'18 MD F LaQuill Hardnett (Commit)

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St8ter said:
I live in the Perry Hall area and have seen a ton of Hardnett over the last four years, including the Maryland Public School State Championship game.

The Pro's: He's the definition of a point forward for Perry Hall. Very good handle, and good distributor for his squad. Athletic, but not Bill Walker athletic. He's slick with the ball. Ball fakes well and has a nice pull-up jumper from 15 in. The kid is a winner. In the state championship game last year, team was trailing in final minutes and hit a couple clutch shots to tie the game and eventually win it in overtime.

The cons: Doesn't give you much as a perimeter shooter, though he's a little better there than he used to be. Slightly built, will never be confused with Kenyon Martin. Not always the most physical guy, especially on defense. Defensively, could be better. Has had some lapses there.

Overall: I know many are lamenting his ranking, but a lot of people in this area were dumbfounded how little attention he was getting as a junior.The same was true for Higgs, though Higgs started to pick up attention a little bit fast than Hardnett. The other guy is '19 forward Anthony Walker, who is a better athlete than Higgs or Quill, but is much more of a true 4 than either of those guys. Walker has 4-5 other D-1 offers already.

Some of that is a product of the league he plays in and his school. Perry Hall doesn't have much of a history in Basketball, and has only really begun to emerge since coach Pantangelou took over there. East Baltimore county schools like Perry Hall have always been a step below competition-wise the schools on the west side (though that has changed somewhat in recent years), and generally speaking, the top players don't typically stay at public schools by their junior year, they usually end up at a St Frances, Mount St. Joe's, John Carroll or another private powerhouse. Those schools, and the top city schools (Poly, Patterson, Edmondson) are looked at as much more serious competition, and coaches are sometimes skeptical about the level of competition faced in the Baltimore county public league.

La'Quill has a very valuable skill set with his length, handle and passing ability that on the right team, and I believe the Bearcats are getting a steal here. If he can stay consistent in the weight room and the classroom he could be a big-time player there.
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Thanks for Posting. Good info.
 
UCalum08 said:
Second that, thanks a lot of your input! From all I have heard, it remains consistent with what you have said. Very happy he chose UC.
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If theres one area I trust Cincy to always help at - is defense and weight room. So if thats what he needs work on, we got him covered. Seems like he should be a solid 2 year starter.
 
UCalum08 said:
Higgs stated he is staying with Ole Miss regardless of coaching change.
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New article on Rivals says all Ole Miss recruits will prolly re-open and test the waters. Don't see why you wouldn't when you have no idea who their bringing in.
 
Well we'll have to wait and see I guess...looks like one side of the story is going to be wrong.
 
i don't know a lot about this kid. He looks good, but we seem to have 4 of this kind of player already. that would be my only worry. tre, diarri, ellie, and even keith to some extent. 6-5 to 6-9 athlete type that struggles to shoot.
 
You can never have too many ball handlers.

You can never have too many guys who can switch, guard multiple positions, and guard out to the 3 point line (sounds like this is where he'll need work but the tools are there).
 
jacobkdoyle said:
You can never have too many ball handlers.

You can never have too many guys who can switch, guard multiple positions, and guard out to the 3 point line (sounds like this is where he'll need work but the tools are there).
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agree, this seems to be mick's blueprint. just still worry about scoring the ball
 
cincyguy13 said:
agree, this seems to be mick's blueprint. just still worry about scoring the ball
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Yeah I here ya. Let's have a look:

2019-20
Logan Johnson
Jarron Cumberland
Trevor Moore
Keith Williams
LaQuill Hardnett
Trevon Scott
Mamoudou Diarra
Nysier Brooks
Eliel Nsoseme

A lot will depend I think on how Williams progresses. Diarra too. If those guys can be double digit scorers, I think we'll be fine. Cumberland will be the best player in the conference by then. Hopefully Moore is sniping 3s. Scoot and Brooks aren't going to lead the team in scoring or anything, but they should be able to combine for 12 minimum I'd think. The other guys are kind of wildcards in the scoring department bc we just don't know how Johnson and Hardnett will look at that point. And Nsoseme will be Nsoseme.

Pretty nice to have a team lined up 2 years from now that is as full as the team we had that beat Purdue in the tournament in 2015.

Not going into names, but there are theoretically a couple 2019 guys who could give us some minutes right away. We'll see.
 
Was the #420 player

Commits to UC

Now the #274 player

Funny how that works. Pretty much an admission that our coaches obviously know better on these guys than the recruiting sites.
 
Actually the commitment page has him at #256. 164 spots higher than before he committed. Just goes to show how small the margin is between those spots. The right fit is much more important.
 
jacobkdoyle said:
Actually the commitment page has him at #256. 164 spots higher than before he committed. Just goes to show how small the margin is between those spots. The right fit is much more important.
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great points. Kinda like the 4 stars Fickell landed who were almost immediately demoted to 3 stars after UC commitment.
 
https://youtu.be/UZRkiPptoDI

He’s #1 on the dark blue team, he’s got a long way to go defensively, that being said the competition looks very good, and he definitely has the tools to be something special.
 
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mdchick said:
https://youtu.be/UZRkiPptoDI

He’s #1 on the dark blue team, he’s got a long way to go defensively, that being said the competition looks very good, and he definitely has the tools to be something special.
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I think with Mick's track record and philosophy with game planning, etc. it's safe to say we need to recruit players that need work on defense and not offense if we had to choose one or the other. Not sure we've had one player who was a project offensively become an offensive weapon. The only players we haven't taught defense to, for the most part, are players simply unwilling to try to learn or with very low basketball IQ. And that list is probably still limited to guys who left early. His more recent philosophy in recruiting is showing this trend and I'm all for it. He also has been able to be a little pickier with landing the right recruits who are coachable. I know nothing about this kid, but my guess is if we're giving him a scholarship he responds well enough to coaching that he can learn the Bearcat way.
 

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