Recruiting: men's basketball part 2

Recruiting notebook, odds and ends from a busy day chasing basketball players.

rivals.com interviews

I had a chance to do a quick interview with rivals.com national basketball analyst Eric Bossi about FIU and the work Isiah Thomas has done since coming to the school.

"Clearly [Thomas] is making a stir at Florida International. There are a lot of mixed opinions with Isiah Thomas. People probably wouldn’t notice Florida International if it was not for Thomas. They would have never gotten [Dominique] Ferguson if it wasn’t for him," Bossi said.

"I tell you this, I worked in this business since 2000 and since Isiah got there, there has been way more talk about FIU in the last two years than there was in the last 10 years," he added.

I also asked him about freshman Phillip Taylor

"Phil isn’t the biggest guy around but he’s a kid that has played against some of the top players in the country and has held his own. He’s not afraid to shoot it. He adds an element of confidence at the point guard position," Bossi said.

Scouting report for Darnell Harris

I also spoke with rivals.com national basketball analyst Jerry Meyer. Meyer gave me a scoting report on Harris.

"[Harris] is a tall shooter. He has length and he has pretty deep range out to 25 feet. That’s the strength of his game. Not really a slasher/ball handler type, more of a shoot over you type," Meyer said.

I also asked about the level Harris' commitment to FIU

"As far as I know, I haven’t heard anything different," Meyer said. "I don’t know if he has signed yet. From what I know his commitment is solid."

Scouting report for Chris Coleman

"Real big guy, space eater, barely skilled but more than that, he’s just a huge physical precense," Meyer said. "He's a big guy. Both these guys got looks from high majors. Good gets for a Sun Belt school."

I also asked Meyer if some of that buzz around FIU and Isiah has died down some since Thomas first came to FIU?

"Maybe a little bit of that allure is gone. Isiah Thomas is still Isiah Thomas and that is going to get the attention of the recruits," Meyer said. "There was a buzz. Now it's fair to say that some of that buzz has gone away. FIU has to win. That’s only going to help recruiting. It’s a lot easier to recruit when you win. Isiah has recruited at a higher level and has gotten some nice players."

Chasing down basketball recruits this afternoon.

I had a chance to talk with Yvan Ngirabakunzi's coach at the Piney Woods school in Mississippi. Coach Lemuel Jones said he has not had a chance to talk with FIU coach Isiah Thomas since the season began and that he is not sure where Ngirabakunzi stands in the recruiting process. Jones basically said he is waiting for the season to be over to sit with Ngirabakunzi to talk about where he could possibly end up at.

Jones described Ngirabakunzi has a four who has the "chance to be pretty good."

From what I gather, Piney Woods has a chance at a state championship this season and Jones is not trying to distract his players. Jones stopped short of saying if Ngirabakunzi has been offered a scholarship by FIU or any other school for that matter.

Still waiting to hear back from Christian Life Academy in Texas.

New Additions

FIUScout.com added three more potential players to the mix

SG Austin Keel, Winter Springs, FL, interest medium

PF Jonathan Holton, Coral Gables, signed with Rhode Island

SG Curtis Davis, Woodrow Wilson, TX, interest medium

According to his former coach at LaSalle Tony Reguiera, Holton is not considering FIU and has already committed to Rhode Island.

Justin

Comments

[J]

Justin,

Holton signed LOI to URI already. As of last year Yvan had a scholly from FIU, wonder why his coach thinks otherwise now. thanks for the update.

[TheChampionUnderdog]

Thanks for the 411.

[Concerned FIU fan]

Good job getting those interviews but there is no reason why this blog shouldn't be more alive! There are two guys writing for FIU, why is it so dead? Let's go!

[gpantera]

Nice work Herald. The intel is of high interest. Go FIU Panthers!

[TNGoldenPanther]

Good stuff, Justin! Coleman is right, until we start winning some games, the level of interest is going to keep going down. Hopefully we can make some noise in the Sun Belt tourny and then next year, we start getting big wins.

[Gooch7]

Is it April 1st yet?!?!?!?

The Spring Game can't come any sooner.. With only 3 more home games left in the basketball season, and about a week away from Opening Day for Baseball FIU should be feeling a little excited.. I hope we get some media time and at least more then 4 sentences written in the Herald about the Baseball team next week. Same goes for the Softball team which should be ranked among the Top 25 before the season is over.. They are less then 10 spots away from breaking into the Top 25 right now!!

Go FIU

[blogapreacher]

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[J]

Van Nes to Fairfield FWIW

[Justin Azpiazu]

@J,FIU needs to size to help win some of these games.