Looking Back….. The 2014 Rankings
Rankings. They are fun, but also the devil. They mean nothing, but they are a representation of what college coaches are thinking. Rankings are nothing but an opinion, but people look anyway and debate them in many circles. Today we…
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Continue ReadingRankings. They are fun, but also the devil. They mean nothing, but they are a representation of what college coaches are thinking. Rankings are nothing but an opinion, but people look anyway and debate them in many circles.
Today we look back five years to see how we did with that class, the 2014 class (five years ago this group was playing 17u basketball, much like right now we are focused on the 2019 group of talent). We can’t go through all of the names but we will sort through the top 25 and then pick out some more names after that.
This class is a big reason why rankings need to be resorted after a senior season. Ryan Bruggeman and Geno Crandall showed what they could do as seniors and had great college careers.
https://prephoops.com/minnesota/rankings/prospect-rankings/2014-rankings/
1. Tyus Jones. National champion, first round pick, in the NBA with the Wolves. Easy choice.
Rashad Vaughn. Rashad was two until he went to prep school. But Rashad was drafted by the Bucks, has played for the Nets and Magic, and this summer was with the Miami Heat Summer team. At the moment I don’t know that he has a team for next year.
2. Reid Travis. Tested the NBA draft waters but is going to Kentucky as a graduate transfer.
3. JP Macura. Went undrafted out of Xavier but signed a two way contract with the Hornets and had a nice showing with their summer league team.
4. Delshon Strickland. Last played at Odessa CC during the 16-17 season where he scored seven points a game as a sophomore.
5. Paul Friendshuh. Entering his senior year at Richmond, has never worked his way into the line-up.
6. Wheeler Baker. Talented player that went to Albany, to North Dakota, then Alex Conover reported Wheeler went to Northeast CC but he wasn’t on the roster there.
7. Ian Theisen. Started all games at South Dakota State as a junior but came off the bench as a senior playing eight minutes a game scoring three points a contest.
8. Andre Wallace. After a nice junior college career Wallace went to South Dakota State, didn’t play much so he transferred to Hawaii-Pacific, but was never listed on the roster.
9. Ngor Barnaba. Went to junior college, was signed by Utah State where Ngor averaged 3/3 as a junior, transferred to Northwest Nazarene where he didn’t play last year and isn’t on the roster.
10. Jon Sobaski. Signed at NDSU but then decided to go to Concordia St-Paul but only played a few years.
11. Carter Kirk. Gave Southwest Minnesota State 15 points and 10 rebounds a game. Kirk improved every year.
12. DJ Davis. Signed as USD, played some big minutes as a freshmen, left for U of Indianapolis a D2 school, played there until the middle of the 16-17 season.
13. Jake Wright. Signed at the Citadel first, played well there and went to Miami of Ohio, and then graduate transferred to Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he will be a senior next year. Averaged nine a game as a frosh and sophomore, 5.4 as a junior.
14. Jake Johnson. Signed with Northern State and then transferred to MN State Moorhead. Averaged 3.6/3.4 as a junior, will be a senior next year.
15. Stephon Sharp. Walked on at Minnesota, played some as a freshman, focused on being a student as a sophomore.
16. Geno Crandall. Signed with UND taking his lone offer, red-shirted as Geno was younger than all he graduated with, blossomed to being a top player in the Big Sky Conference. Now at Gonzaga as he was one of the top graduate transfers in the nation.
17. Ryan Keenan. Went to Pepperdine and was in there program for three years playing single digit minutes, not sure if he finished his eligibility someplace or not.
18. Jacob Schaefer. Decided against playing basketball, went to Notre Dame to be a regular student.
19. Zach Wessels, Started 17 games this year giving 20 win USF 6/3/3 each game.
20. Andy Foley. Started a third of the St. Cloud State games this year scoring six points a contest.
21. James Lawson. Went to Sioux Falls, transferred to Augburg two years ago, not listed on the team last year.
22. Jordan Dembley. Signed with Liberty but then went to Williston State for a year followed by playing at Graceland where Jordan spent two seasons and averaged 8 a game off the bench as a senior.
23. Austin Poe. Signed with Sioux Falls and played two seasons at the school.
24. Ian Smith. Finished a senior year at Northern State starting 40 games, giving the team 12/5/4 a night, led his team to the elite eight.
25. Joe Hanel. Walk-on at DePaul, bench player as a fr/soph/senior but as a junior Joe played 26 minutes a night averaging 5/5. Earned a scholarship for his final year.
Noteable
32. Ryan Bruggeman was fantastic in college averaging 17 points and 7 assists a game at Southwest Minnesota State last year.
33. Christian Pekarek started all games last year at Bemidji State last year scoring 10 points a game with five assists.
45. Kevin Grow averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds a game as a senior last year at Carelton.