

How was your official to Memphis?
It was good, it was my first time on campus in a long time so being able to see all the fans, I hadn’t been to a game yet.

What do you like about Memphis?
I like playing with James Wiseman, I played with him throughout the summer in July and I like Coach Penny. I feel like he can take my game to the next level and I have a close relationship with Coach Mike Miller. I still have a close relationship with some of the other recruits too.

Has James Wiseman recruited you at all?
Yeah, for sure. He’s been texting me every week.

What has James' message to you?
He’s just wanting me to play with him because he felt like we played good in July, we play well off each other. We play against each other this time but in Jordan Brand we’re going to playing with each other again.

Are you going to do an official to Indiana?
I don’t think so. I’ve been up there so many times that I feel I don’t need to take one. I’m trying to schedule a Duke one soon.

What do you like about Indiana?
It’s like my second home traveling all the way up there, with the fanbase, with my brother and just good memories up there when I was upcoming so just especially where I grew up so it’s like a second home.

Where are you at with Duke?
They contacted me and my dad but they’re at March Madness so they’re pretty busy so we’re going to see whenever they get done and win a National Championship hopefully and see if we can get a visit planned before.

Have they offered you?
They’re waiting for me to get on campus to make it official but they’ve been pretty much saying they want me.

They’ve come into the picture a little late, does that matter and what about them would move them into the situation where you consider going there?
To answer that question I feel like they’re one of the top programs and being able to be coached by possibly the best basketball coach ever, I feel like that would be an advantage for me taking my game to the next level so just being able to play with a lot of those guys, I played with a lot of them and enjoyed playing with a lot of them.

What does it mean to you to be a part of the McDonald's All-American festivities?
It’s a dream come true just being one of the few selected from my city in general Birmingham, Alabama. It’s a big accomplishment and a dream come true to play in the game. I can’t wait for Wednesday.

What did you think of practice today?
I felt like we played pretty good. We are short a guy, Vernon didn’t play so we just had to compete and I felt like I played pretty good.

Assess your play this high school season...
I felt like we played good. It was definitely one of the hardest things to do in my career was win the third one so I felt like we played good and I felt like we played good in our national tournament. Top five team in the country, I felt like we were great.

1COMMENTS

Where do you think your game has progressed from a year ago to today?
I feel like me being more versatile. I feel like I have been able to shoot the ball well from the outside even more and you saw at city of Palms so me just being able to do that, it stretches the defense out and it sharpens up my versatility which made it harder for people to guard me.

To me it seems like you can play a straight three or a stretch four and use it to your advantage.
Yeah, for sure. Whoever is guarding me at the four spot and whoever is guarding me at the three spot I feel like I’m going to have the advantage. The three is so small I can post up and a four I can go right by them so I feel like with that it definitely helps me.

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2 minutes ago, tigeraddikt said:

New al.com article implying Watford might be taking a look at AU now. MB Head Coach Bucky McMillan at the center of things as well. Probably just click fodder, but an interesting read. Wonder if there's any truth to it?

I know the kid is good but seems we have a full house of commitments and many of them are just like him.  Would be nicer if he were 6'-11 or something. 

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7 minutes ago, tigeraddikt said:

New al.com article implying Watford might be taking a look at AU now. MB Head Coach Bucky McMillan at the center of things as well. Probably just click fodder, but an interesting read. Wonder if there's any truth to it?

By Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com

The most popular name being discussed in the early search for Alabama’s next basketball coach isn’t Steve Prohm.

It’s not Fred Hoiberg or Kelvin Sampson or Gregg Marshall or Mick Cronin or Frank Martin or Andy Kennedy or any of the names I’ve been hearing. (And, no, it’s not Rick Pitino either … unfortunately.)

No matter who is hired at Alabama, according to a source, there is strong support inside the search committee for the new coach to hire Mountain Brook High School basketball coach Bucky McMillan as an assistant. McMillan was the national high school coach of the year in 2018, and this season his team won its third consecutive state championship and defeated IMG Academy in the prestigious City of Palms Classic.

McMillan, who played at Birmingham-Southern, is a rising star in the coaching profession. Just 35 years old, he has resisted the jump to college basketball to this point and built a dynasty in his hometown. He might not be able to ignore offers much longer, though.

For Alabama, hiring McMillan would potentially help sign five-star recruit Trendon Watford, who McMillan coached at Mountain Brook, but even if Watford lands elsewhere, the thinking goes, McMillan could be a key piece to building Alabama into a nationally relevant program.

There’s just one problem. Auburn might already have an inside track on Alabama for both McMillan and Watford. Under NCAA rules, a college program can hire a high school coach and sign his players as long as the high school coach is given an assistant’s position on the team bench.

