Recruiting 2023-2024 The Simon Era

[mbenecke]

To me, he's an inefficient guy shooting the ball, with some upside in that area. Looks pretty athletic and like a strong finisher.

The reason I think I am so excited about all these new guys is that they will be coached up and actually developed here. They will get better as the season goes on, and as their careers progress. That's incredibly refreshing for this program.

[Hdog]

I like that coach Simon is getting excited about getting a commitment! All these little things stack up and set the tone for the culture in your program. Good signs early on here. I think it will translate to the floor in the fall. Ay Ziggy!

I agree. I know I was told it didn't matter when I mentioned how much more active he was on Twitter. No, it won't directly translate to wins, but it is a helluva lot more fun to follow the team with this sort of engagement from the coach.

I agree Twitter activity in and of itself does not equal wins. However, there IS a direct correlation between energy as a coach and wins. Fact

[Hdog]

a picture of Marcus Hill and the hard working coaching staff:

https://twitter.com/MarcusH22042083/sta ... 51584?s=20

[hammb]

I like that coach Simon is getting excited about getting a commitment! All these little things stack up and set the tone for the culture in your program. Good signs early on here. I think it will translate to the floor in the fall. Ay Ziggy!

I agree. I know I was told it didn't matter when I mentioned how much more active he was on Twitter. No, it won't directly translate to wins, but it is a helluva lot more fun to follow the team with this sort of engagement from the coach.

I agree Twitter activity in and of itself does not equal wins. However, there IS a direct correlation between energy as a coach and wins. Fact

Yep. I also believe there is a correlation to the type of recruit you can get to commit based on Twitter engagement. If that type of recruit lends itself to better basketball players I don't think it's a massive stretch to say being active on Twitter (and in the community, etc) is at the very least helpful in winning, if not directly correlated.

And regardless, as I said, it's definitely more fun to follow a program where the coach is willing to be in the public eye.

[Falconwriter]

Apparently, BG has gotten a commitment from JUCO third team all-American Marcus Hill, a guard. Can't find much about him. He's 6'3" and averaged about 20 ppt and comes from Southern Union Community College in Alabama. His overall shooting percentage was right about 50 percent and 3-point shooting percent was only about 25 percent.

[FalconTurf]

I like that coach Simon is getting excited about getting a commitment! All these little things stack up and set the tone for the culture in your program. Good signs early on here. I think it will translate to the floor in the fall. Ay Ziggy!

I agree. I know I was told it didn't matter when I mentioned how much more active he was on Twitter. No, it won't directly translate to wins, but it is a helluva lot more fun to follow the team with this sort of engagement from the coach.

A whole lot more fun. The past few years we’ve had about 30 games score and nothing much. Reading about BG basketball in May makes me believe the program is coming to life.

[Globetrotter]

New guy DJ Smith
https://lrtrojans.com/sports/mens-baske ... smith/7104
Probably starter at PG?
https://twitter.com/Deangilo_Smith/stat ... 80227?s=20

[OSUFALCON]

This team has the makings to score in bunches! I’m very excited for the future of the Falcons

[Globetrotter]

Guards
Thomas 3 - Humphrey 3 - Edwards 2 - McCombs 2 - DJ Smith 3 - Phillip 4 - Hill 3

Posts
Agee 3 - Felt 1/2 - Spurgin 3 - Towns 3

Starters (uneducated guess)

6'0" Smith-51 starts at Little Rock, 10.4ppg, 2.7apg, 2 years of eligibility, First guy we signed that looks like a good distributor, another guy who looks like he has a good shot but bad shooting percentage, very good handles, very quick
https://twitter.com/Deangilo_Smith/stat ... 4115380227

6'3" Hill-JUCO All-American at Southern Union State. Averaged 26 points per game on 49% from the field and 27% from three. Also grabbed 7.5 rebounds per game and added 4 assists per game. (mbeck)Lightning quick crossover, attacks the basket, great midrange shot, If you made me bet right now I'd bet he leads the team in scoring. Juco, so probably 2 years of eligibility remaining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnlSQbkb6WA

6'5" Phillip-77 career starts at Maryland Eastern Shore-Averaged 9.8-3.1r-1.3s in 22-23, Nice length, good stroke, athletic, attacks the basket....almost exactly what I said about the other 2 bigger wings we signed. 1 year of eligibility
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F61NBASsZs

6'8" Agee-Started just 4 games but averaged 9.9 and 5.7. 2 years of eligibility, Dominant around the rim, will be interesting to see what he does playing next to a legit C

