Right off the bat, here is the big news. Memphis is not done recruiting for the 2009 recruiting class. When it seemed as though all stones had been turned and no players remained as viable options (outside of the enigma Born Ready – which will be addressed later in this update) for the ‘09 class, Josh Pastner and his staff have managed to find a way on to another impact level recruit’s list.
Wild, Wild West
As of Monday, USC basketball recruit Derrick Williams received his release from his national letter of intent and announced he plans on attending another school. While Williams has not publicly spoken about his plans yet, MemphisRoar was able to confirm that Memphis will, in fact, be on the highly-touted 6′7″ forward’s list. Other mentioned, according to our source, are Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and UAB.
Williams, who is a combo forward and can play a mix of the three or the four, has a very high basketball IQ, good body frame, long arms, effective jumper and is a high level athlete. Knowing the type of player Williams is automatically brings up some questions about how he fits into the current Memphis roster for next season.
Putting Willie Kemp at starting point guard and realizing that no 2009 PGs are available to back him up, you know have to consider a PG by committee type of season in which players like Wesley Witherspoon and Roburt Sallie would fill some minutes at that spot. After adding some additional bulk and with the need for someone to fill minutes at the five behind incoming JUCO center Will Coleman, it is likely that you will see the staff try to develop Angel Garcia to be able to play some minutes inside the paint. Based upon past performance, the staff will not being able to rely on Henderson-Niles for meaningful minutes at the four or five. Latavious Williams is the only player mentioned so far that will not be venturing out of his position “comfort zone”. Latavious is expected to chip in minutes at the SF and PF position. Additionally, Martin Ngaloro, while a steal so late in the game, is not the type of player who will greatly impact the roster at the three or four position. All this said, there are plenty of minutes for Williams. His versatiility would likely lend to him seeing early playing time.
Stay tuned on this issue, as it will likely be a quickly developing story.
Check out this write-up of Williams from last summer.
The Coney Island Carousel
After reports surfaced this week that Maryland is no longer interested in Lance Stephenson, many other media outlets came to the conclusion that Memphis and Florida International are the only two schools remaing as options for the Brooklyn native if he chooses to play in college.
Dan Wolken of The Commercial Appeal wrote a piece on Tuesday confirming that Memphis is still interested in the ESPNU#12 rated player stating, “according to a source close to the program, the Tigers are still open to taking Stephenson and have let it be known to the Stephenson camp that they are interested.”
After doing some digging, we are on the same page as Wolken, with some reservations. While our sources did confirm that Memphis is still interested in Stephenson, it was made very clear that the lines of communication are not currently open. The general feeling is that the Memphis staff has made it clear to Stephenson and those around him that they are interested and will take him, but that there has been very little reciprocity. Citing unanswered phone calls and unreturned voice mails, those that we spoke with made it seem like it would take “a phone call out of the blue stating that Lance wants to commit” in order for anything significant to come from this.
In other words, don’t count on it. It’s almost like finding that $20 bill in a jacket pocket that you haven’t worn since last winter. In no way were you expecting it and it’s not very likely to happen very often, but when it does, it sure does brighten your outlook and give you a little more to work with.
Memphis MyFaves
With the recruiting season for the 2009 winding down to an almost complete stand-still, things are just now starting to heat up with the 2010 and 2011 classes. With the contact period opening up for telephone calls on June 15th, the staff has hit the phones hard. With a focus on 2010 and 2011, there are certain players that stand out that most certainly received telephone calls.
Mobile-to-Mobile (Tri-State Area)
Joe Jackson – 2010
Casey Prather – 2010
Tarik Black – 2010
Ky Madden – 2011
Andre Hollins – 2011
Mychal Ammons – 2011
Hunter Michelson – 2011
Johnny O’Bryant- 2011
Rakeem Christmas – 2011
Nino Johnson – 2011
Kedren Johnson – 2011
Jarnell Stokes – 2012
Cameron Golden – 2012
Johnathan Williams (J3 for short) - 2013
Top 5 MyFaves for 2010
Joe Jackson – PG - hometown hero???
Tarik Black – PF - physical freak about to blow up this summer
Cameron Clark – SF - will Coach Pastner’s connections with Team Texas give Memphis the inside track for the SF from Texas???
Roscoe Smith - SF - how much of an impact will having current Memphis commit Will Barton in his ear have?
Michael Bradley – PF/C – throwing in a surprise, here’s a sleeper from Chattanooga that attended the Memphis Elite Camp (good size and raw but has a chance to develop quickly…hasn’t played long)
The “good thing I have free long distance” Call Log
Cory Joseph
CJ Leslie
Justin Martin
Wayne Martin Jr
Quincy Miller
Perry Ellis
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