In the Doug Doughty Notebook Plus article (Roanoke Times) this week, he states that Virginia Tech is an early leader for 6’9″ Adjehi Baru, a post player from the Ivory Coast that is at the Steward School in Richmond.  The hated terps are also mentioned as a leader.  Baru is ranked #26 overall and the #3 center in the Class of 2011 on Rivals.com.  Scout.com has him at #44 overall and the #5 center.  Both rate him as a 4-star recruit, although he is the first 4-star recruit in the Rivals’ rankings.

For more on Baru, click on the article above and here is his Rivals.com free page: Baru Bio

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Earlier today, Virginia Tech head basketball coach Seth Greenberg posted on his Twitter account that recruit Tyrone Garland qualified academically and can play in the upcoming 2010-2011 season. Specifically, Seth wrote, “Excited to have Ty Garland join the Hokie family!”

Incoming freshmen Garland and Jarrell Eddie will likely see playing time this season. Eddie is rehabbing his knee, but according to Greenberg, should be 100 percent by July 5, as will big man Cadarian Raines, who is coming off a second foot surgery in less than a year.

Garland is only the fifth player in Philadelphia public school history to eclipse the 2,000 point mark, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Gerald Henderson in the top five.

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The Hokies picked up a huge, and I mean a gigantic size commitment this week.  Marquis Rankin, a 5’11″, 165 lb. point guard in the Class of 2011 from Charlotte, NC, committed to the Hokies over offers from two other ACC schools and two SEC schools among others. 

Rankin is ranking very highly in most recruiting services.  Scout.com rates him as the #23 overall player in the Class of 2011 and #4 PG (4-stars).  He is the 2nd highest rated 4-star recruit in Scout (the top 21 are 5-stars).  Rivals.com has him as the #26 player overall in the Class of 2011 and the #9 PG.  He is the top rated 4-star player in that Rivals class (the top 25 guys are all 5-stars). 

Rankin fills a huge need for the Hokies.  Tech had not yet signed a true point guard (in my opinion) in the next two classes.  Tyrone Garland (’10) is more of a shooting guard that can run the point (similar to how Delaney was when he came to VT) and Robert Brown (’11) is a shooting guard.  With Delaney leaving after next season at the latest, that means Erick Green will be the only true point guard in the program, and he will be a junior by the time Rankin arrives.

Rankin joins PF C.J. Barksdale (#28 overall by Scout and #78 by Rivals) and SG Robert Brown (#104 in Rivals) as part of the 2011 Class.  This class is already shaping up to be the greatest in Virginia Tech history if the Hokies can keep these three on-board and they can still add two more players in this class.  Seth plans to add a full lineup in this class, so expect VT to target at least one more big man, if not two (perhaps a PF/C and a wing player).

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TYRONE GARLAND, a Class of 2010 Virginia Tech signee, had carried his team all season, averaging 25 ppg and becoming the third leading scorer in Philadelphia Public League scoring history.  But on Tuesday night his amazing effort was not enough to bring home the championship to John Bartram High School.  Bartram lost by a 58-46 score in the Public League Championship to Imhotep.

Garland had a huge game, though.  Tyrone scored 32 of his teams 46 points!  He hit 6 of 12 from behind the arc, but his teammates were just 5 for 37 from the field.

Bartram will continue on in the Pennsylvania State Tournament this weekend.  Garland is closing in on Wilt Chamberlain, who currently sits in 2nd place on the Philly scoring list.  Tyrone doesn’t have a realistic shot at #1 though, which is over 2,600.  Garland is around 2,200 for his high school career right now.

For more on Garland’s game stats, check out his bio page linked at the top of this article.

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The Hokies will need to haul in some huge recruiting classes the next two years to keep the program’s momentum going.  Tech has signed two recruits, Jarell Eddie and Tyrone Garland, for next year.  But the 2011 Class will be even more important as the Hokies’ top five scorers this year are all juniors.

