Jacob Padilla

Both local high-majors may have their sights set higher at this point, but he's already drawing significant interest from outside the state.

I put together a piece for Hail Varsity on Josiah's senior day performance and what this season has meant to him if anyone is interested in reading it. https://hurrdatsports.com/nebraska-mens-basketball/senior-day-win-storybook-ending-for-josiah-allick-at-pinnacle-bank-arena/

What I know of Bolis in high school: undersized center who missed his junior season with a serious injury but bounced back to have a good senior year. Bouncy, rebounded it well, blocked shots and finished at the rim but was very raw offensively. He was a 50% free-throw shooter, and looked like it too. Listed at 6'8" and 200 (so he's probably 6'7"). What's somewhat interesting is he's 10-28 (35.7%) from 3 this season at Southeast and is shooting and 65.3% from the free-throw line while leading Southeast in scoring. I did not see a Division I player at all in high school (and neither did coaches; he had GPAC and JUCO offers only) and I saw him play quite a bit during the summers, but I haven't watched a second of him this season and don't know how much he's improved. It's pretty difficult for me to evaluate JUCO ball without watching a ton of it myself because there are so many levels and such a wide array of talent. You have D-I, D-II, NAIA and kids who wont play past JUCO all on the same rosters depending on what school you're talking about. As for Bashir, his twin brother Abdi is a freshman at Monmouth averaging 6.4 PPG and shooting 39.7% from 3 while doing virtually nothing else at all. They both left after their junior year to go to an academy or something, reclassified then went to different prep schools I think. They were intriguing while they were at Bryan (Abdi was further ahead from what I remember) but weren't particularly good players at that point. No idea how much better they've gotten.

I guess that depends on who you're referring to and what those comments are. There are some locally who are very high on him. If you want the critical breakdown, decision-making still has plenty of room for improvement, although it's tough to hold that against him too much considering the pieces around him at Bryan. He's pretty turnover-prone, both getting his dribble ripped when he tries to do too much and some bad passing. Takes some really tough shots at inopportune times. This may just be a strength thing that a college S&C program will solve, but he can struggle to finish around the basket with even a little bit of contact at times. That being said, I've been impressed by the improvements he's made. He really did have a terrific season individually. The 3-point shot was more flashes than an actual weapon for him until this season (low 3s his first two seasons and didn't make many at all for MOKAN last summer), and this year he nearly doubled his attempts and still shot 40%. He's a very different player if the shot is for real, and it appears to be getting there. Good frame, long wing span, athletic enough. He can make some plays off the dribble, but we'll have to see how that translates to college. He rebounds it well, has some moves in the post and can make some impressive plays in transition.

Diop is quite a bit bouncier.

I put together a Twitter thread with video clips on him over the weekend.

I know you were joking with the first comment, but I think it's important to be honest and thorough with evaluations. There are too many people in this state who don't know what they're talking about filling kids' and their parents' heads with unrealistic expectations which in turns only hurts the kids' recruiting. There's a reason I watch as many games as I do (both high school and AAU) and try to keep my own box score whenever possible to get a true feel for what players are capable of over a larger sample size. When coaches ask me for feedback, I want to be able to provide something of substance. On Marcus specifically, he can really, really shoot the ball, and his summer team ran a ton of actions to get him free for looks (it wasn't just pick-up ball). He just struggled to make a real impact in any other phase of the game. The length and athleticism he went against gave him real problems trying to create anything for himself or teammates inside the arc consistently, he wasn't really a factor on the glass and he ran into some tough matchups on defense. Northwest Missouri State is arguably the best Division II program in the country, probably better than many low-majors. It's a good place for him to develop and prove himself. He's improved even since the summer for sure and will probably continue to do so because he's a hard worker. I'm excited to see his college career play out. Mostly, I'm just interested in kids landing in a good situation where they can develop. You can find good hoops at every level of college. As for the HS vs. AAU in general, they're both important and you have to understand what you're looking at with each. I'd argue shoe circuit and elite prep school basketball will tell you a lot more about what might translate to high-major D1 basketball than C1 games in Nebraska or whatever because talent and physical tools really do matter. For every Keisei type you find who overcomes physical limitations I think there are probably far more players that it doesn't work out for. But those outliers do exist for sure.

I coached against him last summer. Tough matchup.

The perimeter skill hasn't really developed at all (14% 3FG, 59% FT for his career at LPX) and he'd be a bit undersized at the five spot at the Big Ten level. He's having a terrific season, but he's also not going up against a ton of guys his size or bigger like he will in college. I don't think Nebraska missed on Josiah. Taking the path he did helped him become the player he is now. There's nothing wrong with developing at a mid-major and then potentially earning on opportunity to transfer up and test yourself later on; that can often work out better than heading to a high-major out of high school and potentially getting stuck on the bench.

I watched him play all summer against higher-level athletes than he sees playing for Wahoo (and was also there for his 54-point game). I think Northwest Missouri State is a good fit for him.

If you want to get ready for Maryland by looking back at Ohio State, I put together a Twitter thread on Rienk Mast's 34-point game against the Buckeyes.

I put together a Synergy breakdown of Wilcher and his recent hot streak in case anybody is interested. https://hurrdatsports.com/nebraska-mens-basketball/red-hot-c-j-wilcher-sparking-nebraskas-offense/

Put together some summer highlights and my thoughts on them for both Frager and Janowski if anybody is interested. https://hurrdatsports.com/nebraska-mens-basketball/nebraska-recruiting-breaking-down-fred-hoibergs-2024-signing-class/

Unfortunately, with the changes at work and Hail Varsity content being incorporated into the Hurrdat Sports website, the old HV site is gone and they didn't bring the full archives over to the new site. I believe I still have the text and the clips saved, so I could theoretically republish so they still exist, but I haven't gotten around to doing so.

It's been a mix of strength and conditioning, skill level and veteran guys ahead of them that have led to the determination that they'd get more out of redshirting. Since Diop is the one who started this discussion, if the Florida A&M game is what it's going to look like for him (not playing until the very end and struggling in those minutes), then I think there's an argument to be made he would be better served redshirting. If they think he'll progress enough to give them actual rotation minutes, then you play him. My response was more to the second half of your original statement because it's in line with a common thought I've seen here that redshirting is a thing of the past and you shouldn't do it anymore. That I disagree with.