Class of 2014

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SoMpls said:
. How about 3/4 of WI, Butler, Gonzaga, Northern Iowa, ets's roster.

As far as Pulley goes, name an AAU program that has a better coaching staff? I'm not a Pulley supporter or basher. I just know all of there coaches are HS coaches. Not parents, not someone doing it for a hobby, or doing it for there own ego. IMO AAU basketball is not the place to develop skills. That's for the HS coaches. AAU, especially as you get older, is play against top competition and gain college exposure. Tyus won't find a better program to recieve both then Pulley and that NIKE circuit IMHO.
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The comment was Zierden is a high major kid. The schools bolded are schools I think he can play at and do very well. They are however, not high major programs.

Willie Braziel is a good coach but Heights hasn't done much. The rest are just average at best but when given the Pulley name, a lot of kids thinking that's the best route, they can win. Rolling out the ball and telling the kids to go play isn't great coaching and from my perspective that's how they coach. Now I will completely agree the NIKE circuit is outstanding.

Better Coaching 43Hoops, Minnesota Select, Net Gain, PnR all have coaches superior to the Pulley program. I don't expect to sway opinion but from what I've seen watching AAU basketball for the past 6 years....it's what I've seen.
 

Duthasmon Smith said:
The comment was Zierden is a high major kid. The schools bolded are schools I think he can play at and do very well. They are however, not high major programs.

Willie Braziel is a good coach but Heights hasn't done much. The rest are just average at best but when given the Pulley name, a lot of kids thinking that's the best route, they can win. Rolling out the ball and telling the kids to go play isn't great coaching and from my perspective that's how they coach. Now I will completely agree the NIKE circuit is outstanding.

Better Coaching 43Hoops, Minnesota Select, Net Gain, PnR all have coaches superior to the Pulley program. I don't expect to sway opinion but from what I've seen watching AAU basketball for the past 6 years....it's what I've seen.
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Stongly dissagree with you about P&R and Net Gain having better coaches then Pulley. Chris Carr and the Johnson coach are both very good coaches or 43 Hoops, after that nothing special. Select has an awesome coaching staff, I will agree with you. Don't underestimate some of the top Comets and Magic coaches either. But from top to bottom I personally like Pulley coaches.

I also am fortunate to know the North Suburban Conference a little bit and Braziel and his JV coaches do a good job. You are talking about a program that has been in the grave yard for years. They've been to the section finals the last two years and Braziel has alot to do with that. Just my opinion. Sorry we jumped of topic.
 

Thanks for the info. I believe I remember UWOle and Gopher Warrior being pretty high on him but it seems like there hasn't been much talk of him in relation to the Gophers in a while.

GophersOnTheRise said:
I would expect him to be high-major. Not sure how hard Wisconsin is recruiting him lately, but he seems like he would be a good fit with them IMO.
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Very familar with all of these guys.
Tyus - probably will be a real impact player in college.
Ian - big strong kid for his age and plays with an attitude, could be a decent college small forward. I heard that Tubby offered him tickets to a home game last year.
Reid - he can drive very well, good ball skills. He could very easily grow to 6-7 and become a good college 2 guard. Tall athletic family. Great head for the game, plays hard.
Stephon - really nice kid and may work into this rank but I could name 20 kids in Minnesota in the 2014 class that have a legit chance of earning this rank. His dad is an assistant at Hampton University, he probably had something to do with the ranking, quite the promoter.
 

underground629 said:
Thanks for the info. I believe I remember UWOle and Gopher Warrior being pretty high on him but it seems like there hasn't been much talk of him in relation to the Gophers in a while.
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I do like Zierden, and I have heard from a good source that the UW staff thinks pretty highly of him. As others have mentioned, his athleticism is a bit of a concern at the high major level, but he is definitelty skilled and knows how to play. He could be very productive in the right system with a good mix of players around him. Though I have heard UW likes him, it will probably be a while before he is offered (if that is in the plans). UW only has one spot left in 2012 and that will be held until they know where JP Tokoto is going.
 



Thanks. It will be interesting to see what happens with him. Sounds like he could be a solid recruit for Wisconsin to fall back on but not really the type of player that Tubby has brought in so far. I suppose we could always use a good shooter though.