Tech has already picked up verbal commitments from two 2011 prospects, C.J. Barksdale of Danville, VA and Robert Brown of Clermont, FL.  Robert’s Head Coach, Mike Clutter, was kind enough to give us the skinny on Tech’s future shooting guard.  I was surprised to learn that Coach Clutter coached in Virginia for 20 years in Louisa County, Albemarle County, and Osbourn HS in Manassas.  He also has a very good relationship with the VT coaching staff.

QUESTIONS:

Q: What were Robert’s stats this season?

Coach Clutter: He finished the year averaging 21.0 ppg, 4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, shot 46% from the field, and 70% from the foul line.  He recently scored his 1000th point at East Ridge and now ranks 4^th on the schools career list with 1159 points.

Q: What honors has he picked up?

Coach Clutter: Robert is our team’s MVP for the 3^rd straight  year and was for the second time  selected 6 A Coaches District Player of the Year. He has been All-County for 3 years and will most likely be Player of the Year this year.

Q: How did East Ridge do this season?

Coach Clutter: We finished 16-7 and tied for 4^th in our district which is called the District of Dome.  We had 5 out of our 9 teams ranked in the top 10 in the state for most of the season. We finished ranked 12^th in the state in the top division in Florida, 6 A

Q: On offense, is Robert more of a slasher or a three-point shooter?

Coach Clutter: Robert is very quick with a great move to the basket. He can slash to the basket and dunk it in your face. He had a great 3-point shooting effort last year but got a lot more pressure this year and his 3-point shooting percentage fell down some.

Q: How is Robert’s mid-range game/runners?

Coach Clutter: He has developed a great runner this year and it continues to get better.

Q: How are Robert’s ballhandling skills?  Can he run the point or is he strickly a 2-guard?

Coach Clutter: Good ball handler and does run the point and even plays the 3 sometimes.

Q: How is Robert’s defense on the ball (as I’m sure you know Coach Greenberg really preaches defense)?

Coach Clutter: He is a good defender on the ball, when he wants to and runs the floor filling the lanes very well.

Q: How are his intangibles (leadership, work ethic, etc)?

Coach Clutter: He is a leader by example and loves to have the ball in his hands.

Q: What area(s) does Robert need to improve on the most to be ready to play in the ACC in 2 years?

Coach Clutter: He will need to get stronger and become a better rebounder.

Q: Any other information you’d like to add?

Coach Clutter: He is running track right now and has won 3 straight high jumps with his best being 6’4’’, not too bad for someone who never did it before. He will be a great player when he gets to Tech.

Thanks again to Coach Clutter for giving us some great insight on one of the keystones of the future of Hokie basketball!

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TYRONE GARLAND:

Tyrone Garland and the John Bartram High School Braves will play Imhotep for the Philly Public League title on Tuesday night at temple’s arena.  Bartram has already captured the Public League Class AAAA title and will continue on in the state tournament regardless of the outcome on Tuesday.

For the season, Garland is averaging 25.0 ppg and has surpassed the 30 point mark four times this year.  His season high is 43.

Tyrone, a 2010 signee of VT, has also moved up to third on the all time Philly Public League scoring list with over 2,100 career points.  He surpassed Gerald Henderson of duke and now the NBA.  Garland is also quickly gaining on Wilt Chamberlain.  He won’t have a shot at #1 though, with Maureece Rice sitting at over 2,600 points.

JARELL EDDIE:

Jarell Eddie saw his career at Cannon School near Charlotte end in the second round of the NCISAA State Tournament.  Eddie finished the season averaging 22.5 ppg.  At one point in the season, he had a streak of nine straight games of 20 or more points.  By my calculations, Jarell came close to 3,000 career points (he passed 2,000 last year), but I believe he came up short.

Jarell will join the Hokies next season.

C.J. BARKSDALE:

The GW Eagles season ended well short of expectations.  The Danville school was #1 in the Virginia State AAA (top level) rankings earlier in the year, but lost in their first Northwest Region Playoff game to Stafford.  GW also lost in the district finals.

