Ross Travis

[HardwoodElite]

I happened to see Ross Travis of Chaska play against Rochester Mayo tonight. He had 19 points and I would estimate roughly 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals with no memorable turnovers. Pretty impressive all-around numbers. The thing that stood out the most about Ross was how smooth of an athlete he was and how good of a ball handler he was. He's probably around 6'6" and was the best ball handler on the court. He had two impressive dunks in transition and proves to be a good leaper(not at the level of a Rodney Williams, but how many players really are?). He had good form on his shot, but judging by his free throw shooting may not be his biggest strength at this point. Then again he only took two jumpers and one of them went in, so I would need a larger sample size in order to make a strong judgement.

He's one of those players who doesn't force anything, so he doesn't completely stand out on the court, but after the game you notice he had close to a triple-double. He seems like a good leader. Played nearly the entire game and didn't take any plays off. Gets in a defensive stance and would clearly fit in with Tubby's system. It appears he needs to work on his shooting and it would be nice if he was a little more aggressive sometimes. Doesn't necessarily jump out as a cant-miss prospect, but probably falls somewhere between the top 75-125 players in his class and would definitely be a good pick up for Tubby and his staff. Maybe more similar to a Trent Lockett rather than a Royce White or Rodney Williams in the fact that his contributions aren't completely in your face, but he helps your team win in so many ways.

 

[Roy Christensen]

Thanks for the observations and analysis. I love posts like this.

 

[UWOle]

Very nice post. Couple follow up questions regarding Travis. Where do you think he projects at the college level? If he is 6'6" and really a competent ball-handler, he sounds like a nice fit as a SF. He may need to improve his shooting, but you can probably say that about most HS juniors. Also, does he do much inside? Is he willing to be physical defensively and in rebounding?

 

[HardwoodElite]

If Ross is able to improve his shooting ability and range he could very well play shooting guard at the college level, however at this point in time he projects as a small forward. I was very impressed with his ball handling and he is very smooth, so he is definitely a wing player(he even ran point guard a lot for his team). He played in the post for one possession because their starting power forward(Jake White) wasn't in the game at the time. He did a good job posting up and seemed more than capable of scoring in the post, however like I said before he is definitely a perimeter player. He definitely is not afraid to play physical on either end of the floor and does a good job of getting low in his defensive stance and playing in-your-face defense(more so than many top recruits). As far as rebounding goes he did a pretty good job getting offensive boards, but it would be nice to see him crash a little bit harder sometimes and do a better job of finding his man and initiating the contact on the box out instead of relying on his athleticism. Definitely has the potential to be a good rebounder though. Hopefully this answers your questions.

 

[GoldenGuts]

im looking forward to seeing him play in the next week or 2. thanks for the report.

 

[guru]

Let's not get too carried away...

He plays AAU for Chris Carr and I don't know if CC has a strong relationship with the Gopher coaching staff or not. He looks to be one of the better athletes in the 2011 class, along with Joe Coleman, Kyle Noreen, Roosevelt Scott, and Ross's cousin, Jonah Travis (these are the only juniors that I know of who can 360 dunk).
Before anyone gets too excited, Travis does tend to lose his focus on the floor at times, he has been injury-prone in the past and he needs to develop more emotional maturity, not sure of his complete skill set being there yet, or his willingness to work hard inside. Re: two weeks ago today, after appearing to be the guy in charge of his HS team in the first game, he was tossed out of the next game for techs in a high school tournament, forcing him to sit for the next game, before being outplayed/outhustled by Noreen in the championship game. Still, he is just a junior and I would think because of his physical potential, he would, at the very least, be on the Gopher radar, with interest growing, especially if he were to grow a couple more inches and gain 15 #s.

 

[washgopher]

oh great

like we need another recruit that can't shoot

 

[JohnnyGopher]

Travis needs to stay healthy and play a full season first but he is an interesting prospect. Alot of schools are watching both him and White this season but it will probably be this summer before the serious offers start coming.

 

[Duthasmon Smith]

Good spot to jump in. I've watched Ross for the better part of two years and for the most part I'd say the assessment of his skills is accurate. He's been hurt a lot but I don't believe he is lacking toughness at all. For the most part his injuries have been pretty serious. His jump shot is not his strength. He is strong attacking the basket and athletic on a national level such as Rodney.

He's in the 6'6 range and pair with White on the inside will have a nice year. His ranking on Rivals seemed a bit but certainly not ridiculous.

 

[Duthasmon Smith]

Very nice post. Couple follow up questions regarding Travis. Where do you think he projects at the college level? If he is 6'6" and really a competent ball-handler, he sounds like a nice fit as a SF. He may need to improve his shooting, but you can probably say that about most HS juniors. Also, does he do much inside? Is he willing to be physical defensively and in rebounding?

Ross will probably project at a 3 if his outside shooting becomes more consistent. I'm not sure he's a great ball handler but against Rochester Mayo, I'm sure he's fine. That'll improve. Ross is not a banger but will rebound and rise against most players. He's a solid Smith recruit.