Recruiting Madness Continues

One day after receiving his dream offer from the University of Wisconsin, Sheboygan Lutheran's Sam Dekker pledged to play basketball for Bo Ryan's Badgers. Dekker became the first member of Wisconsin's 2012 recruiting class with his verbal commitment on Tuesday.

Dekker, now 6'7", was a scoring machine (25.5 ppg) last season as a sophomore after growing four inches. A knock on him as a prospect is the level of competition he faces during the high school season as a Division 3 team in the Central Lakeshore Conference, so it will be interesting to monitor his development. Dekker has enjoyed an impressive AAU season thus far, rising to among the top two or three players in Wisconsin in the 2012 class.

The Badgers also offered their first 2013 tender to 6'1" point guard Bronson Koenig. Koenig just completed his freshmen season at La Crosse Aquinas back in March, averaging just under 15 ppg. He is the second-ranked rising sophomore in the state according to Wishoops.net.

Considering Koenig's offer is one of the earliest ever handed out by Bo -- only two months behind J.P. Tokoto's last spring -- it's safe to say the staff is pretty enamored with the kid's abilities.

It also is another example of Bo's willingness to forgo the NABC guideline regarding offering scholarships to players prior to June 15th after their sophomore year. If memory serves, Bo was up front from day one that a soft guideline was going to be impossible to enforce and thus, potentially detrimental to programs that follow the guideline in lock-step. Some schools run through the dog-and-pony show of promising to offer as soon as the NABC guideline allows (ahem, North Carolina .. or Michigan under John Beilein), which is basically the same thing as offering except they get to pat themselves on the back for following a quasi-rule.

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In other news, Tom Izzo is staying put at Michigan State "for life." A very drawn-out, tense affair for Spartan fans, but a good end result for the Big Ten.

Wisconsin State AAU Tournament

Unfortunately I was not able to scout any Badger prospects in person this past high school season, so when I heard the Wisconsin State AAU Tournament was going to be held in Stoughton, I knew I had to check it out.

So I traveled down to the Impact Sports Enhancement Academy on Saturday to take in a few games. Unfortunately a couple of teams did not show up for the event, leading to some of forfeits. Despite the cancellation of a few games, I was still able to see one each for the likes of Vander Blue, J.P. Tokoto, Wally Ellenson, Marquis Mason, Chip Rank, Kyle Kelm, Nimrod Hilliard and Jamar "Popcorn" Morris.

Outside of Blue and Mason, I had never seen any of these guys play live before. Needless to say, watching Tokoto was my main objective.

However, the first game I caught was in the 17U division, between Blue's Madison Spartans and the Wisconsin Force. Unlike the Spiece tourney last week or day 1 in Stoughton, Blue did not quite have his touch this time. He struggled from the field and subsequently, the Spartans lost by a few points to the Force, led by Josh Cameron and Sam Gage. But Blue continues to have his way getting to the basket at this level and had quite a few free throw attempts down the stretch. The Badger commit also tried a ridiculous dunk over his defender from outside the free throw lane on the baseline -- the gym would have erupted if it had stayed down. He still got the star treatment afterwards with a Channel 3 interview.

Playing on the court next to Blue around noon was the stacked Wisconsin Swing-Selk team, who completely ran away from the Wisconsin Blaze. I was pretty impressed by Chip Rank. He slammed the boards (knew how to box out well) and played with intensity all game long. His handle and shot were decent too. Mason's footwork inside stood out to me. Pretty nimble guy that should make a good receiver for the football team. He was the one guy I saw who able to actually put down his dunks, although he seemed a little lazy when it came to getting rebounding position.

Sadly, nothing Kelm did shouted "prime-time player" to me. He seemed more fatigued than others (didn't get the ball over the rim on a dunk) and just hung out by the 3-point line all game long.

Madison East's Hilliard found his rhythm behind the arc in the second half to fuel a big comeback for the 16U Madison Spartans against the Wisconsin Playmakers club. Miles Chamberlain's bucket at the buzzer gave the Spartans the win after being down as many as 16 points. Hilliard was fun to watch, very smooth.