C.J. Barksdale averaged 15.0 ppg on the season and had at least 12 double-doubles from the boxscores I could find in 21 games.

C.J. is a verbal commit for the 2011 class.  You have to be excited about the inside presence he will bring to VT in two years.

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I have updated the pages for both Virginia Tech 2010 signees (Jarell Eddie and Tyrone Garland) and 2011 verbal commit, C.J. Barksdale of GW-Danville in Virginia to show their game stats to date.  Click on the names below to see their page and full season data.

Jarell Eddie:

• Jarell was nominated for the 2010 McDonald’s All-American games recently, one of 32 players in NC chosen.
• He’s averaging 22.3 ppg through 27 games.
• Eddie scored 20+ points in 9 straight games before the streak was snapped a week ago.  Of course, he responded with 21 the next game.
• Jarell started the season with 33 points and 10 rebounds on back-to-back nights to win MVP honors of the Cannon Classic in mid-November.
• He has at least 12 double-doubles this year.

Tyrone Garland:

• Tyrone recently became just the 5th player in Philadelphia public school history to eclipse the 2,000 point mark – Wilt Chamberlain and Gerald Henderson are also on that list.
• Garland is averaging 24.6 ppg in the 20 games I have stats for (I’m missing 2 games).
• Garland has surpassed the 30 point mark 4 times, including scoring 39 and 32 on back-to-back nights in early January.
• His best game was his 43 point effort in mid-January.  He missed 11 FTs in that game so he could have easily hit 50.
• Tyrone was also nominated for the 2010 McDonald’s All-American games recently, one of 31 players in PA chosen.

C.J. Barksdale:

• Barksdale is barking his way to 15.5 ppg on the season through 20 games.  Team qualified for VA Regionals starting next week.  Eagles lost Western Valley District Finals.
• C.J. has 12 double-doubles by my count, including a game he had 23 points and 10 blocks in.
• Best game of the year came back in December when he had 20 points, 22 rebounds, and 8 blocks in a win over Dudley, one of the top teams in NC.

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The pages for 2010 signee Jarell Eddie and 2011 verbal commit C.J. Barksdale have been updated.

Did you know:

• Jarell has surpassed the 20 point mark in 7 consecutive games.  He had 21 in a losing effort against James McAdoo, a 2011 unc commit who is a Top 10 recruit.
• GW has won 3 of 4 since losing 4 straight in early January.  Barksdale had 23 points and 10 blocks against Patrick Henry last week.  The weather has reeked havoc on the GW schedule though, forcing several postponements.

For more, check out their pages (linked above).

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It hasn’t been a great new year for some of the recruits.  2011 Commit C.J. Barksdale and the previously undefeated and his #1 ranked (in Virginia AAA) GW team has lost three in a row to fall to 7-3 and 0-2 in district play.  His scoring average has dropped to 15.5 ppg with just 33 points combined in the last three games, though he did have 18 rebounds and 7 blocks Friday night.  GW is without two starters, including their point guard.

2010 signee Jarell Eddie continues to pour in points at will, averaging 21.8 ppg on the year.  But his Cannon School team has also lost two straight and is 7-9 on the season.  Eddie by my count is around 2,500 points in his high school career and his brother Jason, who is a sophomore, is starting to come into his own, too.

2011 commit Robert Brown‘s East Ridge team is 14-4, but just 3-3 in league play.  The Florida regular season ends much earlier than in Virginia, with district tournaments starting early next month.  Brown had 10 points in a loss to Dr. Phillips last week.

