2023 Men's Recruiting Thread

[War to the Eagle 362]

8 hours ago, toddc said:

Haven’t heard anything. You know something?

Nope…just curious.

[Dunndone414 469]

Before the usual suspects on Twitter hype up the upcoming Kwame Evans decision, this appears to be Arizona or Oregon. Auburn and Kentucky are the other two finalists. UK sources have indicated they haven’t been recruiting him as of late. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Dunndone414

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

We got Bruce retweeting Pablo lol

[Rednilla 5,390]

14 hours ago, Maverick.AU said:

We got Bruce retweeting Pablo lol

Yes, please!

[Dunndone414 469]

At the risk of over-hyping him, I think Holloway could have a Harper-like impact on the program at the PG position. Projects as an elite college guard, but lacks some of the measurables that would lead to him leaving after a season. He is one of the best HS shooters, and we’ve desperately lacked shooting of late. He’s hit multiple game-tying or game-winning threes this year, he’s a guy that wants to take big shots. I’m excited. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

I was tryna find a slowed down video of his form after seeing that guys tweet yesterday. It looks like the kid shoots from like basically at his face level, but he does get good arc and has a fairly quick shot. I feel like he should be able to be an able shooter on the next level from what little I’ve seen

I wonder the overlap between him and Tre. You could move Tre to the two, but I don’t think you’d ideally want two undersized guards together. Both appear to be very good decision makers with the ball in their hands. It’s a good problem to have though 

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

 

[augolf1716 21,109]

Aden Holloway is the 2023 On3 Consensus No. 49 player. The 6-foot-0 guard is averaging 17.2 points and 5.5 assists per game with Team CP3 on Nike’s EYBL Circuit. 

Holloway recently announced he would be transferring to Napa (CA) Prolific Prep for his senior season. He has taken four junior year official visits, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Auburn, and Miami.

The scoop

For a while, many have thought Aden Holloway’s recruitment was a two-team race. Auburn and Tennessee jumped out to an early lead for the point guard. 

In April, Miami hired Kotie Kimble from Charlotte. Kimble had a previous relationship with Holloway and was able to get Miami in the picture enough to get an official visit. 

Intel says that the smoke around Auburn and Tennessee as the top two options was legit at the end of the day. Sources close to the situation tell me that, as of pressing publish on this piece, Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers should feel comfortable with where things are.

I will soon be placing my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Aden Holloway to commit to Auburn.

Holloway’s Scouting Report

Aden Holloway is a fearless point guard. He is very crafty with the ball, able to get to his spots off the bounce. He creates space to get his shot off. While Holloway does not have optimal measurables and is an average athlete, his skill and confidence help him produce. The size will be questioned, and any coach who takes him will have to be ok with a smaller guard. He tends to over-dribble and will have to answer some questions on the defensive end. He has consistently been very good for La Porte (IN) LaLumiere School this season against the highest competition.

Holloway’s On3 NIL Valuation

2023 four-star Aden Holloway’s current On3 NIL Valuation is $45,000. This valuation ranks Holloway 11th in high school basketball. On3’s algorithm says Holloway can make $648 per post value.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college-level athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation, does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a specific moment in time.

The On3 NIL Valuation is comprised of many dynamic data points that focus on three primary categories: social media, athletic performance, and endorsements and collectives.

[gravejd 3,270]

NIL valuation is now a thing huh.....if i have to start doing math to follow recruiting i'm out!

But seriously this guys sounds like the perfect PG for our system. You know we aren't scared to run a smaller PG out there!

[Rednilla 5,390]

13 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I wonder the overlap between him and Tre. You could move Tre to the two, but I don’t think you’d ideally want two undersized guards together. Both appear to be very good decision makers with the ball in their hands. It’s a good problem to have though 

Holloway is listed at 6'0, and Tre is listed at 6'2. Harper is also listed at 6'0, and Bryce Brown is listed at 6'3.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

3 hours ago, Rednilla said:

Holloway is listed at 6'0, and Tre is listed at 6'2. Harper is also listed at 6'0, and Bryce Brown is listed at 6'3.

Yes 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

5 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

Aden Holloway is the 2023 On3 Consensus No. 49 player. The 6-foot-0 guard is averaging 17.2 points and 5.5 assists per game with Team CP3 on Nike’s EYBL Circuit. 

Holloway recently announced he would be transferring to Napa (CA) Prolific Prep for his senior season. He has taken four junior year official visits, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Auburn, and Miami.

The scoop

For a while, many have thought Aden Holloway’s recruitment was a two-team race. Auburn and Tennessee jumped out to an early lead for the point guard. 

In April, Miami hired Kotie Kimble from Charlotte. Kimble had a previous relationship with Holloway and was able to get Miami in the picture enough to get an official visit. 

Intel says that the smoke around Auburn and Tennessee as the top two options was legit at the end of the day. Sources close to the situation tell me that, as of pressing publish on this piece, Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers should feel comfortable with where things are.

