Bitch...


From Rivals.com

The juniors just keep on dropping. Kalin Lucas, a 6-foot, 165-pound point guard from St. Mary's High School in Orchard Lake, Mich., made a verbal commitment on Thursday afternoon to a Big Ten program.


Kalin Lucas is a huge get for Michigan State.
Lucas, the No. 28 ranked in the class of 2007, is headed to Michigan State after driving to East Lansing and committing in person to the Spartan program.

"I told coach (Tom) Izzo that I was ready to play for him," Lucas said. "So the first thing he started to do was start hollering and jumping up and done. He grabbed me and gave me a bug hug. My little brother thought something was wrong with him."

There is plenty of reason for Izzo to be excited. Lucas is a huge in-state get in a talented Michigan pool of players. Michigan landed Alex Legion earlier in the season and Lucas decided that he was ready to follow suit.

"I've been thinking about it for a while now and I sat down and talked to my parents and decided to do it now," Lucas said. "I figured why wait so we decided to get it done."

Now that he's a committed man, Lucas is looking forward to play recruiter himself. His first call since committing went to Durrell Summers, a five-star guard from Detroit.

"I just hung up with him," Lucas said. "I told him that I committed to Michigan State and asked him if he wanted to come to there with me to win a National Championship."

Lucas has that same kind of impact on a team that former Spartan Mateen Cleaves had. A better athlete and shooter, Lucas and a player like Summers or Georgia shooting guard Chris Allen, a top MSU target in 2007, would be a deadly duo in the backcourt.

Watching guys like Cleaves shine at the college level and onto the pros was a major factor in his decision, he said.

"It did a lot," Lucas said of MSU's guard history. "They let their point guards play and he does a good job of getting them to the NBA. I hope he can do that with me."

Wow. Dar Tucker not even mentioned. A guy like Dar could let that get to his head if he feels like he's priority #4 in a crowded backcourt of recruits. Lucas calls Summers and not him. The rest of the talk is Chris Allen. Alex Legion better call up his Michigan Hurricanes buddy Dar and get it rollin.

Wow. Dar Tucker not even mentioned. A guy like Dar could let that get to his head if he feels like he's priority #4 in a crowded backcourt of recruits. Lucas calls Summers and not him. The rest of the talk is Chris Allen. Alex Legion better call up his Michigan Hurricanes buddy Dar and get it rollin.

I've been telling you, from following Izzo's recruiting trail pretty damn closely, his top targets in order of his drothers are...

1) Durrell Summers
2) Kalin Lucas
3) Chris Allen
4) Dar Tucker

Now I don't know if I entirely agree with it as I LOVE athletic guards who can score and rebound with reckless abandon like Tucker can...but to those in the know the situation unfortunately appears to be like I stated.

Yes sir!

Yes sir!

Says the kid that doesn't know crap about college sports until he reads it here.

lol...

Yes sir!

Says the kid that doesn't know crap about college sports until he reads it here.Yeah I dont know anything


:roll:

shitty thing is he willl probably play under god damn nitzel. Hate that fucker.

shitty thing is he willl probably play under god damn nitzel. Hate that fucker.

Your spelling is as shitty as your bball knowledge.

Neitzel will be a senior when Kalin is a freshman. Walton will be a junior.

Both will play ahead of Lucas...and for good reason. Don't worry though, if he's good enough to play as a rookie, Izzo will find time for him.

God, that sucks. We were off to a great start with Lucas and now he's committed to State, Summers left us off his list of top schools after Legion's commitment, and we're not even a blip on Tucker's radar. I thought after Legion committed that we'd get rolling, but for some reason things have gone downhill from there. :shock: Shocking. I wonder if it has anything to do with our recruiting approach. I went to the big game last week between Orchard Lake St. Mary's (Lucas) and Arthur Hill (Tucker). As I walk in the gym, who do I see? None other than Tom Izzo. I look around for Tommy Amaker, nowhere to be found. About 30 minutes later, Michigan's assistant coach Mike Jackson walks in. I mean, it's probably as big as games get, it's less than an hour and a half from Ann Arbor and TA does not show. Disgusting. :pukeright:

Yeah, for all the praise Amaker gets as a recruiter, I'm not seeing it. Sure, he brings in guys that the program doesn't deserve - so something is happening - but he can't just send his boys. I mean, I have no evidence that says Sims and Legion wouldn't have come to Michigan even if Brian Ellerbee was still the coach. TA needs to get traveling. Go ahead and bring Mike Jackson with you if he's the magic, but make an appearance. I can't think of any other game that night he should have been at.