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We’ve added a 2011 Recruiting Class Page which includes links to C.J. Barksdale’s page and Robert Brown’s page.  The page can be found on the top navigation bar under Recruiting > 2011 Recruiting Class.  The personal pages have data about each player, including their stats to date where available.  For instance, did you know:

• C.J. Barksdale is averaging 17.4 ppg through 7 games (including their game Tuesday night).
• C.J. 20 points, 22 rebounds, and 8 blocks as GW-Danville beat Dudley, which is led by unc ’11 verbal commit P.J. Hairston (#25 in the Class of ’11).  Hairston had averaged 38 ppg going into that game but C.J. > P.J. that night.
• Robert Brown scored 27 to help East Ridge beat the #16 team in the nation, Winter Park, which is led by Doc Rivers’ kid Austin.  Rivers is the #8 player in the Class of 2011 and committed to florida.

Also, as was mentioned by many publications including this one, C.J.’s #28 ranking in the Scout.com Class of 2011 would be the highest ranking for any VT recruit under Seth Greenberg and would be the highest since Dell Curry by all accounts (1982 McDonald’s All-American).   Here is a look at the Top 100 ranked recruits VT has gotten under Seth, according to Scout.com and Rivals.com:

• C.J. Barksdale – #28/78 (Scout/Rivals)
• Jeff Allen – #51/77 (Scout/Rivals)
• Marquie Cooke – #57/74 (Rivals/Scout)
• Cadarian Raines – #61 (Scout)
• Jarell Eddie – #63/77 (Rivals/Scout)
• Dorenzo Hudson – #74 (Scout)
• Malcolm Delaney – #83/89 (Scout/Rivals)
• Nigel Munson – #87 (Scout)
• Lewis Witcher – #99 (Rivals)

Keep in mind these rankings are very fluid and C.J.’s and Jarell’s rankings could change a lot, one way or the other, between now and when he arrives at VT.

Here is a link to my ACC Recruiting Breakdown article (2006-10) that I wrote back in early November.  Obviously this is pre-Barksdale, who will help VT once 2011 guys are included in this data.  But other schools have picked up big time recruits, too, such as Harrison Barnes (#1 in the nation) inking with unc for 2010.  You have to think the new practice facility is already paying dividends since two of the top five on the list above (Barksdale and Eddie) are future recruits that knew the facility would be done by their arrival.  Plus, both Robert Brown and Tyrone Garland are fringe Top 150 guys (Brown is #104 on Rivals) that could sneak into the Top 100 with big years.

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Virginia Tech received a huge verbal commitment over the weekend when 6-7 George Washington-Danville junior forward C.J. Barksdale committed to the Hokies. Barksdale is rated a 4-star recruit by both Rivals (#78) and Scout.com (#28), thus making Barksdale the highest rated prep star to pick Virginia Tech since McDonalds All-American Dell Curry in the early 80′s.

He chose the Hokies over offers from alabama, florida, maryland and wake forest. Barksdale can officially sign with the Hokies in November 2010 and joins Florida shooting guard Robert Brown as the second member of the 2011-12 recruiting class. Stay tuned to Techhoops.com for more news on this exciting commitment.

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We finally added a bio page for Virginia Tech signee, Tyrone Garland.  The Philly product led the entire city in scoring last year as a junior with 28.9 ppg and is off to a good start this year.  Garland has had the game high in both Bartram games to date:

• 12/12/09: 24 points in the West Chester SPBP Classic as Bartram lost to Malvern Prep 61-50
• 12/15/09: 25 points as Bartram beat Engineering & Science 66-50

You can follow his numbers all season on his bio page: Tyrone Garland Bio

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Since the Hokies don’t have another game until Saturday, let’s check in on one of the VT signees for next season and see how Jarell Eddie is doing. Jarell Eddie’s Cannon School Cougars (Concord, NC) have struggled out of the gate to a 4-5 start. They have lost to some top notch teams like Mt. Zion and Oak Ridge (not Oak Hill but pretty good).  But steady Eddie has been playing absolutely great as usual.