UWOle said:
I do like Zierden, and I have heard from a good source that the UW staff thinks pretty highly of him. As others have mentioned, his athleticism is a bit of a concern at the high major level, but he is definitelty skilled and knows how to play. He could be very productive in the right system with a good mix of players around him. Though I have heard UW likes him, it will probably be a while before he is offered (if that is in the plans). UW only has one spot left in 2012 and that will be held until they know where JP Tokoto is going.
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watertown 1987 guy n said:
Very familar with all of these guys.
Tyus - probably will be a real impact player in college.
Ian - big strong kid for his age and plays with an attitude, could be a decent college small forward. I heard that Tubby offered him tickets to a home game last year.
Reid - he can drive very well, good ball skills. He could very easily grow to 6-7 and become a good college 2 guard. Tall athletic family. Great head for the game, plays hard.
Stephon - really nice kid and may work into this rank but I could name 20 kids in Minnesota in the 2014 class that have a legit chance of earning this rank. His dad is an assistant at Hampton University, he probably had something to do with the ranking, quite the promoter.
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I couldn't disagree with your assessment of these kids more. Finding it hard to believe you've seen these kids or their teams. Tyus "probably? Ian a SF? Reid 6'7? 20 kids better than Stephon? Sounds you or your kids teams got worked by these kids at some point.
 

Go Gophs eh? said:
^ NC?
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I assume this is directed at me in regards to JP Tokoto. If not, please ignore.

UNC is definitely a good guess for where JP will end up, they have been rumored to be the favorite for some time now. Personally, I believe it will be UNC or UW for him. The UW staff (Bo in particular) has put in a lot of time on JP, which I don't think would happen if there was little or no shot of him ending up in Madison. He has been to two football games already this fall, both with friend and 2012 UW commit Sam Dekker, and is expected in two weeks (Oct. 16th) for the Ohio St. game and the basketball scrimmage earlier that day. That likely means he is not attending midnight madness festivities anywhere (e.g. UNC, Kansas), except maybe Marquette. We shall see how things play out, recruiting against the big boys is certainly an uphill battle, but I still have hopes.
 



Never having seen Zierden play in person, he sounds a lot like a Ryan Whittman-type of player. Is that a fair comparison?
 


Tyus Jones

I thought I remember reading a recent article (in the past few months) that this kid was extremely high on MSU (apparently he is a huge fan of Izzo) and I would have to think that it would be very difficult to imagine Tubby overcoming this.

Just found a note from Pioneer Press...

Jones is a pass-first, shoot-second point guard who already has the University of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan State drooling over his play, although no one has offered a tender yet. He is soft-spoken, articulate and an A student.

"I've always been a Michigan State fan," Tyus said, "but I'm not thinking about college too much now. The Gophers are an option also. We'll just have to see. Most likely, I would wait to see how everything plays out."
 

Rankings at this age are very difficult but to make the call regarding which kid will or will not be in top 100 in the end is just as difficult. Having watched Tyus Jones and Ian Theisen quite a bit over the last 2 years, i have decent opinions.

The common denominator between the 2 isthat they have both worked hard to be put in this position. Regarding Theisen, he has gone from an awkward but big kid 3 years ago to a very skilled and strong kid. The kid is a flat out warrior that rebounds very well in traffic and has a great knack for scoring the ball in tight situations. His shooting is improving and is much better than he has been given credit for in this thread. Once he becomes comfortable with 1 or 2 bounces- he will be difficult to stop. Has chance to be high major player at 4/5 position regardless of whether or not he grows any more. 6-9 and 245 is more than enough to get it done as most people would agree. Think Trevor Mbakwe.
 



2014

Comparing these guys is not fair because they are all different players. Tyus, will be a major player, that is obvious. Travis could be better than his brother because he can really shoot the ball. Theisen, as the last poster stated, really knows how to rebound and if he can add other parts to his game and even gets bigger?, will be a major guy for sure. A real nice player.
 



Duthasmon Smith said:
So did he steal your lunch money at some point? What's your point?
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Is this guy serious? His point is that he dropped in the rankings since he was brought up earlier in the discussion and it was worth mentioning.
 

JackiO said:
Is this guy serious? His point is that he dropped in the rankings since he was brought up earlier in the discussion and it was worth mentioning.
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Let me be more literal then for you. Postive vibes on kids are better than negative vibes. The reality is all the Mn kids dropped. Why the focus on one? Seems personal is what I'm saying.
 

Duthasmon Smith said:
Let me be more literal then for you. Postive vibes on kids are better than negative vibes. The reality is all the Mn kids dropped. Why the focus on one? Seems personal is what I'm saying.
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earlier in the thread i said this: Theissen wont be in the top 100 when its all said/done.

( i'm just backing my talk... i had no comments on the others ).


your response: Ready to throw the Mn kid out of the top 100 w/o seeing him play? First off it is nearly impossible with the big kids to see what's what. If you saw Cole Aldrich as a freshman, there is NO way you saw a kid who 7 years later would be the 10th pick of the draft. Leuer is another kid who was about 6'0 as a freshmen and now has a chance to play professionally when his career is over.

aldrich is a once-in-a-decade guy.. he was top 10 Rivals as a sophomore... Leuer is a freak.. he wasn't even ranked until summer of his junior year... i think he premiered at 75th after playing with Pulley over the summer only because Aldrich chose to play elsewhere... ( i think ).. so a freak like Leuer isn't even on the radar yet... you're betting Theissen is the next Aldrich because he's so high so young?.... bad bet.... how much of his game is raw talent and how much is due to coaching? bet on talent when they are that young..
 

dboy said:
earlier in the thread i said this: Theissen wont be in the top 100 when its all said/done.

