It’s a streak, baby!
Joe Rexrode is reporting that junior big man Derrick Nix of Detroit Pershing has verbally committed to MSU. And at 6’9″, 275 pounds, he’s definitely a BIG man. Scout.com has him as a three-star prospect, for whatever that’s worth. The Free Press says he played very well this past weekend with his AAU team, The Family, in a tournament in Pittsburgh. Rexrode reports the following:
I haven’t seen Nix play, but from what I understand he’s extremely strong around the basket, a true center, and he needs to keep improving his lateral movement. I haven’t seen him in the 2009 rankings, but Hosey said Pitt, Ohio State and others are starting to show interest, and this is the time that juniors really start establishing their rankings on the AAU circuit.
He also speculates this commitment could give Izzo a leg up on Keith Appling, a sophomore guard who plays with Nix at Pershing.
Nix joins fellow big guy Garrick Sherman (also a three-star guy according to scout.com) in MSU’s 2009 class. Here’s how the roster looks over the next several years as of the moment, starting with this past season as the base:
Notes/observations:
- I’ve broken the players out into three categories. The 2 and 3 spots (wings) tend to be interchangeable in Izzo’s system, as do the 4 and 5 spots (bigs).
- I’ve included preferred walk-on Austin Thornton, as he could be a contributor at some point. He used the 13th scholarship freed by Maurice Joseph’s transfer this past season but will revert to nonscholarship status next year. (The parentheses mean he redshirted this season.)
- This assumes no one goes pro early. Morgan, Lucas, and Roe (not necessarily in that order) would be the most likely candidates to do so.
- It also assumes Dahlman doesn’t redshirt this next season, which is a possibility.
- Izzo could add two more players to the 2009 class. If he fills both spots, though, that leaves only two spots for 2010–and just one if Dahlman redshirts. So it sure seems like there’s only one spot left for a 2009 recruit.
- And I’d say Izzo definitely needs a wing player in the 2009 class. There are no scholarship wing players committed to the program past the 2010-11 season–compared to four big men.
- So does that rule out 6’10” DaShonte Riley–he of the five-star rating but unenthusiastic message board banter–from becoming a Spartan?
I’ve got a version of this table extending back to the beginning of the Izzo era that I am polishing up and will bust out at some point.
It’s crazy how the recruiting of Nix blew up big in a short period of time. After that tournament in Pittsburgh, lots of schools became very interested. Blair personally tried to get him to go to Pitt. Very excited to see these recruits in Green and White.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!
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Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AowS7iEC7Zdi4kmKEwUcKzA5nYcB?slug=ys-bullscoach042208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns):
When reached on Tuesday night, Izzo told Yahoo! Sports that he hadn’t been contacted by the Bulls, but sounded willing to discuss the job with them.
“I’m not counting out any (job openings) because you can’t,” Izzo said. “College or pro.”
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I have always been worried about Izzo to the NBA rumors over the years, but never as much as I am right now. Is this a legitimate concern, or am I overreacting?
I think Carlisle is a good fit for the Bulls, and now I think he’s an even better fit. 🙂
[…] Looking at the projected roster, Izzo had up to four scholarship slots for 2009. Two of those slots are taken by the verbal commitments of big men Garrick Sherman and Derrick Nix. […]