The biggest problem in the state of michigan right now with regards to recruiting is the AAU problem.

I am not worried. Michigan goes to the tourney and Michigan will not have such a hard time recruiting. Winning cures these things.


Art

Summers left us off his list of top schools after Legion's commitment, and we're not even a blip on Tucker's radar. I thought after Legion committed that we'd get rolling, but for some reason things have gone downhill from there.

TIFWIW but some folks in the know have been saying that some of the other top 2007 recruits (translation: Tucker and Summers) aren't exactly fond of Legion's in-game attitude, saying that he's dominates the ball too much for their taste. IMHO Michigan lost their ONLY chance at getting Summers when Lucas committed to MSU. Obviously it's a moot point now but Kalin's presence might've been able to trump any bad blood out there as DS & KL are really tight.


But about Amaker not being at the Arthur Hill/OLSM game, college coaches only have so many contacts and evaluations, I believe the number is five, allowed per season. And perhaps he was planning on seeing Kalin at another venue or just maybe he had already used up his five on Legion in getting him to commit and in turn was prevented from going to the game to see Lucas or else it would've broken the rules (since Legion was also playing).

Legion wasn't playing though, it was Lucas vs. Tucker. But who knows. It's just that other than Sims and Legion, our recruiting over the last 3 years has been pretty dissapointing and I think we'll be paying the price down the line.

Michigan's recent recruiting classes;

2007-Legion-SG-(*****)
2006-Sims-SF/PF-(****), K'len Morris-SG/SF-(***)
2005-Jerret Smith-PG-(***), Jevohn Shepherd-SG-(***), Kendric Price-SF(***)
2004-Ron Coleman-SG/SF-(***)

Legion wasn't playing though, it was Lucas vs. Tucker.

Oh yeah may bad, I was thinking about this game for some reason.

http://www.olsmathletics.com/images/Lucas.jpg

Legion wasn't playing though, it was Lucas vs. Tucker.

Oh yeah may bad, I was thinking about this game for some reason.

http://www.olsmathletics.com/images/Lucas.jpg

That game was a few nights before the Arthur Hill game.

Art, can you give more details about the AAU problem? I wasn't aware there was a problem. I only know which AAU teams these guys play for. For anyone that doesn't know, Lucas and Summers both play for "The Family" and Legion and Tucker play for the Michigan Hurricanes. The other main AAU team in the state is the Michigan Mustangs. I'm not aware of any others that are high profile.

FINALLY the fast break, slam dunking brand of offense that Izzo has been coaching for years is beginning to receive more recognition in the recruiting world than the hard to get rid of, football-on-the-hardcourt label.


Watching Michigan State zip up and down the floor on fast break after fast break in a blowout of Wichita State, "I was like, 'Dang, they just push the ball up the floor all the time,'" recalled Lucas. "This is my style, this is the style I want to play."


It's about time.

Can you just imagine Kalin's speed and handle leading Izzo's fast break? :shock:

Can you just imagine Kalin's speed and handle leading Izzo's fast break? :shock:

:pukeright:
That's all I've got to say.

It's disgusting how fast Lucas is. I'm not going to enjoy him burning Michigan PG's on a regular basis. Quick, anyone, can Carlos Brown play basketball? Please?

I'm not about to let a UM fan put a "YUCK" on the thread regarding Lucas' commitment. This is absolutely huge and we could be looking at the first piece in an Ohio State type of situation. I would not be one bit surprised if Summers and Tucker commit to MSU now.

I watched Tucker and Lucas in person the other night one row behind Tom Izzo. Lucas was the quickest/fastest guard I've ever seen in high school and that's saying alot because I've seen some good ones living in the heart of the Saginaw Valley league. My UM boys agreed at the game.

During the game, Jim Boylen turned around and said, "He fits into our system perfectly." And I couldn't agree more. Yes that's right. MSU sends Tom Izzo and #1 assistant Boylen to the game to recruit. UM had 1 assistant there. Just goes to show why the programs are where they are. Izzo works his ass off.

Kalin a Spartan! YO!