After that I caught the first half of the 15U Wisconsin Force against one of the Wisconsin Swing teams. Junior Lomomba was not playing for some reason and was hanging out with the Madison Spartan kids. That left Popcorn Morris to handle business for the Force. He reminded me a bit of Flavien Davis -- 6'4" or 6'5", can lead a fast break, do work under the basket and get up for alley oops. I wanted to watch more, but the 15U Wisconsin Playground Warriors finally were ready to tip off.

Like Blue, Tokoto did not set the world on fire with his shooting touch, but he did get a few more buckets to drop in the second half as the Warriors kept the pesky Northwest WI All-Stars at bay. It must be hard to judge Tokoto when he plays down at this level because he is so much bigger and more athletic than any of the opposing players. He played up a lot in the full-court pressure the Warriors played and made several hustle plays that coaches love.

I tried to take a couple of videos with a weak Canon PowerShot, but they leave a lot to be desired. The first one shows Tokoto (#24) posting up and the second, blurry one shows him skying to retrieve what looked like an alley oop pass gone awry.





Ellenson was an interesting player to watch. He was quick enough to take any defender to the rack. Even though he was predictable in that way, his strength and aggressiveness earned him at least 10-12 points on those drives alone.

Links:
- There will be a rule change in 2009-10 regarding taking charges while under the basket -- it is now a blocking foul every time. There are a couple other rule tweaks and points of emphasis too.
- The Daily Cardinal checks in with Rashard Griffith.
- Many of Wisconsin's recruits and/or recruiting targets played well in last weekend's big Spiece AAU tournament (ie: Bill Hensley Memorial Run 'N Slam) in Indiana, including Blue, Tokoto, Evan Anderson, Chasson Randle, Nnana Egwu, Jacob Williams and J.D. Weatherspoon.

The New "Downtown"

Will bricklayers be out in record numbers now that the NCAA has moved the men's three-point line back one foot to 20'9"? Or will a select few sharpshooters separate from the pack and earn the green light from the new distance?

As Andy Katz detailed last month, the changes are mental more than physical, not just because of the longer distance, but due to the presence of multiple different three-point lines painted on the court. The head coach at Mississippi even wants to see a one-foot-thick line painted on the court, though more for the referees' sake than the players.

If confusion is a real issue for some players, it will add reaction time and diminish the instincts of these top-shelf athletes, who have grown up shooting treys from the same distance for years.

Spectators are sure to be even less accustomed to the new line when the season starts; perhaps even chiding a player for taking such a deep shot before coming to their senses. Still to be determined is if fans will notice a difference in gameplay. It is hard to see the new line affecting teams that play a run-and-gun style of offense. Some shooters on those rosters regularly pull up from well behind the arc already. Furthermore, the difference can be overcome for just about anyone just through repetition. If a player works enough in the offseason during game conditions, he will become comfortable with the new distance and from which line to fire.

Again, it's not like the new distance is out near NBA range (23'9"). The thing to watch for then is which players actually put in that extra work before the season starts to stretched their range and get accustomed to the new length. Will that big man who has developed his outside game start jacking up 20-footers rather than refine a couple more post moves? Or take a tweener, like Marcus Landry, for example. I am sure Landry can hit the longer shot in practice. But from what I have seen in games past, his range extends as far as him toeing the line. It will be interesting to see if Landry's three-point attempts reach the 54 he tried last year.

How might the new distance affect the Badgers
The rule change could actually be coming at a good time for the Badgers, as Brian Butch and Michael Flowers have both just graduated. We saw Butch sink a long 3-pointer to beat Indiana, but it wasn't pretty. Flowers wound up as a very good spot-up three-point shooter, but it took a lot of work.

Wisconsin's starting guards this year, Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes, definitely have plenty of range on their outside shot--though Pop needs to improve his shot selection in general. Beyond the surefire starters, I think Jon Leuer and Tim Jarmusz should be able to handle the transition. On the other hand, Keaton Nankivil probably won't be putting up any threes even though his ability to hit from outside was touted as a bonus for a power forward prospect.

