Eight 2012 In-State Recruits

T

thejumper5

Well-Known Member
I'm wondering aloud about what 2012 Iowa kids are legit D1 talents and which ones aren't. I've come up with a list of the top eight names and split them in two groups to discuss who Iowa might have a shot at; some are obvious, some are not. Anyone have any info on any of these guys.

I see tier 1 as having four guys right now that will get multiple D1 offers and good looks from major conference schools:

Marcus Paige, Linn-Mar, PG--4*-5* D1 talent. North Carolina verbal. If Iowa ever had a shot, it seems to be totally out the window now, but stranger things have happened in recruiting. At this point, I think we have a better shot at Larry Drew II coming to Iowa than Paige.

Adam Woodbury, Sioux City East, C--Rivals calls him a "priority for Iowa," but some have doubted his ability. He is somewhere between 6'10" and 7'1", but isn't ultra-bulky. A mobile center would certainly be a difference maker in the system Iowa seems to desire to play under McCaffery.

Mading Thok, Sioux City East, C--SC East has two 6'11" kids, but Thok seems to be more of a project than a player right now.

Wesley Staten, Sioux City Heelan, PG--One time ISU verbal has been looking around at other schools. Rivals lists no other offers, and I haven't heard much about him lately.

Tier 2 has a few more guys that for one reason or another aren't getting a ton of looks but seem to be solid players:

James Harrington, Cedar Falls, G--This speedster could play football or run track in college, but he already holds D1 offers for basketball.

Kale Abrahamson, WDM Valley, G/F--6'7" wing has offers from Nebraska and UNI. His coach is former Iowa star Jeff Horner, so we might have an edge in recruiting.

Casey Kasperbauer, Carrol, G--I don't know much about this kid, but I guess he's great shooter that has been talking to several mid-majors. Was a 3A 1st team INA all-stater as a soph.

Dwight Sistrunk--DM Hoover, PG--A couple years back I heard this kid might be better than Paige, but then he quit growing. Only 5'8", he lacks ideal size, but plays very good ball and may have the talent to have a coach overlook his size. Edit: Does anyone know if this kid is related to the former Hawkeye football player of the same name?

Is this the top 8? Is there anyone else from Iowa the Hawkeyes should look at?
 
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thejumper5 said:
I'm wondering aloud about what 2012 Iowa kids are legit D1 talents and which ones aren't. I've come up with a list of the top eight names and split them in two groups to discuss who Iowa might have a shot at; some are obvious, some are not. Anyone have any info on any of these guys.

I see tier 1 as having four guys right now that will get multiple D1 offers and good looks from major conference schools:

Marcus Paige, Linn-Mar, PG--4*-5* D1 talent. North Carolina verbal. If Iowa ever had a shot, it seems to be totally out the window now, but stranger things have happened in recruiting. At this point, I think we have a better shot at Larry Drew II coming to Iowa than Paige.

Adam Woodbury, Sioux City East, C--Rivals calls him a "priority for Iowa," but some have doubted his ability. He is somewhere between 6'10" and 7'1", but isn't ultra-bulky. A mobile center would certainly be a difference maker in the system Iowa seems to desire to play under McCaffery.

Mading Thok, Sioux City East, C--SC East has two 6'11" kids, but Thok seems to be more of a project than a player right now.

Wesley Staten, Sioux City Heelan, PG--One time ISU verbal has been looking around at other schools. Rivals lists no other offers, and I haven't heard much about him lately.

Tier 2 has a few more guys that for one reason or another aren't getting a ton of looks but seem to be solid players:

James Harrington, Cedar Falls, G--This speedster could play football or run track in college, but he already holds D1 offers for basketball.

Kale Abrahamson, WDM Valley, G/F--6'7" wing has offers from Nebraska and UNI. His coach is former Iowa star Jeff Horner, so we might have an edge in recruiting.

Casey Kasperbauer, Carrol, G--I don't know much about this kid, but I guess he's great shooter that has been talking to several mid-majors. Was a 3A 1st team INA all-stater as a soph.

Dwight Sistrunk--DM Hoover, PG--A couple years back I heard this kid might be better than Paige, but then he quit growing. Only 5'8", he lacks ideal size, but plays very good ball and may have the talent to have a coach overlook his size. Edit: Does anyone know if this kid is related to the former Hawkeye football player of the same name?