One huge benefit to the new and improved WTF is that mods get all the functionality they should have had to begin with. Therefore, both Kalin Lucas threads ahve been merged and the "YUCK" and "YES" will have to simply be a part of your posts and not part of the thread title.

Proceed.

Way to go SUPERMODS....awful lot of time on your hands to worry about titles of threads..lol.

God, that sucks. We were off to a great start with Lucas and now he's committed to State, Summers left us off his list of top schools after Legion's commitment, and we're not even a blip on Tucker's radar. I thought after Legion committed that we'd get rolling, but for some reason things have gone downhill from there. :shock: Shocking. I wonder if it has anything to do with our recruiting approach. I went to the big game last week between Orchard Lake St. Mary's (Lucas) and Arthur Hill (Tucker). As I walk in the gym, who do I see? None other than Tom Izzo. I look around for Tommy Amaker, nowhere to be found. About 30 minutes later, Michigan's assistant coach Mike Jackson walks in. I mean, it's probably as big as games get, it's less than an hour and a half from Ann Arbor and TA does not show. Disgusting. :pukeright:

Michigan is the gangster hoops program in the state of michigan. I think people realize that now, and MSU is nothing but class.

UofM has football though, right?

I noticed some talk about Legion's negative impact on recruiting above. It seems that, that is the case. I didn't mention this to some of my Wolverine boys earlier because I didn't want to sound like sour grapes, but I've been hearing alot about Legion.

Dar apparently dislikes Legion and the two didn't always get along on the court in AAU play. Legion supposably dominates the ball a lot and is kindof a "Me" guy.

My Dad was talking to Izzo at the Lucas/Dar game about recruiting. Izzo said that Legion is strictly a shooter. He's all about getting his points and that rubs some guys the wrong way. He coasts on D and does little on the court other than shoot. He said that the big programs are all over Dar right now because of his ability to not just score, but play defense and average double figures in rebounds every night. Tubby Smith has been all over Dar for the past year because of this.

It's too bad Legion chose Michigan. Sounds like he needed a coach that would teach him to become an all around player. Mark my words, this is a Roberson situation all over again. A talented player that "could have" been very good given the right coaching.

My Dad was talking to Izzo at the Lucas/Dar game about recruiting. Izzo said that Legion is strictly a shooter. He's all about getting his points and that rubs some guys the wrong way. He coasts on D and does little on the court other than shoot. He said that the big programs are all over Dar right now because of his ability to not just score, but play defense and average double figures in rebounds every night. Tubby Smith has been all over Dar for the past year because of this.

It's too bad Legion chose Michigan. Sounds like he needed a coach that would teach him to become an all around player. Mark my words, this is a Roberson situation all over again. A talented player that "could have" been very good given the right coaching.

It's interesting to me that Izzo feels this way about Legion and they still offered him a scholarship. :scratch:

Also, what is Dar going to play in college? He's a dominant high school player, but it seems like he's not big enough to play post in college and lacks the perimeter skills to play guard.

Also, what is Dar going to play in college? He's a dominant high school player, but it seems like he's not big enough to play post in college and lacks the perimeter skills to play guard.

He's a straight up collegiate small forward ala Jason Richardson.

JR had a shaky handle too when he was younger but when you have THAT much athleticism, temporary flaws like a loose handle are easy to look past.

I personally like Darquavius more than Durrell, I think he has that much potential. That game he played last year against Tory Jackson's team when Dar put up something like 36 points and 26 rebounds...just an insane display of skills for a kid who's just 6'4"/6'5". :shock:

It's interesting to me that Izzo feels this way about Legion and they still offered him a scholarship.

Also, what is Dar going to play in college? He's a dominant high school player, but it seems like he's not big enough to play post in college and lacks the perimeter skills to play guard.

Moodini, the reason he offered him is because he felt he could change him. Much like he did with Ager. Ager was just like Legion out of h.s., now look at him. Amaker doesn't exactly have a history of molding a player. Horton anyone?

As far as Dar goes, he'll be an amazing shooting guard in college. The game you saw, they tried posting him up. That's not really his game. Most of the time he's around the perimeter, shooting 3's, and breaking guys down off the dribble. If he can play the 2 spot against Saginaw High and put up 42 pts, 18 boards, and 12 blocks :shock: ....I'm confident in his ability to grow into a Big Ten shooting guard.

still really feeling this thread :lol: