Recruiting Report: Ausar Crawley (2021)
Last year as the buzzer sounded in the BCL Championship game, the Gaels looked up to see they had come up short against St. Frances. In most cases when a team depends heavily on their senior backcourt, there is uncertainty for the upcoming season in whether or not their younger players will be ready to step into their place. Fortunately for Mt. St. Joe, Ausar Crawley ended the season in a strong fashion as he began to take strides only as a freshman.
“I was kind of thrown into the fire last year,” Crawley told Prep Hoops. “I was prepared for it though, just by how I was brought up. I never backed down from anything. I just tried to come in and help my team and just do what I could. I never tried to do the most, just came in and played my game to fit in at this level with those great players.”
Those great players Crawley mentioned includes Jalen Smith (Maryland), Tyree Myers (Augusta), Kendall McMillian (New Haven) and now senior guard James Bishop (LSU commit). Crawley filled his role as perfectly as any freshman could considering who he was surrounded with. The 5-foot-8 guard acted as a floor general, ensuring his team was always in the correct set offensively. He wasn’t asked to score much considering Smith and Bishop could combine for 50+ points alone on any given night, but he was efficient on converting kick-out three’s.
He also got after it on the defensive end, always picking up his man beyond half court. The point guard position is the most difficult position in basketball. The fact that Crawley was able to produce on the varsity level and defend the way he did speaks to how skilled he is. He also leaned on the senior guards for advice on how to adapt throughout the season.
“Playing behind Tyree and Kendall just really made me defend hard all of the time and it started in practice,” Crawley said. “They were great senior leaders and helped me on that end of the court and also just being able to control the game. As I get older, I’m going to try and pass the advice that they gave me to the younger guys and just keep building year to year.”
To help build off of a strong freshman campaign, Crawley orchestrated a loaded Team Thrill squad throughout the spring/summer.
“It went really well,” Crawley continued, “We went about 40-5 overall and were able to play in front of a lot of college coaches. That’s what I wanted coming off my freshman year so now I’m just looking to carry it over and boost my stock.”
Going into this season, the Gaels were viewed as a team that has talent, but with Smith leaving, there was a huge void in the frontcourt. That was until they got Javonte Brown, a 6-foot-10 transfer from Canada. Brown isn’t anywhere near as polished as Smith at this point, but his length alone gives them a paint presence that was desperately needed to compete with the best teams.
Bishop will fill up the score sheet probably more than we’ve ever seen as he becomes the primary option. As for Crawley, he’ll still be expected to orchestrate, but also be more aggressive as a scorer.
Last year, I kinda came in and just was a tempo guy to control the game,” Crawley said as he reflected on his role last season. “This year, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll have to pick it up as a scorer more. We lost a big scorer with Stix. That was an automatic 20 and 10 every game, so I know I have to get on the board a lot more. Tyree and Kendall were lockdown defenders, so I’ll have to pick up the slack there too.”
The addition of Brown and the continued development of Crawley and Bishop put the Gaels in the championship conversation once again. Factor in they have one of the best coaches in the country in Pat Clatchey and yeah, they’re chances are looking pretty good.
“People can keep sleeping on us,” Crawley said. “We’re used to being the underdogs. The season will show. We’re going to get better and better with each game and they’ll see the improvement throughout.”
Crawley has one offer from Stony Brook. More teams are starting to express interest in the tough-nosed guard. The list of schools interested in him should grow as he takes on a bigger role this season.
Quick evaluation of Crawley:
We saw Crawley this past week in a scrimmage against DeMatha and noticed improvements in a couple of different aspects. For one (and most importantly), he’s become the clear vocal leader just as a sophomore. On both ends, he’s constantly communicating acting as a coach on the floor. He’s improved drastically on his ability to shoot off the dribble, especially when he’s dribbling with his off hand. He handles ball pressure well in that he doesn’t let it effect his vision on the floor or his ability to get his team into a set. Operates in the pick-and-roll well. Gets it to the roller in small passing windows, but is still developing vision of the weakside shooters as the help side defense rotates. Crawley has all of the characteristics that you’d want in a point guard.