Is this the top 8? Is there anyone else from Iowa the Hawkeyes should look at?
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Yes, Dwight Sistrunk Jr. is the son of former Iowa safety Dwight Sistrunk Sr.

As far as what you said about him not growing anymore, it is actually the opposite. He did not start growing until the last couple of years. He has grown 4-5 inches in the past 2-3 years, and continues to grow now.

He is an absolute stud though, and in my opinion the best true point guard in the state of Iowa. You will not find anyone that handles the ball as well as him, or that is as fast with the ball as him from north to south.

When he and Paige have matched up in the past, Sistrunk has done more than hold his own.

Just my two cents.

I have seen all of the kids on this list play a lot, but most of the others are talked about and more known than Sistrunk at this time, so I thought I would shed some light on him.
 
^^^Thanks, both posters. Chris, good early post. Welcome to the board. Are you a ref? Wondering how you have managed to see virtually all of these players. Sistrunk sounds like he could be a good catch if Iowa pursued him.
 
tweeterhawk said:
^^^Thanks, both posters. Chris, good early post. Welcome to the board. Are you a ref? Wondering how you have managed to see virtually all of these players. Sistrunk sounds like he could be a good catch if Iowa pursued him.
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Full disclosure here:

I have coached in the class of 2012 for the previous 6 years.

What I mean by that is that I began coaching 5th graders when these kids were in 5th grade, then moved to 6th, then to 7th, and so on. I was a high school sophomore coach last year when all of these kids were sophomores. Of course, all on this list played varsity as sophomores, but I still watched them. I have also traveled to AAU tournaments around the country and watched many that are not central Iowa kids play there.

This is my first year not coaching as I chose to focus on my studies and finishing my degree, but I still have great relationships with many of the kids, and I am covering Des Moines High School Sports for a website.

So it has been neat to watch all of these kids develop into kids that everyone is talking about.

I remember most of them as 5th and 6th graders, with the exception of a guy like Abrahamson, which as a previous poster stated, moved here in 8th grade.

A couple of other guys not mentioned here that are "sleepers" in my opinion are:

Taylor Olson, Cedar Rapids Jefferson

Olson can play all three guard positions. He is one of the smoothest players I have seen. I think he is slightly "undersized" for high level D1, but I like what he does a lot.

Sam Norman, Des Moines Roosevelt

Norman is just solid all the way around. He is now 6-6, and he can really do it all offensively. He has started varsity for two years now, and without looking he is averaging around 15 points per game, maybe more. He is left-handed, and has a nice post game, but can also face up and he shoots the three ball pretty well. The biggest knock on him is probably his quickness, but I like what he brings to the table. Not sure if he has offers yet or not.

There is tons of talent in this class, maybe the most ever. This means there are a lot of kids not on this list that I think will play D1 basketball. Ankeny has a few studs that I think project well at the next level.

I will check back later! Have to actually get to work now. :D
 
So is Sistrunk 5'8'' now or taller? Have not heard much about him. Will he end up at 6foot or taller?
 
Great thanks for sharing guys.

He's technically from Nebraska but Gessel plays Iowa High School ball. He's another D1 talent
 
I will bring some more names to the table when I get some time later tonight, but one that completely slipped my mind is Scott Bruxvoort of PCM. PCM is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Class 2A.

He is about 6-4, and he averages about 20 points per game, but he could average much more. He is a very unselfish player, and a freak athlete. He had 47 on Opening Night. Reminds me a lot of Greg Brunner, as far as the way he plays. He is obviously a little shorter, but he is a better athlete now than Brunner ever was.
 
ChrisDouglas said:
I will bring some more names to the table when I get some time later tonight, but one that completely slipped my mind is Scott Bruxvoort of PCM. PCM is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Class 2A.

He is about 6-4, and he averages about 20 points per game, but he could average much more. He is a very unselfish player, and a freak athlete. He had 47 on Opening Night. Reminds me a lot of Greg Brunner, as far as the way he plays. He is obviously a little shorter, but he is a better athlete now than Brunner ever was.
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How can this be true when nobody has ever figured out how tall Brunner was? :)
 
tweeterhawk said:
Chris, any addtl info on WDMBleacherHawk's post that Abrahamson has no interest in Iowa schools?
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Honestly, Abrahamson is the one of the few kids that I do not know on a personal level, so I do not know whether this is true or not.