( i'm just backing my talk... i had no comments on the others ).


your response: Ready to throw the Mn kid out of the top 100 w/o seeing him play? First off it is nearly impossible with the big kids to see what's what. If you saw Cole Aldrich as a freshman, there is NO way you saw a kid who 7 years later would be the 10th pick of the draft. Leuer is another kid who was about 6'0 as a freshmen and now has a chance to play professionally when his career is over.

aldrich is a once-in-a-decade guy.. he was top 10 Rivals as a sophomore... Leuer is a freak.. he wasn't even ranked until summer of his junior year... i think he premiered at 75th after playing with Pulley over the summer only because Aldrich chose to play elsewhere... ( i think ).. so a freak like Leuer isn't even on the radar yet... you're betting Theissen is the next Aldrich because he's so high so young?.... bad bet.... how much of his game is raw talent and how much is due to coaching? bet on talent when they are that young..
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Bold comment I don't understand what you are saying? My post was clear and wasn't drawing comparisons to players. The point is you can't tell anything about kids this young. I don't care where a kid is ranked. The two players I illustrated where kids that were not known as 9th graders. Fairly easy concept.

Also how much of his game is due to coaching? You sound like another parent who's grader schooler got beat up by a bigger kid. Move on dboy you'll feel better for it.
 

dboy said:
earlier in the thread i said this: Theissen wont be in the top 100 when its all said/done.

( i'm just backing my talk... i had no comments on the others ).


your response: Ready to throw the Mn kid out of the top 100 w/o seeing him play? First off it is nearly impossible with the big kids to see what's what. If you saw Cole Aldrich as a freshman, there is NO way you saw a kid who 7 years later would be the 10th pick of the draft. Leuer is another kid who was about 6'0 as a freshmen and now has a chance to play professionally when his career is over.

aldrich is a once-in-a-decade guy.. he was top 10 Rivals as a sophomore... Leuer is a freak.. he wasn't even ranked until summer of his junior year... i think he premiered at 75th after playing with Pulley over the summer only because Aldrich chose to play elsewhere... ( i think ).. so a freak like Leuer isn't even on the radar yet... you're betting Theissen is the next Aldrich because he's so high so young?.... bad bet.... how much of his game is raw talent and how much is due to coaching? bet on talent when they are that young..
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Aldrich and Leuer played for MN Magic, not Pulley. Aldrich wasn't the player Theissen is now as a freshman. He made HUGE improvements between his freshman and sophmore year and his perfomance on the summer circuit increased his profile. And what does Leuer not being ranked until his junior year have anything to do with Theissen? At this point, right now Theissen is very good player for a player who just entered his freshman year. If he grows (like Leuer did) or continues to improve (like Aldrich did) he has a chance to be a big-time player.
 

SoMpls said:
Aldrich and Leuer played for MN Magic, not Pulley. Aldrich wasn't the player Theissen is now as a freshman. He made HUGE improvements between his freshman and sophmore year and his perfomance on the summer circuit increased his profile. And what does Leuer not being ranked until his junior year have anything to do with Theissen? At this point, right now Theissen is very good player for a player who just entered his freshman year. If he grows (like Leuer did) or continues to improve (like Aldrich did) he has a chance to be a big-time player.
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Leuer was a 5'11" point guard in the 9th grade.. a very late bloomer... "freak"
theissen is probably an early bloomer who may have reached his adult height already.

if leuer == theissen
then theissen will grow to 7' 6" by the 11th grade
end-if

so that leaves the aldrich comparison...

the odds theissen is the the next aldrich and will finish ranked in the top 100 nationally are very low.. better odds that hes the next cory johnson, chris halvorson, et al. very good players, but not in the top 100.
 

Duthasmon Smith said:
Bold comment I don't understand what you are saying? My post was clear and wasn't drawing comparisons to players. The point is you can't tell anything about kids this young. I don't care where a kid is ranked. The two players I illustrated where kids that were not known as 9th graders. Fairly easy concept.

