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William Harper - 2025 Signee

"We really like your game, young man, and we look forward to recruiting you again in two years after you've put in some work at Mercer or Colgate or somewhere like that. Here's my number, don't lose it before then."
 
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As it stands right now, it appears we have a total of four spots for the 2025 class: Hunt, White, Roche, and Neskovic will be done after this year.

But of course, who knows how the portal will shake out.

I also believe Harper is the first 2025 commit for any A-10 program.
 
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JOC had an article earlier today with quotes from Harper and his coach. Hope he's hard at work chasing down Richardson tonight!

Turner said he did not hesitate to give the Spiders a thumbs-up when a current Gonzaga rising senior, 6-foot-5 Will Harper, considered accepting a scholarship offered by UR and Chris Mooney, who’s in his 20th year as Richmond's coach.

“Coach Mooney and I have known each other for a very, very long time,” Turner, Gonzaga's coach since 2005, said Monday. “He’s a coach that I trust.”
Click to expand...

According to Turner, UR “hit on all of the targets for (Harper) and his family as it pertains to academics, along with athletics. Great level of play, a coach who made it clear that he was a priority and a guy that they really wanted. They made Will feel at home.”
Click to expand...

Harper, who lives in Bowie, Maryland, said Monday that he also seriously considered Harvard, Princeton and Temple. He was sought by George Washington, George Mason and Fordham of the Atlantic 10, and East Tennessee State, too.

“He’s a kid who’s going to do a little bit of everything,” said Turner. “Big-time defender, can score on all three levels. I think his best basketball is truly still ahead of him.”
Click to expand...

Harper said his decision to commit to UR was based on “the love that I was getting from the coaching staff, and they explained to me the potential I had in the program, and they really showed me ways to improve my game throughout their system and showed me how I can be useful in that system.

“Another part of that was how beautiful the campus was, and the facilities, and basically they can put me in that system to help me become the best (version) of myself.”

Harper said he believes his versatility distinguishes him.

“I feel like I’m a person who will do anything to help the team out, whether that’s guarding the best (opponent), knocking down shots, handling the ball, starting the offense,” he said. “I’m really a do-it-all guy.”
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richmond.com

Spiders bringing in 'do-it-all guy,' 6-5 Will Harper, from familiar school

“He’s a kid who’s going to do a little bit of everything. Big-time defender, can score on all three levels. I think his best basketball is truly still ahead of
richmond.com richmond.com
 
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He averaged 9 points, 3 board in his junior year. I'm kind of failing to see what all of the excitement is about. A-10 D-1 recruits should be destroying it stat wise in high school.
 
Agree the DC catholic league is one of the top leagues, but we have seen this both ways - guys coming from top hs programs with modest stats maybe getting too much credit and not translating to this level in the A10 - see Dread for the obvious comparison. BUT, again, 24/7 ranking of 217 overall is impressive, I have said in the past that should be a sweat spot for us - top 200-300 nationally. The dynamics of hs recruiting have changed a lot, and I think both Harper and Richardson are nice pick ups. With our success in the portal I think these signing make a lot of sense, they can develop for a year or two and hope one if not both are nice contributors for us. As much success as we have had with smaller guards, I think our defense can even go up a level with more 6'5 to 6'6 athletic defenders on the perimeter.
 
97spiderfan said:
He averaged 9 points, 3 board in his junior year. I'm kind of failing to see what all of the excitement is about. A-10 D-1 recruits should be destroying it stat wise in high school.
Click to expand...
safe to assume Will would light it up on normal HS teams. he was behind some top 100 talent at Gonzaga.

Gonzaga Guard Derek Dixon #74 in the country: “Virginia, Villanova, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse have been recruiting me hard. Iowa, West Virginia, and Miami have recently offered me. Those are just schools I’m looking at.”

Gonzaga Guard Nyk Lewis ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 player in Washington, D.C. and a top-10 point guard in the nation for the Class of 2025. Along with Oklahoma State, Lewis has taken an official visit to Marquette and head coach Shaka Smart. Lewis also told On3 that he's working on a visit to Seton Hall, along with LSU and Louisville. He also holds offers from conference-rivals Georgetown and Providence.

and Will's brother Blake was a senior this season. he committed to Howard, had an offer from Fordham.

plus they have a top 100 big man in Christian Gurdak who just visited Va Tech.

edit: and a 2025 forward (Alez Touomou) with offers from Maryland, K State, and others).