A month ago, Auburn wasn’t even among Watford’s top four schools, but a series of sliding doors over the past few weeks have put Auburn into excellent position to make a late play for Alabama’s top prospect, and also hire McMillan. If Auburn somehow pulls off a McMillan-Watford combo after making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, then we will look back on this March as one of the most significant in Auburn basketball history.

Watford’s top schools were Memphis, LSU, Alabama and Indiana early this season, but two of those schools are now without head coaches. LSU is no longer a contender for Watford with Will Wade likely out, but Alabama, believe it or not, is back in contention after the departure of Avery Johnson. Meanwhile, the job Bruce Pearl has done at Auburn is now impossible to ignore.

Pearl has built a championship-caliber program at Auburn — something many thought impossible before he was hired — and his style of play suits versatile prospects like Watford, who can stretch the floor and is committed to team-first, defensive-oriented basketball.

Not only is Auburn playing in the Sweet 16 next Friday, but Pearl’s player development is undeniable. Sophomore forward Chuma Okeke, who is 6-8 and 230 pounds, was a little known prospect last year, but he currently is being listed in mock drafts as a potential late first-round pick.

Watford is larger than Okeke, but has a similar skill set.

Pearl isn’t expected to retain first-year assistant coach Ira Bowman after his connection to the scandal at the University of Pennsylvania. Former Penn coach Jerome Allen pleaded guilty on March 8 to accepting $300,000 from a Florida health-care executive in exchange for preferred athletic admissions priority for his son. Ivy League schools to do not give athletic scholarships.

llen testified that Bowman was in on the fraudulent scheme, and Auburn suspended Bowman before the SEC Tournament.

It’s a bad look for Pearl, who already has had one assistant coach busted by the feds.

Now, McMillan could potentially slide into Bowman’s spot on Auburn’s bench, and perhaps bring Watford with him to Auburn.

Talk about reverse serendipity.

Would Watford follow McMillan to Auburn? More than likely.

Would McMillan actually leave Mountain Brook? That remains unclear. He loves coaching at the high-school level.

McMillan told me after his most recent state championship that he was committed to at least one more season at Mountain Brook, but a potential bidding war between Auburn, Alabama and other schools could pull him away from his high school alma mater and the unlikely dynasty he has built inside the affluent Birmingham suburb. Mountain Brook has won five large-school state championships in the past seven years.

More impressive from a national perspective than all of those championships, however, was McMillan's victory against IMG Academy this season in the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. IMG Academy, which is ranked No.4 nationally by MaxPreps, features three McDonald’s All-Americans and several other top-ranked players. With one Division-I player — granted, Watford is, himself, a McDonald’s All-American — Mountain Brook upset IMG Academy 72-67.

Watford had 38 points and 12 rebounds in the victory, including 26 points in the second half. It remains IMG Academy’s only loss of the season.

Watford’s family moved to Mountain Brook four years ago so their son could play for McMillan. Other families have done the same. McMillan is revered now by every high school prospect in the state. Recruiting will not be a problem for him. It begs the question: should he just skip the assistant coaching offers and go straight to being a college head coach?

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33 minutes ago, Gene Loblaw said:

From what I’ve read, AU should seriously be looking into hiring Bucky McMillan regardless if he can deliver us Watford not. Would be absolutely giddy if we got both

That’s literally the first time I’ve heard anything about us making a move for Watford 

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If McMillan a good coach, not over the line shady, and can recruit then lets hire him. And bring on Watford. We want to play 9-10 guys. We can't have enough good players for the style we want to play. 

 

And he has a similar skillset to Chuma, apparently? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm yes please

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Bucky McMillan has proven to be a great coach.  I think he has won 3 straight 7A titles and 5 over all.  The question will be whether he wants to come be an assistant at a D1 like AU\UA OR does he go straight to HC at smaller D1 like Troy who is looking for new HC right now.  They guy has a lot of kids from out of the area wanting to come play for him.  So he definitely has the charm to draw in the talent.  Would love to have him at AU whether he can deliver Watford or not.  Watford would be icing on the cake!  Really, Really, Really good icing

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I was just coming in here to discuss that Al.Com article...I haven’t seen any other sources discuss us getting Bucker, but he would likely cement Auburn as the supreme basketball power in this state, and maybe even the region. Getting Watford would be extra

 

dont get your hopes up

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23 hours ago, Gene Loblaw said:

From what I’ve read, AU should seriously be looking into hiring Bucky McMillan regardless if he can deliver us Watford not. Would be absolutely giddy if we got both

from what little i have read that makes you a smart man................and since i do not know ya or know of anything you have i need you can take it to the bank...lol. morning

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6 minutes ago, AUGoo said:

Does McMillan have a college degree

and does it matter if does or not?

Wouldn't he have to have a college degree to coach and teach at Mountain Brook?

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1 minute ago, GwillMac6 said:

Wouldn't he have to have a college degree to coach and teach at Mountain Brook?

He doesn’t teach.......

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