re: Some Will Wade recruiting possibilities

Here's an interesting piece from the Memphis Commercial Appeal talking about the JUCO kids Tubby Smith is recruiting.

Among them is the Kyvon Davenport kid referenced earlier in the thread, who might be the top unsigned JUCO forward in the country. JUCORecruiting.com has him as the #19 player, but those rankings might be old. Here's a writeup from that site about him.

Another guy is the #48 player in those JUCO rankings, Raynere Thornton. He's out of Gordon State in Georgia, and he had an interesting stat line:

10.9 ppg
11.4 rpg
5.9 apg

He can't shoot much, though - .474 from the floor, only 23 percent from 3 and 57 percent from the foul line. And at 6-6, 230 he's a little small for the post. That said, he's got Kansas State, Iowa State and Nebraska along with Memphis.

They also have a couple of guards listed, one of which is Chris Darrington from Vincennes (20.7 ppg), who is #13 on that JUCO list. The other is Ron Freeman, who's a 6-5 swingman out of Northwest Florida State. He only averaged 8.2 ppg this year; I don't see why we would be interested in him.

The top player on the JUCO list is Shakur Juiston (6-7), who led Hutchinson to the national championship. He's uncommitted. Averaged 17.3 ppg and 12.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.8 bpg and 1.5 spg, and shot 60 percent from the floor. Wade was recruiting him at VCU, but he's also got Kansas on him as well as Illinois, St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Seton Hall.

And here's another guy I wouldn't be surprised to see Wade take a chance on. His name is Tony Farmer, and he goes 6-7 or 6-8 and 235 pounds. He's out of Lee College, which is where Jenkins and Reath played and where Hamdy played when Wade found him. Benford also recruited that school at North Texas.

Farmer had a big year at Lee...

17.4 ppg
9.5 rpg
3.2 apg
.484 FG
.354 3PT
.689 FT

...but he's not all that highly-recruited. Why?

This is why.

He's a risk. He spent 3 years in jail out of high school for kidnapping and robbing an ex-girlfriend and nobody would take him to play college ball when he got out. But apparently he straightened his life out and hasn't caused any trouble at Lee. It might not be a good look for Wade to sign him right after coming here, but on the other hand, this guy is a grown man and could be a difference-maker at the 4 for somebody.