Maybe Chad Baker is a preferred walk on similar to the guy we had a couple of years ago from Puerto Rico.

Well, someone is leaving for sure now.

https://twitter.com/t_boogi1/status/1248729171251036161

Here are some more videos

https://www.thehoophustle.com/news_article/show/1100474

duq81 wrote:

Well, someone is leaving for sure now.

 
As I posted here a few days ago

WashPaRick wrote:

Dukes412 wrote:

DuqLaw wrote:

Was this expected? Seems like a good get. Hope it doesn't effect Dre Harris' decision at all.

Only problem if they get Harris would likely mean they would lose two guys. Hoping Baker is preferred walk on. If not I don’t think Ellis is going to be back.

I'd be surprised if any of these kids are preferred walk ons. I can't think of the last preferred walk on we've had. Maybe Jimmy Sherwood in Ron's first class.

Remember Washington the Puerto Rican kid accused of rape that never played.  He paid his own way, or was going to.  Don't get me wrong I am not saying he is, but it would not be the first time KD used his scholarship magic. 
 

Last edited by CLK (4/10/2020 6:56 pm)

Nick Washington was on academic scholarship before his dismissal from the team. To CLK's point, we did have 14 players seemingly under scholarship in Keith's first year. Five returnees, four new recruits, four transfer-ineligibles and Chas Brown as a grad transfer. To this day, I don't think we know which one was actually a walk-on. Even Verbal Commits listed us as one over the scholarship limit for that year.

Thanks for the heads up CLK, and especially the last set of videos. Up until that point I was very suspicious of his game and wondering how he was even a 3 star recruit. Playing prep and AAU ball in that area should put you up against some high level talent, but the opposition was looking lousy. About the only thing I saw with the first few videos is he could dunk. The last set shows his all-around game. At 6'7" the ability to handle the ball, distribute the ball, knock down the midrange shot, and especially on a Dambrot team defend the perimeter with good footwork and active hands is huge. Looks like a good player to be bringing in; although like everyone else has mentioned I'm worried about what his commitment means for the roster from this year. 

FAM wrote:

Can anyone point me to a site to read about the school he came from?  It isn't the Cushing Academy in Massachusetts.  That is a different school.  I can't find anything about this school in New Jersey.

I was wondering why I grew up in north Jersey and covered high school sports there for a few years had never heard of the school. It's because it is the one in Massachusetts. Check the right side for the roster:
https://www.cushing.org/Team-Detail?fromId=200202&Team=87967&SeasonLabel=2019%20-%202020&siteId=758 This does cause some concern for me though. It appears he has attended three high schools; West Orange High, St. Benedict's, and now Cushing Academy. I obviously don't know much about him, so I'm not going to make any assumptions or say anything bad about him out of ignorance. It could be a red flag though.

From the schools wikipedia page it seems the school has both a nationally competitive soccer and basketball team.
"Saint Benedict's basketball team, coached by Mark Taylor since 2011, consistently ranks as one of the top high-school basketball teams in the United States among USA Today High School Boys' Basketball Super 25[/url].[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Benedict%27s_Preparatory_School#cite_note-10][10][/url][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Benedict%27s_Preparatory_School#cite_note-11][11][/url] and is part of what [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times]The New York Times[/url] calls the "NBA pipeline".[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Benedict%27s_Preparatory_School#cite_note-12][12] In 2013, the basketball team was ranked 5th in ESPN's top 25, losing to Montverde Academy in the ESPN Rise National Championship."

We need a power player.Hopefully Harris is going to sign with us.

BluffHunter wrote:

St. Benedicts prep is a national powerhouse in soccer, but I am less familiar with their basketball program. I know their soccer team plays an extremely competitive schedule. 

St. Benedict's is for real. It's one of the best prep programs around (think of what St. Anthony's used to be). My concern isn't the competition level he would have faced there (I didn't see any video of his time there, only the picture), it's why he left. Going from West Orange to St. Benedict's would have been a great move for a D-1 prospect. To then move onto Cushing Academy is worrisome though. Like I said in the previous post, I only know what I've read in this thread or the linked articles. So I'm not going to say it is a red flag because there could very well be a good reason. It could be a red flag though. You have to wonder why a player (or even just student in general) would attend three different high schools.