All I know about him is that he did move here in 8th grade, played for the All-Iowa Attack (which is now Kingdom Hoops), then moved over to Martin Bros (which, ironically enough, is now All-Iowa Attack). He is on the same team as Paige, Woodbury, Thok, Gessell, etc.

I also know that he has grown about 6-8 inches since his freshman year, and is the toughest match-up in the CIML besides Jok. Abrahamson has improved immensely over the last two years, and is averaging 22 PPG right now. I think his biggest offer right now is Nebraska (I don't think Iowa has offered yet), and I assume that list will grow a lot with much bigger names joining the party later this summer. His "upside" at the next level is extremely high.
 
I have little to no interest in pursuing more in state talent. We aren't going to get the Barnes and Paiges and I don't think 99% of the others have any business playing in the big ten. We have 3 in state players on the roster currently that are underperforming and proving why we need an infusion of athleticism from outside the state. Last I checked, BJ, Roy, Gamble, Horton, etc., didn't play 3A ball in Iowa and we need that type of talent.
 
He's right we shouldn't recruit in-state guys like Bobby Hansen, Jess Settles, Ryan Bowen, Ricky Davis, Dean Oliver, Greg Brunner, Adam Haluska, or Jeff Horner.

Anecdotal evidence rules.
 
Brasky said:
He's right we shouldn't recruit in-state guys like Bobby Hansen, Jess Settles, Ryan Bowen, Ricky Davis, Dean Oliver, Greg Brunner, Adam Haluska, or Jeff Horner.

Anecdotal evidence rules.
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We would not be getting those players right now either. I think that goes along with what he was saying.
 
Mac50702 said:
We would not be getting those players right now either. I think that goes along with what he was saying.
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What he said was absurdly stupid.

He wants the University of Iowa to ignore the state of Iowa because they can't land elite players from the state. His solution is to go land elite players from out of state.

What Fran should be, and is doing, is going out and planting a number of seeds and searching for the best player regardless of location.


Fran should stop recruiting kids like McCabe from Iowa in favor of recruiting kids like Michael Jordan. See, it's simple.
 
Interesting info on Abrahamson not being interested in Iowa schools. If he has as high a ceiling as has been mentioned, hopefully his desire to stay in state will change.

As far as Sistrunk: I read an article from '08 that said he was 5'7" and saw him listed recently at 5'8", so that was where my assessment that he hasn't grown much came in. I can't find anything listing his current height, so I guess I was probably reading bad info.

As far as taking players from Iowa is concerned: I think it is silly and borderline foolish to say Iowa shouldn't have any players from its own state. Off the top of my head, I can think of probably 15 players that didn't go to Iowa from the last 8-10 years in the state that would make this current Iowa squad better. If anything, I think Iowa needs to put more of an emphasis on keeping top-tier talent in state.

As far as Ankeny having a bunch of solid players: I definitely think Schabel, both Meyers, and Egli are good players, but I don't see any of them as D1 talents. They project more to the D2 level (maybe earning schollies). Also, a couple of them (both Meyers for sure) play other sports; from what I know of Ankeny kids, when they choose a college sport, the typical hierarchy is baseball then football then basketball if a chance at more than one.

Final note: if you live in central Iowa, WDM Valley (Abrahamson) will be playing at DM Hoover (Sistrunk) this Friday night. After starting the year 0-4, Valley has been stellar for the past two months and looks to upset second-ranked Hoover. Definitely a game to watch in the CIML.
 
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Also, here are a couple lists of 2012 Iowa kids if you want to look into anyone we've missed:

NY2LASPORTS.COM - Player Search Results

http://iahoops.blogspot.com/2010/04/class-od-2012.html

On the second list, you will see Corey Meyers of Ankeny and Amarah Darboh of Dowling listed as top-10 players. Meyers has missed most of this season with a knee injury, so there is concern about his recovery and how he will play coming off of that. Darboh will almost surely play football, as he is one of the top WR recruits in the midwest.
 
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