It gets "iffy" when you try to rank the JUCOs. Victor Avila was the top-rated JUCO in America, at least that's how I remember the press clippings. Taj Gray was a big signing, and proved to be a really good player. Ace McGhee was VERY highly rated. Vincennes CC, right?
As for high school guys, Ryan Humphrey was five-star all the way.
Bookout was a major signing. 4, maybe 5.
Lavender was between 4 and 5.
Foust, Longar and McKenzie....probably 3.
I don't remember AJ being that highly-rated.
Taylor Griffin was given the full-court press because they knew around the time his little brother was in the 8th grade that he was a MUST.
Bobby Joe Evans was the first big signing Kelvin made from the high school ranks. I'd say 4.
Throw in Corey Brewer, Everet, Nolan Johnson, Q White, Abercrombie, Pattilo, Newton(injuries) Neal(injuries) and several other juco's I'm blanking on at the moment. One of Sampson's best evaluation characteristics was the toughness factor. Guys would fight for the man and sometimes fight to get to 40 pt at regulation. Game has changed but those teams didn't give up a easy basket. Know one ever misjudged Tim Heskett athleticism with Robert Allison's but Tim would scratch, elbow and trip his way into defending. Renzi would wear down players by letting them elbow his face repeatedly. I love scoring 90 a game today but those old teams would give up as many uncontested layups in a 5 year span as pick your game last year. Now, they'd also go 16/48 from the field but the effort was there for 40 minutes. Some games I felt exhausted after watching it.
Was J.R. Raymond highly ranked out of N. Carolina when he signed? Seemed like he was but I think he was also from the tribe of Smoka-saca-chebba.
The good ole days when Colorado sports were good, A&M and Baylor lost 20 plus straight against the good guys and it was a natural reaction to hate Mizzu. Now i kinda feel sorry for those programs drowning in there of feces.
I could be wrong but I thought :austin686_jpg_xs: was a high ranked kid from Amarillo but the injuries held him back at OU. I just remember Sampson talking about how he was a legend around the Amarillo area. I remember thinking as a kid, how good could Amarillo basketball be? Wish he would have challenged the 72oz steak a little more but he went on to play really well overseas and a guy I really pulled for. He got destroyed by fans back in the day and I'd hate to see what it'd be like in today's social media gorilla warfare tactics but the kid had some redemption to his legacy. Alex Spalding, this could have been you my friend.
Loved Drew Lavender and like Prince Fowler, didn't stick it out to be ranked higher up on my point guard list. Nate Robinson in the big three says hello.
I loved Bobby Joe Evens and Hootie Wiley as a kid. I got my picture taken with Hootie when i was like 11 or 12 after a John Blake OU team beat a Dannovan McNabb led Syracuse team in Norman. I remember thinking John Blake will turn it around and I just got my pic with a future NBA post player. I really didn't have a clue and I don't know how I've turned out so lucky for having a terrible ability to see the obvious. To bad Bobby Joe had bad knees. He was a really skilled player that probably could have played in the league. Oliver Miller and Tractor Taylor did and Bobby was way more skilled IMO. I remember OU played Purdue and I couldn't stand Brain "kneepad" Cardinal. He could have played for Mizzu and i wouldn't like him any less. I'm drawing a blank on the legendary coach at Purdue but that man scared me as a kid. Seemed to make Bob Knight look timid and personified what I thought a boilermaker actually was. Ha!
Remember Larry Turner? The guy looked the part but never evolved to a James Maden type player.
Ace was my guy. At senior night he hit a three from almost halfcourt. Even Trae Young would have blushed a little. Sampson would have chewed his butt if he didn't swish it. Instead he just sweated and rolled around on the floor. I love Lon but I miss a patented Sampson foot stomp technical foul to let the team know it's on. I don't think Lon would even foot stomp a spider in his house. Ace was at Cincinnati for a year b4 transferring to Juco because of playing time. Thank you Bob Huggins. I hated he never got picked up in the league. David West has mad a 20 year career and had a similar game as Ace. Ace couldn't jump but would bulldoze you and wrecking ball you with his back to the basket. He was a really good scorer but had a funny release if I'm remembering correctly. Had a nasty post fadeaway.
Loved me Some Nate Erdman(sp) guy was clutch using the backboard on awkward sideline shoots. I remember him being decimated by a scorers table when he went flying into it one game. Good player.
Nolan Johnson and Everet are way up there for me just because of their isolation game and creativity. Both of those guys had great crossover and hesitation arsenals. Wish those guys would come around the program more.