I will soon be placing my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Aden Holloway to commit to Auburn.

Holloway’s Scouting Report

Aden Holloway is a fearless point guard. He is very crafty with the ball, able to get to his spots off the bounce. He creates space to get his shot off. While Holloway does not have optimal measurables and is an average athlete, his skill and confidence help him produce. The size will be questioned, and any coach who takes him will have to be ok with a smaller guard. He tends to over-dribble and will have to answer some questions on the defensive end. He has consistently been very good for La Porte (IN) LaLumiere School this season against the highest competition.

Holloway’s On3 NIL Valuation

2023 four-star Aden Holloway’s current On3 NIL Valuation is $45,000. This valuation ranks Holloway 11th in high school basketball. On3’s algorithm says Holloway can make $648 per post value.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college-level athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation, does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a specific moment in time.

The On3 NIL Valuation is comprised of many dynamic data points that focus on three primary categories: social media, athletic performance, and endorsements and collectives.

Reads like more of a Jared on offense and Wendell on defense, which is a fine player imo 

[steeleagle 2,945]

Bruce must have a stern directive to NOT sign any PGs over 6'. lol

I never seen so many PGs we have been recruiting under Bruce, w various hieghts over 6 ft, but when it comes down to signees, it seems somehow we end up w 6' and under signees.

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by steeleagle

[Rednilla 5,390]

7 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Yes 

I'm just saying that Bruce has been successful playing two smallish guards in the backcourt at the same time.

[Tiger720 63]

Any word or feel on Baye Fall, Assane Diop, Wesley Yates and Jordan Butler? Do we lead for any of these guys or have a realistic chance of landing any of them?

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

11 hours ago, Rednilla said:

I'm just saying that Bruce has been successful playing two smallish guards in the backcourt at the same time.

Yes, but it’s not the norm generally speaking to have the success they did. And I don’t want to go into what that defense as a whole did to amplify those guys on defense, but it was a group effort in them surviving (and sometimes thriving) on D. 
 

In a “not to belabor the point” way, earlier in their last year (around the time of the slump), when Mac was still getting re-acclimated and they didn’t really have that level of defensive help behind them + didn’t generate a ton of turnovers (this is the big one), they weren’t a great defense. As I recall even, they finished as a statistically average defense points wise, but were insane in turnover stats and some other more advanced numbers.  

It’s hard using examples after that season bc while they had an about average sized back court in 2019, they had Flanigan and Okoro to put on any guard that was hot. They were just an overall bad roster defensively in 2020 and Jamal Johnson might’ve been their best full time guard option on defense to put that into context. 2021 - I think this is probably the closest to what this hypothetical backcourt would look like. There should be some really athletic forwards around them, they shouldn’t get picked on most games. But the ones that they do, it’s going to be because the group wasn’t able to cover their shortcomings, ala a Miami or Arkansas. 
 

I also want to end in saying that Bryce and Jared both have traits that made them individually gifted for their size. Jared read passing lanes very well/6’6 wingspan. Bryce had really good hands and did as good as a job as staying attached to guys laterally as you could. You can’t always develop that 

[Rednilla 5,390]

27 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Yes, but it’s not the norm generally speaking to have the success they did. And I don’t want to go into what that defense as a whole did to amplify those guys on defense, but it was a group effort in them surviving (and sometimes thriving) on D. 
 

In a “not to belabor the point” way, earlier in their last year (around the time of the slump), when Mac was still getting re-acclimated and they didn’t really have that level of defensive help behind them + didn’t generate a ton of turnovers (this is the big one), they weren’t a great defense. As I recall even, they finished as a statistically average defense points wise, but were insane in turnover stats and some other more advanced numbers.  

It’s hard using examples after that season bc while they had an about average sized back court in 2019, they had Flanigan and Okoro to put on any guard that was hot. They were just an overall bad roster defensively in 2020 and Jamal Johnson might’ve been their best full time guard option on defense to put that into context. 2021 - I think this is probably the closest to what this hypothetical backcourt would look like. There should be some really athletic forwards around them, they shouldn’t get picked on most games. But the ones that they do, it’s going to be because the group wasn’t able to cover their shortcomings, ala a Miami or Arkansas. 
 

I also want to end in saying that Bryce and Jared both have traits that made them individually gifted for their size. Jared read passing lanes very well/6’6 wingspan. Bryce had really good hands and did as good as a job as staying attached to guys laterally as you could. You can’t always develop that 

Obviously there are multiplying factors that came together to make Jared and Bryce work well with each other, not the least of which was the amount of time they played together before that Final Four run. And I think Bryce is probably a better perimeter shooter than Tre ever will be. I didn't mean to suggest that they would necessarily be as good, I was just saying that its not impossible.