6'11" Spurgin-Started 73 games for Simon at SUU, averaged 10-6 last year, and 1.7 blocks, Not super athletic but has nice touch around the rim, and big-time fundamentals when it comes to scoring and rebounding, consistently figures out how to maneuver to score and rebound,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJM_mQn5TV4&t=81s

Depth

6'0" Thomas-90 SEC games, 20 starts in there, 23mpg last year, career 5.9ppg, 2 years of eligibility-looks like a spot-up shooter who can attack the basket with a quick first step and release and decent ball handler but not a distributor,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-eV1tjGWKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHu0VWjxLOA

6'3" Mccombs-3 years of eligibility played-21 games last year1.2ppg

6'4" Edwards-19 games for UCF last year, averaged 1.7ppg, 3 years of eligibility, really nice stroke, strong to the basket and scores with contact,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rZjTTaEkjE

6'4" Humphrey-45 games at Holy Cross and then GCCC last year, 6.2 ppg as a So, 2 years of eligibility, similar to Edwards can shoot and strong to the basket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhq-G-RrUYQ

6'9 Towns-2 years of eligibility-started 20 games last year, averaged 6.1-4.4, solid all-around game, very good mid-range shot, capable backup at the 4 and 5.

6'9 Felt -4 years of eligibility-didn't play in 22-23 due to a reported knee injury.

2 more spots to fill. I'd go freshmen. 2 guys with potential upside at least one a big.

[BleedOrange]

I think it's a li'l crazy to try to speculate about who'll start at any position.

It would be a blast to sit in on the initial practices and watch them run.

[mbenecke]

Simon brought back the #FalconFast hashtag on Twitter. Party like it’s 2015!

For real though, even though Huger never really had the opportunity to tear down a roster and put a new one together in a single offseason, getting 3 commitments in a single week is impressive. And getting 7 new guys (so far) to agree to come play here when he’s been here for barely 2 months is astonishing.

[JohnFloyd4Life]

Glad we got a PG with some D1 experience. I agree I would use those last two spots on youngsters to develop if there’s anyone left out there that he wants. If there’s transfer or Jucos out there you still want then go for them why not? With Felt, Edwards, Humphrey and McCombs you have a bunch of guys that are essentially freshmen.

This team looks more athletic than what we are used to and with the way Simon likes to run they just may be fun to watch. I have high hopes for Simon being able to develop some talent. This past season at SUU almost everyone had been on the roster for several years.

[hammb]

On paper I can't say I'm super excited about any of these incoming recruits based on their resumes, outside of Hill probably. On the whole, I definitely prefer guys who put up production at the lower levels over guys that struggled in higher leagues, but who knows. It's tough to project minutes/production with these guys coming from other places and now coming to play in our system, etc.

I just know it appears that we're adding athleticism, which is big with the style he wants to play. One thing that was a bit surprising to me (as much as Simon wants to play fast and run) is how tight his rotation was at SUU last year. I would have expected them to routinely go 9-10 deep to keep guys fresh but instead he played 5 guys > 27minutes per game and the true rotation was only 7-8 guys, and the 8th played in a bunch of games but averaged only like 8mpg. Contrast this with us last year having 8 guys averaging double digit minutes in the regular rotation (9 if you include Lightfoot's mpg only playing in 14). Then we had 2 more guys that played in 20+ games at over 7mpg.

I think we all thought Huger's rotations were totally whacked like he was constantly grasping at straws to see what might work, even 25 games into seasons, but I did expect to see Simon's roster go a bit deeper. Looking back at the years before last it was a bit more balanced up to 8/9 guys, so maybe last year was an outlier.

Either way I think I can speak with everybody in saying I'm excited as hell to watch this team play. I'm also enjoying having reason to talk Falcon hoops in May.

[Globetrotter]

Maybe something like this. That's a super deep rotation.

1 Smith 25 - Thomas 15
2 Hill 25 - Thomas 10 - Edwards 5
3 Phillip 15 - Humphrey 20 - Edwards 5
4 Agee 20 - Towns 10 - Phillip 10
5 Spurgin 25 - Agee 5 - Towns 10

This is why scrimmages are so fun. The bigs are probably pretty settled but the guards we have no idea.

[OptionQB]

I am NOT advocating for this but with the Towns kid from OSU hitting the Portal, BG having a hole upfront (as far as depth) and open scholarship, it would make sense we are on the short list of soft landing places.

He is 26 or will turn 26 during the season, has had multiple surgeries on his knees, but was also one time an Ivy POY.