Also how much of his game is due to coaching? You sound like another parent who's grader schooler got beat up by a bigger kid. Move on dboy you'll feel better for it.
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cant tell anything? :eek: actually, you can tell almost everything. feet, leaping, timing, hands, arm length, moxie, etc, etc. a guy like Leuer is the rare exception... one of those players you see in the ninth grade and say ( pick one ):
1.) if only he were 10" taller
2.) if only he were 40 lbs lighter.
3.) if only he had quicker feet.
4.) if only he had another 6" on his vertical
5.) if only he had longer arms and bigger hands.
6.) if only he could go left.

with Leuer, one of these 'what ifs' came true. for 100's of other kids, it doesn't.

also, my understanding is Aldrich started for Jefferson as a ninth grader. "cant tell anything" wow.
 

dboy said:
Leuer was a 5'11" point guard in the 9th grade.. a very late bloomer... "freak"
theissen is probably an early bloomer who may have reached his adult height already.

if leuer == theissen
then theissen will grow to 7' 6" by the 11th grade
end-if

so that leaves the aldrich comparison...

the odds theissen is the the next aldrich and will finish ranked in the top 100 nationally are very low.. better odds that hes the next cory johnson, chris halvorson, et al. very good players, but not in the top 100.
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I'm not really compairing Theissen to Leuer or Aldrich. What you're basically saying is that Theissen has peaked. Maybe he has. But you base it all on theories and opinions. Since you're going that route all I'm saying is what if he does grow to be 7'0? What if he continues to gain confidence and improve his skills. What if he has success on the AAU circuit. Would you not think he'd be a top 100 player. It's easy to project but you can't predict what's going to happen with a 14-15 year old freshman.
 

dboy said:
cant tell anything? :eek: actually, you can tell almost everything. feet, leaping, timing, hands, arm length, moxie, etc, etc. a guy like Leuer is the rare exception... one of those players you see in the ninth grade and say ( pick one ):
1.) if only he were 10" taller
2.) if only he were 40 lbs lighter.
3.) if only he had quicker feet.
4.) if only he had another 6" on his vertical
5.) if only he had longer arms and bigger hands.
6.) if only he could go left.

with Leuer, one of these 'what ifs' came true. for 100's of other kids, it doesn't.

also, my understanding is Aldrich started for Jefferson as a ninth grader. "cant tell anything" wow.
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Please tell me you don't work in wall street? With analysis like this you'd certainly drive the country more near a double dip. So as a freshmen Theissen is 6'8 and still growing, good hands, runs the floor well, dunks with two hands or one and off one or two feet, finishes with his left hand as easily as his right. He looks to weigh 210+ lbs now and looking at his frame, he'll be 250 by the time he's a senior in high school. And by the way if 1 kid had the "what ifs" come true it's not 100%. Couple all that and your problem is bias not a legitimate analysis of the kid.

That's a fact. If you'd like the kid I get it but there is NO way you can look at him and dismiss his potential like your apt to do.
 

Duthasmon Smith said:
Please tell me you don't work in wall street? With analysis like this you'd certainly drive the country more near a double dip. So as a freshmen Theissen is 6'8 and still growing, good hands, runs the floor well, dunks with two hands or one and off one or two feet, finishes with his left hand as easily as his right. He looks to weigh 210+ lbs now and looking at his frame, he'll be 250 by the time he's a senior in high school. And by the way if 1 kid had the "what ifs" come true it's not 100%. Couple all that and your problem is bias not a legitimate analysis of the kid.

That's a fact. If you'd like the kid I get it but there is NO way you can look at him and dismiss his potential like your apt to do.
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dude, relax.. i'll i'm saying is he won't be in the top 100... not that he can't play. top100 IN THE NATION is elite company.
 

Sounds you or your kids teams got worked by these kids at some point.

You sound like another parent who's grader schooler got beat up by a bigger kid.
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People can and do disagree. So what, it's a forum. But speculating about people's families is really BS. And this wasn't addressed to me, I'm just observing...and like I say, these kinds of comments are crap. You don't know if they have kids or not or what is happening so give it a rest.

I mean, I could speculate about why you sound the way you do and you don't want to hear it.
 

I was unemployed for about 6 months last year during the high school basketball season and saw Theisen play about a dozen games and was VERY impressed by his hands, footwork and finishing ability. He is not athletic but not many 6'8" 8th graders are. Once this kid grows into his body I see him as being the kind of guy Wisconsin drools over.

Tyus Jones is the real deal. The write-ups on him say he was the best player at a summer tournament...it was U17, he was 14. They said game to game he was the best player. Not the best athlete/shooter/etc. but he never makes mistakes. If Tubby is watching him then he is legit.

Not too sure on the other two guys as I focused most of my energy on certain teams. I talked with the Osseo coach the other day and he seems to think Theissen has all the tools to be a good D1 player
 

sunnyday2 said:
People can and do disagree. So what, it's a forum. But speculating about people's families is really BS. And this wasn't addressed to me, I'm just observing...and like I say, these kinds of comments are crap. You don't know if they have kids or not or what is happening so give it a rest.

I mean, I could speculate about why you sound the way you do and you don't want to hear it.
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Good idea let's ban speculation from the forums...............................yep kind of quiet. Read more of the posts directed to dboy. I'm guessing you'll be really offended at those and their contents.

Go ahead and speculate about whatever you'd like. Free forum.
 

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