Here are his stats so far on the season (this has been added to his Profile Page also):

• 12/8 – 26 points and 8 rebounds in a 70-58 loss to Oak Ridge Military Academy
• 12/5 – 19 points in a 102-71 woodshed of Augusta Christian
• 12/4 – 14 points and 10 rebounds as Cannon lost to Greensboro Day 55-49
• 12/2 – 27 points and 14 boards but a 66-60 loss to Queens Grant HS
• 11/21 – 16 points versus the Mt. Zion “National” Team in the 3rd Place Game of the David Currie Classic
• 11/20 – 23 points against host Flora MacDonald Academy in the 2nd Round of the Davie Currie Classic.  nc state commit Luke Cothron had 35 points for FMA.
• 11/19 – 17 points and 16 rebounds (wow!) in a buzzer-beating win (66-64) over Wesleyan Academy
• 11/14 – 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks to win the Cannon Classic over Mt. Zion “High School” Team.  Eddie was named the Tournament MVP.
• 11/13 - 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks as Cannon won 100-72 over Northside Christian in the first round of the Cannon Classic

Pretty darn good start!  In the nine games so far, he has averaged 23.1 points and has recorded at least five double-doubles.

Jarell had already surpassed 2,000 points in his career BEFORE this season, so he will have an encyclopedia-thick body of work by the time he is done in Concord and heads to Blacksburg.

Also of note, he has a brother, Jason, playing at Cannon who is a sophomore.  Will be interesting to see if VT recruits him for 2012.

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Virginia Tech has announced that both 2010 verbal commitments have signed with the Hokies on the first day of the Fall early signing period.  Jarell Eddie is a Top 100 recruit in the Class of 2010 by both Rivals.com and Scout.com.  He is a 6’7″ wing player that could see time at guard and forward.  Jarell is ranked #63 overall by Rivals and #77 by Scout.  He’s the #15 small forward by Rivals.  Tyrone Garland is a big time scoring guard.  Scout has Tyrone as the #26 point guard in this year’s class.

The Hokiesports.com article has some nice insights from Coach Seth Greenberg.

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I decided to take a look at Virginia Tech’s recruiting classes over the last four years (2006-09) along with the verbal commitments for next year (2010) against the rest of the ACC. I chose this timeframe because a) it includes all the players that are currently on ACC rosters (all seniors from last year would have been in the Class of 2005 and weren’t included), b) the ACC had completed expansion by this point, and c) each new team (miami, bc, and VT) had played at least one full season in the league.

I had two main questions I wanted answered:

1. Is Virginia Tech the only school that hasn’t signed a 5-star recruit during this timeframe?
2. How do VT’s classes rank against the rest of the league?

Here are a couple of things to note as you review the results:

• My data includes ALL players signed by a school from 2006-10, even if they left early (no longer on the roster), or in some cases, never made it
• I used Rivals.com and Scout.com for my data
• Both Rivals and Scout rank the top 25 players in the nation in a given class as 5-star
• Guys ranked #26-100 are the 4-star recruits for Rivals.com
• Scout.com has a few more 4-stars than Rivals but also cuts off at around 100

Here are the results split up by Rivals and Scout.

Legend:

• Avg Per Recruit — take the total number of stars for a team’s recruits and divide by the number of recruits (ex.  a 4-star and a 3-star would equal 3.50)
• Average Rank — where a school ranks in terms of average stars per recruit against the other ACC schools
• 5 stars — total number of 5-star recruits the school has signed 2006-10
• 4 stars — total number of 4-star recruits the school has signed 2006-10
• Sum — combined number of 4-star and 5-star recruits by school
• % of 4/5 Stars — take the sum of 4 and 5-star recruits and divide by the total number of recruits; this shows the percentage of recruits that are in the Top 100 of their class
• 4/5 Star Rank — where a school ranks in terms of percentage of 4 or 5-star recruits against the other ACC schools

Rivals.com Data:

Scout.com Data:

Review of Question 1: Is Virginia Tech the only school that hasn’t signed a 5-star recruit (2006-10)?