But the good part is that this isn't the same situation. If Holloway comes, he and Tre probably won't be on the floor together all that often. I would imagine that Tre would be the backup at point and get a few extra minutes at the 2, rather than playing mostly with two small guards.

Of course, another thing to consider is that Wendell still has two years eligibility after this season, which would leave us overloaded with the small 1s. Thinking of that, I don't know how many minutes Bruce will have to go around for them... but seeing as Holloway is the best of the three, I'm thinking there's no chance we would let him go.

[Dunndone414 469]

Obviously this could be out the window soon since we haven’t seen either play a minute of college ball, but by HS/AAU production Aden is a tier or two above Tre as far as talent. On offense at least. 
 

I’m not down on Tre, by the way. I love the multi-sport athlete model. I’ve kinda imagined Tre may end up as a PG version of Jaylin or Cardwell, a solid multi year contributor (that we’ve mostly lacked at guard). 

[Dunndone414 469]

14 hours ago, Tiger720 said:

Any word or feel on Baye Fall, Assane Diop, Wesley Yates and Jordan Butler? Do we lead for any of these guys or have a realistic chance of landing any of them?

It seems like Diop and Butler are backup plans to Baye Fall and maybe others. Fwiw I’ve heard Butler would commit if we gave him the green light. (What a position to be in, these guys are all top 100.)   Arkansas seems to be the favorite for Fall but info is limited.

Some Auburn accounts have routinely suggested we are the favorite for Wesley Yates but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that. The fact that he’s adding fall visits to a new slate of top programs doesn’t suggest to me he will be committing to Auburn anytime soon. My gut tells me we will end up second to someone here, but we are as in it as anyone at this point. Yates is an electric scorer - the kind of recruit I thought we’d routinely land (but haven’t) after Bryce Brown showed what a scoring guard could do in Bruce’s system.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Dunndone414

[Rednilla 5,390]

21 hours ago, Dunndone414 said:

Obviously this could be out the window soon since we haven’t seen either play a minute of college ball, but by HS/AAU production Aden is a tier or two above Tre as far as talent. On offense at least. 
 

I’m not down on Tre, by the way. I love the multi-sport athlete model. I’ve kinda imagined Tre may end up as a PG version of Jaylin or Cardwell, a solid multi year contributor (that we’ve mostly lacked at guard). 

Yeah, I hope it didn't come off as me dragging Tre, because I'm excited about his presence, and I sincerely doubt Bruce is going to bring in a kid that doesn't fit his system pretty well at this point. It's just that Holloway looks like an absolute stud college PG, while Tre looks like a solid contributor who could easily start later in his career. I'm no less excited about Tre than I was before I started considering Holloway, because what Tre brings to the team is peace of mind that we will have someone who can run the point effectively even if all our plans A and B fall through.

[Dunndone414 469]

On 7/26/2022 at 12:46 PM, Dunndone414 said:

It seems like Diop and Butler are backup plans to Baye Fall and maybe others. Fwiw I’ve heard Butler would commit if we gave him the green light. (What a position to be in, these guys are all top 100.)   Arkansas seems to be the favorite for Fall but info is limited.

Some Auburn accounts have routinely suggested we are the favorite for Wesley Yates but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that. The fact that he’s adding fall visits to a new slate of top programs doesn’t suggest to me he will be committing to Auburn anytime soon. My gut tells me we will end up second to someone here, but we are as in it as anyone at this point. Yates is an electric scorer - the kind of recruit I thought we’d routinely land (but haven’t) after Bryce Brown showed what a scoring guard could do in Bruce’s system.

Latest On3 article has Baye Fall at 90% to Arkansas. Interested to see where we go next for a big man in this class.

[AUlurker 178]

Tea leaves say Fall has large NIL deal with Arkansas. Yates will probably be right up until signing day. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

On 7/26/2022 at 11:41 AM, Dunndone414 said:

Obviously this could be out the window soon since we haven’t seen either play a minute of college ball, but by HS/AAU production Aden is a tier or two above Tre as far as talent. On offense at least. 
 

I’m not down on Tre, by the way. I love the multi-sport athlete model. I’ve kinda imagined Tre may end up as a PG version of Jaylin or Cardwell, a solid multi year contributor (that we’ve mostly lacked at guard). 

I think Tre ends up being a better facilitator and definitely a better defender,  but it’s full well possible that Aden’s scoring ability just makes him a more valuable scorer, and thus, a better candidate to start. Who knows? Since 2017, I don’t think Auburn has had a guy who’s definitively pass first by nature. I think Tre would probably be 60% pass inclined if he got serious burn this upcoming season, and that might be a real low ball. Coincidentally, that type of guy would be perfect for the talent Auburn will have in the upcoming season, but might not be what they need in 2023…we’ll see!

[AUwent 3,748]

Is Holloway deciding tonight?

[Grumps 3,704]

 

Is Holloway deciding tonight?

7PM central per his Twitter.