Jermaine Lawrence, PF (Cincinnati)
- Thread starter Moose
- Start date
Much better, I guess Coach Lavin read mkras99's last post and realized the error of his ways and jumped in his car to get to the game.
Thank g-d once again for redmen.com
By SEVE COUSINS
Special to ZAGSBLOG
SPARTA, N.J. — Jermaine Lawrence had to wait more than a month for his senior year debut.
When it finally came, he made the most of it.
After missing the first half of the season with a hand injury, Lawrence took the floor with his Pope John XXIII teammates at the 5:27 mark of the first period and helped his team easily defeat Morris Hills, 58-36, in a Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference game.
Lawrence did not appear rusty in notching 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in front of St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin and assistant Tony Chiles, who were coming off a 72-60 victory at Rutgers Wednesday night.
http://zagsblog.com/articles/with-st-johns-coaches-watching-lawrence-makes-triumphant-return/
Special to ZAGSBLOG
SPARTA, N.J. — Jermaine Lawrence had to wait more than a month for his senior year debut.
When it finally came, he made the most of it.
After missing the first half of the season with a hand injury, Lawrence took the floor with his Pope John XXIII teammates at the 5:27 mark of the first period and helped his team easily defeat Morris Hills, 58-36, in a Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference game.
Lawrence did not appear rusty in notching 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in front of St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin and assistant Tony Chiles, who were coming off a 72-60 victory at Rutgers Wednesday night.
http://zagsblog.com/articles/with-st-johns-coaches-watching-lawrence-makes-triumphant-return/
Haven't seen anyone address these 2 things, so: 1) Why would Lawrence go to Cincy? They have no plan for their immediate future, Wright will be gone, and Kilpatrick will be a SR if he doesn't leave after this year. Who would want to play for a team of nobodies (even if Kilpatrick stays his SR year, there is no one left Lawrence's soph yr assuming no major recruits) far from home with no conference they belong to? With SJ he can stay home, play with Harrison, Garrett, Greene, Branch (I think), etc. as JR's, Sampson, Obekpa, etc. as sophs and maybe JR's. Going to SJ means you come in right as we are at our competitive peak and he could put us over the top. Going to Cincy means you get there when a major piece of the team is already gone and the team is on a downward trajectory. Don't really see what Cincy offers that could sway him. I hope Lavin tells him flat out that Cincy has no plan and might be stuck playing SMU while we play Georgetown. Logically and practically, it's a no-brainer, but who knows if he thinks that way.
2) Were the gray jerseys a hoax? It seems every time it would make sense to debut them has passed. The only time period I can see making some sort of sense now is maybe wearing them for the Big East tourney?
2) Were the gray jerseys a hoax? It seems every time it would make sense to debut them has passed. The only time period I can see making some sort of sense now is maybe wearing them for the Big East tourney?
1.) Cincy is a ranked team who is only on pace to lose one player of significance. Maybe Lawrence likes the campus and coach cronin?
2.) we are not even half way through the big east season.
Ranked currently. And even now to be ranked doesn't make much sense...they are almost always overrated IMO. Same Big East record as us and seems to struggle with worse teams. Being ranked today does not mean you will be ranked by the time Lawrence comes. Taking Wright, a 42% 3 pt stud and bonafide 2nd scorer and leading in assists out of the equation will blow a hole in the team. How can it be that people assume we would really miss Harkless but Cincy won't really miss Wright? You can even argue that Wright is better than Harkless. By your logic, our 2011 team was ranked 18th at one point...so we should expect the same even after losing our stars? Nope...we fell to the bottom fast. Being ranked today means little. It's about how the team will look when they ARRIVE on that team. For example, if you were a free agent QB that had the chance to play with a great young talentedTexans team coming into their prime vs. a Jets team with Curtis Martin and Wayne Chrebet retiring, who would you pick? In theory it's pretty obvious with all other things being equal. Seton Hall was ranked last year...think any recruit cares now? I think the Bearcats are a #30 ish team if Kilpatrick stays and Lawrence lights it up for them. If they lose out on Lawrence and Kilpatrick goes pro, no way they are top 25 material. On the other hand, if we get Lawrence, we are serious top 25 potential.
No, by my logic our 2011 team was on pace to lose everyone of its key players.
All I did was post a counter argument to your post. Welcome back!!!
Who are the other players being watched? Diagne, Aiken???
thanks
by the way Honeymooner fans, you probably know (better than I) Jackie Gleason was born and raised in dear old Brooklyn -
his father was a ne're-do-well and abandoned Jackie and his mother - the mother worked as a token collector on the subways - so one "bad" thing Jackie would never do as a boy was jump the turnstyles -
my WWII verteran father who worked for BF Goodrich fixing city bus tires one worked in a NYC Transit garage near Sunset Park and Grenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn -
that garage is now named after Jackie Gleason - Ralph Kramden - bus driver extraordinaire
maybe if Jackie were still alive he would do a Jack Nicholson/Lakers thing with Your Brooklyn Nets!
Who knows for sure.
all the best
Thanks, not back for good just every once in a blue moon. As for your counterargument, don't you agree that without Wright and with recruits learning the fact that Cincy and UConn are in a mess conference wise, Cincy is headed downhill while we are headed just opposite? They are barely ranked right now even with all their studs and only 4-3 in conference play. In this day in age I would think it's rare for a player in Kilpatrick's position to stay another year, and if he really does leave, Cincy takes just as big a hit as we did from 2011 to 2012 essentially losing all their star power. Wright, Kilpatrick, and Gates are what made Cincy a real threat. With only 1/3 and no Lawrence they will be on life support. With 0/3 and no Lawrence they might be a .500 overall team at best and definitely not ranked. I keep trying to play devil's advocate in my head and create a scenario where he goes to Cincy, but I cannot see any reason other than "They showed me the most love". I guess it comes down to whether he wants his ego pampered, or if he wants to play at a high level at home with a team on the rise.
Also...from ESPN today:
"Dave Telep, Paul Biancardi, Reggie Rankin, and Adam Finkelstein all believe the forward will ultimately commit to the Red Storm, but there are still those who think Cincinnati is currently the favorite in his recruitment. If he does become a Bearcat, assistant Darren Savino deserves a plethora of credit; the former Rutgers assistant has been Cincy's link to the NYC-area over the past few years, and was crucial in the commitments of Jermaine Sanders and Shaquille Thomas".
Welcome back Joe3.
Nice to hear from you.
Nice to hear from you.
I do give them credit, but replacing Gates, Kilpatrick, Wright, etc. with 3 star talent more than likely means a sizable step backwards. Of course this is irrelevant if Cincy somehow nabs a few 4 or even 5 star players i.e. Lawrence, but given the very negative outlook for their program's athletic department at least as of right now I wouldn't be shocked if their recruit quality takes a hit. The only reason this wouldn't matter to Lawrence IMO is if he sees himself as a 1 and done which is of course possible and he still gets to play most of the old Big East powers. If he is not a 1 and done though which is just as likely, he will be essentially marooned on an island with mid major scraps left around with real meaningful basketball being played elsewhere. It will be interesting to see where he decides to go...I don't see any instances where he can say Cincy is a better choice other than the very warm reception he got on his visit, but at the same time it worries me that he keeps pushing back his visits with us. We shall see.
Update: After some digging online, there is a rumor that his recruitment has been "very dirty". This rumor comes from a guy on twitter named Ari Roth and he only has 325 followers so I assume he has no clout, but still interesting to think about.