Minnesota interested in #1 ranked JUCO scorer AJ Thomas

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Sometimes you can see a successful season coming from a mile away. And then sometimes there are improbable experiences, such as the one A.J. Thomas is having this winter.

After a bumpy ride, the Friendly High School graduate and former Gazette-Star All-County First Team selection has emerged as one of the nation’s best junior college basketball players. A sophomore at Globe Institute of Technology in New York City, Thomas is the leading scorer in Division I of the National Junior College Athletic Association — the highest level of juco basketball — averaging 22.8 points per game. He’s also fourth in the nation in assists per game (7.8), and last weekend he was named the NJCAA Region 15 Player of the Year.
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If all goes according to plan, Thomas will be playing for an NCAA Division I school next season. He said he is carrying a 3.0 grade point average and intends to finish his sophomore year by taking a few credits during the summer before moving on to finish college at a four-year school starting this fall.

The 6-foot-1 guard said Minnesota, Clemson, Arizona, Virginia Tech, Delaware State, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and Quinnipiac are among the 15-20 schools that have expressed interest in him.

“It’s very humbling, because I always wanted to play at the highest level,” Thomas said. “It’ll be a dream come true if I get to play at that high Division I level.”
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http://www.gazette.net/article/20120301/SPORTS/703019812/1026/news&source=RSS&template=gazette

Hes from Washington DC.
 

Unless Mav is cut, we have no scholarships.
 


I could see Chip possibly transferring too, but I hope he doesn't since I'm a fan. I would love to trade Mav for this guy.
 




Gopher Fan said:
Does this count Trevor's possible 6th year? Although its unlikely.
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Trevor is 1 of the 2 seniors on the team, so no. If Trevor gets a 6th year it would be likely to see Ingram get cut.
 

I assume this is the same guy, albeit from a few years ago:


Go Gophers!!
 

I don't know if we'd really want to go after a Juco kid, unless Maverick and/or Chip are leaving.
 




If Trevor comes back thats 2 scholarships we would have to "create" correct?
 

I can't see Chip staying with the emergence of Andre Hollins plus Austin's not going anywhere. I hope Chip does transfer because he needs playing time to develop and its clear he'll only get it here if we have injuries.
 

There are rumors out there that Coleman & Mav might transfer. After reading more about Thomas it makes the Mav rumors more credible as this would seem to be an upgrade.
 



Moses87 said:
I can't see Chip staying with the emergence of Andre Hollins plus Austin's not going anywhere. I hope Chip does transfer because he needs playing time to develop and its clear he'll only get it here if we have injuries.
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I sure wouldn't want an underclassman who's been the team MVP 3-4 times + 6th man of the game 2-3 times this season to leave. I want him to stay, get coached up & embrace his role as the 6th man.
 


Why would Coleman transfer? He played some decent minutes the latter half of the season...would be a huge blow imo!
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I sure wouldn't want an underclassman who's been the team MVP 3-4 times + 6th man of the game 2-3 times this season to leave. I want him to stay, get coached up & embrace his role as the 6th man.
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I also don't think "trading" a guy who has been in the system for two years for a juco is a deal that will work very often. I see this guy, and my first thought is Devron Bostick.

For a lot of reasons, I see Mav taking off, but I can't see Coleman jumping ship.
 

There aren't rumors Coleman would transfer, unless Chip is Coleman, but he is not.
 

From the Barn said:
There aren't rumors Coleman would transfer, unless Chip is Coleman, but he is not.
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No, you're wrong. There's definitely smoke with Joe Coleman. Insiders saying he doesn't fit in on the team chemistry-wise & wants out, family members saying he's going to stick it out. We'll see.
 

BleedGopher said:
I assume this is the same guy, albeit from a few years ago:


Go Gophers!!
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I didn't see much of that 7.8 assists per game in this Video, just a scorer so hopefully the PG position is something he's been working on at Juco. Also hard to tell if he plays any defense because that was Bostick's downfall.
 


From the Barn said:
Which insiders would these be?
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Just because I'm not going to tell you doesn't mean it's not true ;) I've been on this forum since the 1990's and no one's ever accused me of making up stuff on players or recruits.

I also didn't publish the names of the people who told me James Onwaulu had repeatedly told his teammates "I'm NOT going to the U." & deciding between Notre Dame & Stanford for months now, but that turned out to be true & so have several other pieces I've posted here over the years.
 

IF those rumors are true, hopefully it was something that crossed his mind during his stretch of scoreless games and has since been forgotten. Freshmen can have fragile minds when it comes to getting frustrated/down/confused and wanting to transfer. Most of the time they stick it out and it ultimately works out for them to stay. Sometimes it takes more than half a season to truly find your niche.
 

I could see him heading to ISU if he were to transfer. He seems to follow the team and was close to going there during his original recruitment. Hopefully he sticks it out though. If he were to transfer, that would be another gigantic red flag.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
IF those rumors are true, hopefully it was something that crossed his mind during his stretch of scoreless games and has since been forgotten. Freshmen can have fragile minds when it comes to getting frustrated/down/confused and wanting to transfer. Most of the time they stick it out and it ultimately works out for them to stay. Sometimes it takes more than half a season to truly find your niche.
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That's what I'm thinking as well.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Just because I'm not going to tell you doesn't mean it's not true ;) I've been on this forum since the 1990's and no one's ever accused me of making up stuff on players or recruits.

I also didn't publish the names of the people who told me James Onwaulu had repeatedly told his teammates "I'm NOT going to the U." & deciding between Notre Dame & Stanford for months now, but that turned out to be true & so have several other pieces I've posted here over the years.
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I'm not going to say you are making it up the part about Joe. But come on, no one has ever accused you of lying on the internet? :)

Still I could see him talking about leaving. I was talking with a D1 mid major kid Sunday who just finishing his freshman year. He said he didn't care for the first half of the year. He went from being the man for the last three years to never seeing the floor. He also felt like he didn't fit in, but his mom wouldn't let him quit. This kids don't understand how hard college sports are going to be. I would be shocked if he left. Once he settles down, grows up a little bit he's going to realize it's going to be just as hard every well else.
 

Found a little more info on AJ Thomas. His coach at Globe is Mark Morse who was recruited to Tulsa by Tubby Smith. I also found it interesting that the school hasn't produced a D-1 player in recent history. It doesn't appear that Globe plays many of the top JUCO schools as their region seems to be one the weaker ones as only one school from its region was ranked (and no others received votes) in the most recent JUCO poll.

http://www.globe.edu/mens_basketball.asp
 

Gold Vision said:
I could see him heading to ISU if he were to transfer. He seems to follow the team and was close to going there during his original recruitment. Hopefully he sticks it out though. If he were to transfer, that would be another gigantic red flag.
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Didn't ISU cancel his visit right before he was suppose to go on his official? I don't think that would be an option.
 

EG#9 said:
I also found it interesting that the school hasn't produced a D-1 player in recent history.
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Well, AJ is the first, big whoop. Even a top program like MCTC produced mostly D-3 players, some D-2 and very, very few D1.
 

9194Gophs said:
Well, AJ is the first, big whoop. Even a top program like MCTC produced mostly D-3 players, some D-2 and very, very few D1.
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You obviously know a lot about junior colleges...MCTC is not a "top program" and hasn't been for a long time.
 

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