re: Basketball Recruiting Discussion

An interesting development, when 3* TE Evan Hinson committed to USC this morning for Football, CFM tweeted this out:

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@FrankMartin_SC Retweeted Will Muschamp
Let's say Double BOOM on this #SpursUp!

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Maybe a basketball player as well?

Some big news from 247 regarding recruiting.

The Plan:

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The staff wants an older player, preferably a fifth-year transfer, plus another high school player. The hope is to get a post player and a bigger wing player. The focus right now is on the high school players as the market will be fluid on the transfers. As of right now, there isn’t really a preference on the age at either position.

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Names to keep an eye on (some I've already mentioned previously):

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-- One new name to keep an eye on is four-star center Bruno Fernando (Montverde, Fla./Montverde), who has offers from South Carolina, Alabama, LSU and others. Fernando, a native of Angola, has seen stock has risen dramatically since the summer. From what I understand, Alabama is likely to be the chief competition for Fernando.

Phenom Hoop Report
In-Depth Interview w/ 247

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-- I was able to catch up very briefly with four-star wing Alpha Diallo (Wolfeboro, N.H./Brewster Academy) and he said that South Carolina is one of the schools recruiting him the hardest right now. He doesn’t have a visit set up to see the Gamecocks at this point, but it’s something that he plans on doing.

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-- Another name to keep an eye on is three-star guard Rakym Felder (Brooklyn, N.Y./Lincoln), who has entertained both Evans and assistant coach Matt Figger for different games in January. The Gamecocks have not offered at this point but they are keeping track of him.

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Cartier Diarra out of West Florence committed to Kansas State on Friday

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isn't that odd, and somewhat ironic. I guess it was all about early playing time maybe?

So that's kinda what I was thinking ... like maybe someone off of our staff called the K State staff and said, "hey, there's this kid out here who we're not going to recruit but he may be perfect for you."

He's the first kid out of SC I can ever remember going all the way out to K State.

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Four-star wing Alpha Diallo (Wolfeboro, N.H./Brewster Academy) hosted head coach Frank Martin and assistant coach Lamont Evans on Sunday as he listened to the South Carolina coaches give their pitch. Diallo is certainly a top target for the Gamecocks right now, but he isn’t tipping his hand at all right now. Diallo will not commit to even visiting South Carolina at this point and is going to wait until after his team’s playoffs, which begin this week, to think too much about recruiting.

It will be sometime in April, and probably the middle or late part of the month, before he makes a decision but he’s not going to put any kind of time frame on it. Even though he isn’t commenting about what schools stand out to him and is trying to focus on finishing out his season, Wake Forest coaches have come in to see him. Providence and Kansas are also schools who have been by recently to at least see him play. He has offers from each school listed, plus Indiana, Miami, Texas A&M and several others. Kansas has also shown interest and been by to watch him play, but have not offered.

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2 Commits in as many days.

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Sunrise Christian's 6'9" Malik Kotsar of Wichita, Kansas(originally from Estonia) just committed to play for Frank Martin and the Gamecocks

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Same.

Some scouting reports:

LINK

LINK

Malik Kalev-Kostar comments on commitment:

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“There wasn’t anything specific that they said which made me want to commit, it was more about the grand scheme of things,” Kotsar said. “I felt that I fit to Frank Martin’s game plan very well and I could really see myself playing for the Gamecocks.

"I also liked the hard work that the guys put in. I feel like that’s one of the things to keep me motivated throughout my time in South Carolina. I also really liked that the coaches are ready to give individual workouts at any time.”

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the Colonial Life Arena during the game,” Kotsar said. “I happened to see the game during an off night. The Gamecocks shot just 34 percent from the field. Seeing a bad game from them actually helped me make a decision because I had the chance of seeing how they handled the lows during a game. I saw that they kept on fighting and although they lost against, Georgia they still went down fighting. That truly showed me their spirit and confirmed that all they had said about how they give their all to the game of basketball on the court turned out to be true.”

“I think I can bring some mismatches on the floor,” Kotsar said. “When the defender is bigger than me then I can face him up from the three point line and when the defender is smaller then I can bring the mismatch in the post.”

“There isn’t an element in the game that is perfectly polished for me,” Kotsar said. “But the ones I need to improve most are my shots off the dribble and just my core strength to keep up with the fours and even the fives of Division 1 basketball.”

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Rakym Felder, S/PG out of Brooklyn. His profile and rankings in the OP.

4* Alpha Diallo Update from Jerry Meyer of 247:

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Ranked as a four-star prospect, Diallo is averaging 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season.

Coach Smith had this to say about Diallo:

"He has a very mature game and understands how to play in the midrange. He utilizes screens very well. He also changes speeds well and uses ball fakes and shot fakes."

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He also put in his crystal ball for South Carolina, who holds 4 out of 7 picks made for Diallo.