'13 CA C Jamaree Strickland (Commit)

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Scheids21

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Alex Kline reports that he has committed to UC. Personally have not heard of him and I am trying to gather information. 6'9" 240lbs. out of North Carolina, originally California; looks like he was a 2012 recruit who re-classified to 2013.
 
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Looks like mid-major interest last year but is now in 2013 class. Chad Brendel said he has been coming on strong and we offered last week for what its worth.
 
During the April Live Period, and again now in July, the Hunting Park Warriors have drawn a nice collection of Patriot League, CAA, and Atlantic 10 coaches, among others, to their games. Any coaches, or fans for that matter, watching now, are likely noticing a new face running with the Warriors. At the Hoop Group Summer Classic East, I caught up with 6’10 Jamaree Strickland.

Jamaree Strickland, a native of Oakland, California is running with the Hunting Park Warriors this summer and living with family in Philadelphia. Hawk Hill Hardwood spoke with both Strickland, and his mentor Rasool Hajj, about overcoming injury, adjusting to a new city, a post-grad year, and the schools that are taking a look.

According to Hajj, Jamaree tore his ACL and “didn’t really play much at all during his junior or senior years of school.” Overcoming ACL injuries can be challenging, but Strickland was very upbeat about his situation. “It feels quite strong really,” he stated. “I’ve been rehabbing it every day. The biggest thing for me is just getting my conditioning back up after not playing for a while.”

Strickland is a huge body out there on the court, checking in at right around 6’10, with some length, and width to him. After graduating from high school in Oakland, he is playing with the Hunting Park Warriors this summer and then doing a post-grad year at Queen City Prep in North Carolina. There, according to Hajj, he will continue to improve his conditioning, his game, and “work on his test score.”

Moving from coast to coast, and acclimating yourself to a new climate and new teammates can be a challenge. However, Jamaree says that everything to this point has been great. “They’re (Hunting Park Warriors) great kids. I like it out here. The kids have been really friendly and nice,

http://saintjosephs.scout.com/2/1204167.html
 
I heard we had an assistant or two visit him today to watch him workout so they obviously must have liked what they saw. I know we all want heavily recruited big men, but this kid looks like he could be pretty solid. Big frame to work with and he wants to be here so welcome Mr. Strickland.

Also Chad tweeted he is taking his official visit Saturday and signing his LOI Wednesday.
 
Well they needed someone badly in the 2013 class and I'm guessing it was slim pickings. Hopefully this guy is another under the radar that can develop into a solid contributor. Hopefully the knee surgery doesn't affect him too much. That always makes me nervous on a guy his size.
 
Interesting, looks like a typical raw big man. Hopefully, it was just his knee injury that put him under the radar and that Mick picked him up before anyone else could realize his potential.
 
First thought, and I hope I eat these words, is I'm not very happy. Seems like a random signing because we don't feel we can get Henry, Lawrence, or the like.
 
Scheids21 said:
First thought, and I hope I eat these words, is I'm not very happy. Seems like a random signing because we don't feel we can get Henry, Lawrence, or the like.
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Hate to say it but I had the exact same reaction. Just so out of left field it seems. I do trust Mick though and just like the previous coach he has shown he can do more with less. If you cant get top 50 talent then you have to develop it. Welcome to the cats big fella!
 
Scheids21 said:
First thought, and I hope I eat these words, is I'm not very happy. Seems like a random signing because we don't feel we can get Henry, Lawrence, or the like.
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I think there's a 0% chance we get Henry. His main schools are Clemson, South Carolina, Rutgers, Miami, Illinois and USF. I don't think he's mentioned UC in a while. I think he'll ultimately end up at Clemson.

Lawrence has stated several times he is going to take an official visit here, but we all know the competition we will be up against. It'll be tough against St. John's, Kansas, Kentucky (although they probably won't have room) UNLV, Syracuse, and Rutgers (location). He's signing late so another impressive season and run in the tournament could be huge. A win over UNLV wouldn't hurt either.

I think this year is a little unusual. The early signing period hasn't even occurred and according to Rivals, there's only 23 kids in the top 150 who aren't committed, with only a handful of those true bigs. If we would have missed on Lawrence, Henry, etc. and let a guy like Strickland play his high school season and blow up, then what would we have done?
 
So, he's coming off of a traumatic ACL injury and is taking a prep year at Queen City Prep (NC), ranked 12th nationally, ahead of traditional power schools like St. Anthony (NJ), Montverde (FL), and Simeon (IL) [rankings courtesy of: http://recruitdirt.com/2012/11/05/2...rep-school-rankings-hs-pg-included/#more-946].

From what I've seen on Youtube, and from what I've read elsewhere, here are the positives: good size and a decent left hook.

Am I missing anything? Who is this guy? It's hard to find any stats about him, and against the smaller and weaker competition that he's faced in Oakland (See: Youtube), he's relatively unimpressive. Is this what our program has been reduced to, settling for players who are offered by the likes of Houston and Missouri State (no offense to Houston or Missouri State, but these programs aren't competing on our level)? As I think BearcatJeff (?) pointed out in his forum conversation on recruiting big men, is this a trend that should worry us fans? What's more, is this a sign that we're out of the Lawrence sweepstakes, or is Strickland a legitimate find who can play behind Lawrence and develop, so long as Lawrence stays in school? I always will put faith in Mick (he's brought us this far), but our inability to land a well-documented, quality big man is disconcerting.
 
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I think Mick is doing the best he can. I think Cincy really need to upgrade 5/3 arena to
compete with the other programs.
 
Still have another scholarship so this doesn't mean anyone is or is not coming. I think he wanted to take a sure thing just in case; hoping for another guy that defies the rankings such as (lets face it) most of our players. In Mick we trust.
 
Scheids21 said:
First thought, and I hope I eat these words, is I'm not very happy. Seems like a random signing because we don't feel we can get Henry, Lawrence, or the like.
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x2.

Smells of desperation.

Seems like Mick is going to take whoever and hope they can play low post defense, rebound, and let our guards and small forwards to the scoring.
 
I don't know much about this guy but I do know that he came from a HS and is going to a prep school that plays a 4 out 1 in offense like we are playing this year and for the foreseeable future. The fit in the program may be the biggest asset here. Jamaree made a comment that it is one of the reasons why he committed here even without a visit.
 
JackBauer151 said:
Hate to say it but I had the exact same reaction. Just so out of left field it seems. I do trust Mick though and just like the previous coach he has shown he can do more with less. If you cant get top 50 talent then you have to develop it. Welcome to the cats big fella!
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I agree, seems like Mick throwing in the towel.

And while Mick has done a pretty good job with guards and swingmen...he hasn't really developed a big yet. So, I hope that changes.
 

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