Obviously the answer is no.  boston college, maryland, and uva also failed to get a 5-star recruit (in either source) in the last four classes and haven’t gotten a verbal from one for next year, either.  And clemson got just one – Milton Jennings, a freshman this year.  But the other seven schools got at least two according to Scout (miami only got one according to Rivals).

It is no surprise that duke and unc have picked up over half a dozen 5-stars, but schools like nc state and georgia tech, who have really struggled in recent years, have picked up multiple 5-stars.  Yes, I realize this is due to the fact they are name programs, but then look at clemson, fsu, and miami.  None of them would be considered basketball schools, and have very little history as programs, but all three have seen a marked improvement in recruiting in the last couple of years.  They have greatly improved their average per recruit in the last few years (and with their verbals this year).  The results have paid off on the court – fsu got a first round bye last year in the ACC Tournament for the first time in years, clemson has received a bye two years in a row, and miami made the NCAA Tournament two years ago.  Virginia Tech was able to translate their success in 2006-07 into very solid class that included Allen, Delaney, Hudson, Thompson, and Bell, but haven’t been able to reproduce that quality of recruit since.

Review of Question 2: How do VT’s classes rank against the rest of the league?

If you take the average of the Rivals and Scout ranking per recruit, they shake out as such:

1. duke (4.39)
2. unc (4.32)
3. georgia tech (3.89)
4. wake (3.74)
5. (tie) fsu (3.74)
6. nc state (3.58)
7. miami (3.42)
8. VT (3.25)
9. (tie) clemson (3.25)
10. uva (3.23)
11. maryland (3.23)
12. bc (3.11)

You can see from this that the Hokies are very much towards the bottom of the league. But you could argue that it is quite an accomplishment that they are on par with (and slightly ahead of) schools like uva and maryland who have been in the ACC for over 50 years, have much larger basketball arenas, and have more history as programs. Even boston college has been more successful on the court than the Hokies over the last 10 years, but are the bottom feeders of the ACC in recruiting. Tech is where you would expect them to be on this list. miami might be a little higher than one would expect, but they also have near perfect weather and are in a big city, which always helps with basketball, unlike college football where schools in big/NFL cities struggle.

Summary:

Head Coach Seth Greenberg has continually gone after recruits that fit his system (hard nosed, defensive basketball). He’s landed gritty three or four-star recruits. Tech has not been able to get a stud five-star guy on his watch. It is hard to say if it is because Seth hasn’t spent much time on them or because they wouldn’t give Virginia Tech the time of day. I doubt it is the former, as I’m sure Coach has selectively gone after big time recruits that we had an ‘in’ with, either due to being local or some other connection.

Now Virginia Tech has a brand new, state-of-the art practice facility. Coach Greenberg calls it our “wow factor”. It will be interesting to see if it pays dividends in Tech’s recruiting classes. The Hokies already have a Top-100 player in this class (Jarell Eddie) and have a fringe Top-100 verbal from the class of 2011 (Robert Brown). But will the Hokies be able to jump up and pick up an elite Top 25, 5-star guy? Or even a Top 50 recruit? Time will tell.

I should also note the old adage: “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Both nc state and georgia tech have been burned by 5-star guys in recent years. The yellow jackets signed two in 2006 and promptly went 8-8 the next season, after which both prize freshmen left for the NBA (Crittenton and Young). And J.J. Hickson bolted Raleigh after “leading” the pack to a 4-12 season in 2007-08. When studs like that come to teams that lack star power, they often are one-and-done and can hurt team development, having to replace someone who was there just a few months. That said, it would still be cool to have an elite talent. Here is hoping we can get a big fish in our pond.

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Seth Greenberg picked up a verbal commitment from 6-4 rising junior Robert Brown, who said last month that he wants to play for the Virginia Tech Hokies. The verbal makes him the first member of Tech’s 2011 recruiting class. Brown plays at East Ridge High School in Clermont, Fla., and has a 4-star ranking by Rivals.com … as a sophomore. The kid has two more years to mature at high school before coming to Blacksburg for his freshman season.

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