Adam Woodbury now 7-1

Anybody remember the Kennedy brothers from Storm Lake back in the late 60's? I was thinking they were 7' & 6'11". Not sure where they ended up, but I thought at least one went on to play college ball in Arizona.
 
A package deal? If Thok develops,I could live with it. I would love to become a destination point for some of these talented Sudanese players like Peter Jok,Agua,and Thok. Was reading an article in the NYTimes this week about how many Sudanese bb players are seeking to come to the US now that peace is coming to their country and they are free to train and play bb again.
In this article three young men,two 6'8'' 16 year olds and a 7'1'' 15yr old were heading to Mooseheart Academy in Kane County,Ill to attend prep school.
They are eager for an education and a chance to play ball and raise their families prospects for advancement thru education. If you look at the prospect lists around the country now, they are full of Africans. Iowa needs to get some of that talent and become a known destination for a good education and bb for these immigrants.

And Iowa needs to get Woody...he is the critical recruit in 2012.
 
I'd say Thok is easily 4-5 inches longer than Woodbury which is actually more important than height. Look at how much more cramped his arms are under the door frame.
 
Good article. Looking at Picture #3, Thok actually looks to have pretty good muscle tone in his arms for a 7 footer too, looks pretty strong. Looks like a shot blocking machine. Hoping we can land these guys. Might take some time to develop but my guess is they'll turn out to be pretty good college players.
 
Man it would be awesome to get both and I would be very happy to get either. That being said, Thok looks like the one people will want most in the end. I love the African kids who started by playing soccer. Guys like Hakeem and Dikembe, (and heck even Shaq started out playing soccer). Those guys just have way better body control than a lot of the guys who grew up playing hoops. The tall hoops guys often just get away with playing over the top of everyone else.
 
I'll Gladly take both and either Jok or Meyer. By Freshman year at Iowa, I think all of them would get minutes. I would be more than happy to see a stream of 7' players coming to Iowa.
 
DuffMan said:
I'd say Thok is easily 4-5 inches longer than Woodbury which is actually more important than height. Look at how much more cramped his arms are under the door frame.
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because their arms are being held at different angles. 4"-5"? look at their pictures standing side by side - 4"-5"? look about the same to me.
 
Woodbury averages 19 ppg and leads the state in rebounds at 12.4 rpg
Thok averages 8.4 ppg and only averages 6.1 boards.

I'm not sure if their minutes are shared but based solely on those stats I would take Woodbury and only consider Thok as a development type player.

Don't get me wrong,it would be nice to have two 7' on the team to add depth but if I had to chose between the two it would easily be Woodbury on my team.
 
High school stats mean very little...

hawkeye12345 said:
Woodbury averages 19 ppg and leads the state in rebounds at 12.4 rpg
Thok averages 8.4 ppg and only averages 6.1 boards.

I'm not sure if their minutes are shared but based solely on those stats I would take Woodbury and only consider Thok as a development type player.

Don't get me wrong,it would be nice to have two 7' on the team to add depth but if I had to chose between the two it would easily be Woodbury on my team.
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when determining if a guy can play in the Big 10, especially if they are big guys. Thok is a sophomore who is new to basketball, not playing heaving minutes and not having the offense run through him because the offense goes through Woodbury.

When looking at big guys, coaches have to determine what they will be 2-4 years from now. The upside for both of these guys is huge, and not just because they are tall. 7-foot guys who can move and have some skill are like gold. You can see how effective Minnesota is defending the paint with Iverson and Sampson III. Teams just don't score very well inside. Minny has struggled because losing Devoe and Nolen has killed them on the perimeter, but no one kills them inside.
 
Reach is definitely important. I have a 6'3" wing span but I'm only 6 feet tall. I create mismatches on guys my height and can guard guys a few inches taller than me with ease.
 
WestCoastHawk said:
Reach is definitely important. I have a 6'3" wing span but I'm only 6 feet tall. I create mismatches on guys my height and can guard guys a few inches taller than me with ease.
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Wingspan to height is about 1.02:1 ratio. In other words your wingspan is approximately 102% of your measured height.
 
Woodbury runs very well, but needs to add basketball skills and 50 pounds of muscle.
 
Has anyone ever seen Nate Wells at Davenport West play? I know he isn't an Iowa prospect, but he is also 7'1". He is pretty athletic, but I have never seen a kid that tall play so short. I have seen him play once, and I am going to see him again tonight, and you would expect a kid like that to be a force in Iowa HSBB, but he isn't.
 
Iowafarmgirl said:
Has anyone ever seen Nate Wells at Davenport West play? I know he isn't an Iowa prospect, but he is also 7'1". He is pretty athletic, but I have never seen a kid that tall play so short. I have seen him play once, and I am going to see him again tonight, and you would expect a kid like that to be a force in Iowa HSBB, but he isn't.
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12.4 ppg. 8.5 rpg, and 4.6 bpg are not terrible stats. he could probably use a year of prep or a redshirt and will be a good D1 player. bigs take a little longer to develop.
 
There was an earlier comment about Thok being a player to develop. This seems to imply that Woodbury would be more of an early contributor. I disagree in the sense that they would both be development projects, yet would both contribute early in their careers. The fact is, Iowa is not a recruiting hotbed. But at the same time, imagine if we could get every player from the state. What might a roster look like: Gatens, May, Barnes, Cougill. Then later down the line: Paige, Oglesby, Uthoff, Jok, Woodbury, Thok. There is some serious talent around that the Hawks need to sign. As a program, Iowa Basketball cannot let Hoiberg win the immediate recruiting battles.

The fact is, recruits want to go to winning programs. If Iowa was a top 25 range team every year, I think we would have signed Jarrod Uthoff. My point is that while the progress I see with this Iowa team is noteworthy, we need to turn 'progress' into WINS. Iowa needs to win 17 games next year. How is that going to happen? I don't know- because we all know the Big10 will be stacked as always. We need to sign two more contributors for next year's squad to compete. I'm not the first to claim this, but if we could get a good Point and big man, we could compete.

My real point is that... I am scared of Iowa State and the possibility that 'The Mayor' will snatch up the big recruits... The reason i say this is because, what if Iowa struggles again next year? What if we have another 10 win season? I think Hoiberg has handcuffed together a pretty talented lineup. What if ISU makes the tourney? Where will Jok or Thok or whoever want to go? Iowa? and win 10 games a year? I don't think so.

We need to win with OUR recruits to win recruits. P.S. the new basketball facility shouldn't hurt.
 
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