Gonzaga hs is loaded.
 
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spiderman said:
safe to assume Will would light it up on normal HS teams. he was behind some top 100 talent at Gonzaga.

Gonzaga Guard Derek Dixon #74 in the country: “Virginia, Villanova, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse have been recruiting me hard. Iowa, West Virginia, and Miami have recently offered me. Those are just schools I’m looking at.”

Gonzaga Guard Nyk Lewis ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 player in Washington, D.C. and a top-10 point guard in the nation for the Class of 2025. Along with Oklahoma State, Lewis has taken an official visit to Marquette and head coach Shaka Smart. Lewis also told On3 that he's working on a visit to Seton Hall, along with LSU and Louisville. He also holds offers from conference-rivals Georgetown and Providence.

and Will's brother Blake was a senior this season. he committed to Howard, had an offer from Fordham.

plus they have a top 100 big man in Christian Gurdak who just visited Va Tech.

edit: and a 2025 forward (Alez Touomou) with offers from Maryland, K State, and others).

Gonzaga hs is loaded.
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And you made a similar post when we signed Dread. All of the great players ahead of him. His coach made similar comments about Dread best basketball being head of him too.

I hope our are right, but averaging 9 points per game in high school, should have come with a red flag and concerns. Mooney/Gipe have not shown the same aptitude with recruiting high school players as they have had in the portal.
 
97spiderfan said:
And you made a similar post when we signed Dread. All of the great players ahead of him. His coach made similar comments about Dread best basketball being head of him too.

I hope our are right, but averaging 9 points per game in high school, should have come with a red flag and concerns. Mooney/Gipe have not shown the same aptitude with recruiting high school players as they have had in the portal.
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no idea what I said about Dread, but there are articles about the 4-star backcourt of Nyk Lewis and Derek Dixon at Gonzaga. there's only one ball.

www.zagsblog.com

Gonzaga HS four star backcourt Nyk Lewis, Derek Dixon shine on HoopHall national stage | Zagsblog

By CHARLIE PARENT SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Class […]
www.zagsblog.com
 
As always with guys who might be due for a breakout or maybe not, it’s the question of whether they become D. Gonzalvez or M. Dread. Generally we find out by end of year 1. Even guys on slower timeline than Gonzo (like J. Harper) showed good flashes and talent in year 1. Despite injuries and guys ahead of him I saw some nice moves by Dji in the NIT games that gave me hope after a lost freshman season. But guys that don’t sniff any court time and/or look lost or overmatched by the speed of the game have trouble.

Point being, let’s see how he does his Sr. year and then how ready he is when he gets to UR. Lot of time in play here.
 
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spiderman said:
no idea what I said about Dread, but there are articles about the 4-star backcourt of Nyk Lewis and Derek Dixon at Gonzaga. there's only one ball.

www.zagsblog.com

Gonzaga HS four star backcourt Nyk Lewis, Derek Dixon shine on HoopHall national stage | Zagsblog

By CHARLIE PARENT SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Class […]
www.zagsblog.com
Click to expand...

2021 Recruiting Expectations

Penn already offered, as did Yale. Forgot about Yale. My guess is that will be his pick if an Ivy school is the goal. Definitely looks bleak. 23 can start practicing his Bs for the recruiting report card.
richmond.forums.rivals.com richmond.forums.rivals.com

Can we win without Sherod

Terrible loss for the team and now the question is how does the team react. Sherod won multiple games for us last year. Without him you take out wins against STFU Davidson and GMU. 44% from 3 on 6 attempts per game is hard to replace. I suspect we get better defensively with burton but lose some...
richmond.forums.rivals.com richmond.forums.rivals.com

In case, you and 97 want to continue the HS stats debate… ;)
 
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On the plus side, with the portal being wide open, if a kid is a miss, we usually can move on after just a one year hit. This also helps Mooney, as we used to be stuck with misses for numerous years.
 
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