If the returning junior guards are a push and Landry is not a candidate to put up any more threes than he did last year, you have 200 attempts combined vacated by Butch and Flowers. We can expect a rise in attempts from Leuer and Jarmusz based on playing time. I have not seen enough of any incoming freshmen to comment on them, but none are known as sharpshooters at this point and there is sparse playing time available in the backcourt anyway.

In my eyes, the Badgers may not attempt as many three-pointers as last year and Bo Ryan may be happy with that. Wisconsin's average margin of victory has been significantly higher (+12.9 in '08, +12.3 in '07) as the team has reduced its average three-point attempts by about two per game. The Badgers averaged over 18 3-pt FGA/g the two years prior to their back-to-back 30-win seasons.

Defensively, I have heard people say that the new distance could harm the Badgers because they have been burned by hot three-point shooting in the past and now they will have to extend even further, opening up the middle of the lane. To that I say, maybe so. That is the point, isn't it? But Wisconsin will be in the same boat as everyone else in that regard and traditionally the Badgers possess one of the most stout team defenses in the land. Plus, take one look at UW's future rosters--seeing more room for big men to maneuver looks pretty darn good, doesn't it?

For now, we'll just wait and see how all the extra lines look on the new court ...

Links:
- Here's to bright futures, Michigan State!
- Rundown on some of the talented backcourt players from Illinois in the Class of 2009. Wisconsin getting one was key, but having that many prospects in your backyard is almost silly.

Back, back, back, back, back ...

Pardon my Chris Berman impression, but it looks like this upcoming season will be the last for the 19'9" 3-point line. The NCAA men's basketball rules committee has approved a change to move the 3-point line back exactly one foot, to 20 feet, 9 inches. So starting in 2008-09, treys will be a little harder to sink, pending the approval of one final committee on May 25.

I don't think this will affect the players as much as it might strategy and game planning by the coaches. Most big-time college shooters that reach the NBA continue to be great shooters when they transition to the pro game anyway. If I'm wrong and the "amateurs" have tough time overall shooting the same percentage, that can only benefit a team like Wisconsin, which has not relied very much on 3-point shooting under Bo Ryan. Either way, Jason Bohannon will be finding the bottom of the net from deep for the next three years.

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Speaking of 3-pointers, I cannot go any longer without applauding Michael Finley for the season he is having with San Antonio. He absolutely crushed the Denver Nuggets in the Spurs' close-out win on Wednesday night by nailing 8-of-9 threes and scoring 26 points.
For the series, Finley shot 52.8% on 19-of-36 shooting from behind the arc.

The biggest knock on Finley coming out of Wisconsin was his outside shooting and it's refreshing to see an old dog finally master a new trick. Once Gregg Popovich went back to bringing Manu Ginobili off the bench, Finley has excelled as the starter in a spot-up outside shooting role. He only averaged 9 ppg overall this year, but averaged 13 ppg since March 25. Finley hit on 34 of his 67 3-point attempts in that 14-game span to end the regular season. That meant a lot of Finley highlights on SportsCenter. It's good to have him back. And all he had to do was relax.

"Text Message" is a Verb

As mentioned a week ago, the recruiting practice of text messaging has been under the microscope. Now, the NCAA has officially banned coaches from text messaging recruits, closing a technological loophole. It's about time. The story details how the athletes themselves dislike the aggressiveness of the method. Imagine waking up with 52 unread messages!!

Putting the ban into place starting in August should curtail the abuse by some of the slimier coaches. Hmmm ... Tom Crean loves to text, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's preview piece yesterday in anticipation of the change. In a way, those coaches were smart to exploit the loophole as long as they could (a la the "Bret Bielema rule" revisions in college football). However, it only takes a second to see the kind of hounding that the top prospects must have endured. Not everybody wants that much attention.

Speaking of cell phone technology, let's have one more look at my favorite hands-free device.