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6/23/2020 5:38 pm  #1


Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

RJ Keene
Year: 2021
Position: SG/SF
Height: 6-7
Hometown: The Woodlands, TX
High School: Concordia Lutheran HS (Tomball, TX)
AAU Team: Houston Hoops (TX)

Offers: Boise State, Grand Canyon, Hawaii, Incarnate Word, Iona, Louisiana, McNeese State, North Texas, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Rice, Wyoming, Yale

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Twitter Account
Verbal Commits

GW Offer Tweet









 

Last edited by dmvpiranha (7/23/2020 1:25 pm)

 

7/05/2020 11:42 am  #2


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

He tweeted “big news coming today” - liked by Nima and Graham our assistant coaches. Chance it’s a commitment to somewhere or maybe the big news is what he’s having for dinner haha

 

7/05/2020 12:25 pm  #3


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

 

7/21/2020 5:04 pm  #4


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Per his Twitter

Committing on Thursday at Noon!👀

 

7/21/2020 5:33 pm  #5


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Signs seem to point to him heading to Boise.

Since we only have one spot open for 2021 (as of now) it will be interesting to see whether we decide to use it on a 2021 guy or pocket it for a future transfer. Given our success on the transfer market this offseason that might not be a bad idea. Of course we still have plenty of time to offer more 2021 guys.

Most of the guys we have actually offered for 2021 have unfortunately blown up during covid. I think Brizzi (one of the biggest risers of the class) and Longino are both headed to Villanova, and van der Heijden is headed to Louisville. Hawkins is cutting his list on 8/1, but he appears high-major bound (Xavier?). Murray reclassed and is planning to do a prep year at IMG, but was just offered by LSU so not looking promising.

It does help that we got Devon Savage on campus for an official I believe before covid hit really hard, so that should work in our favor.
 

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7/22/2020 10:41 am  #6


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

dmv, there is a question, IMO, if we are still recruiting tall wings for 2021 (or even any bigs at all) after the 6'9" Gapare commitment.  We have a bunch of PG offers out for that year as well, so we could be focusing on those guys for the last spot.  Hicks, AJ Williams and (to a lesser extent) Brayon Freeman seem to be in play from the offers we know of.

Of course, any coach would be nuts to turn down a future star, even if we are loaded at his position, but I'm guessing (and the roster seems to agree) that PG would be a high priority for the last spot as he'll be an understudy to Bishop for a year or two before taking over the reigns.

 

7/22/2020 11:19 am  #7


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Am wondering whether two of our incoming 3 freshman B's (Brelsford or Ball)  are natural point guards/will be groomed to play the point, are combo guards who may sparingly play the point, or are really better suited to play off of the ball?

On the one hand, I think JC doesn't mind the notion of (somewhat) positionless basketball, where multiple guys who can handle the ball are on the floor at the same time.  On the other hand, we saw how much more efficient the offense ran last season when Armel took control of the point.  JNJ and Amir each had that responsibility at times but the production was far greater when Armel was running the show.

Thoughts on whether this team would be better off with a definitive floor general as opposed to interchangeable players who can handle the point from possession to possession?

 

7/22/2020 12:19 pm  #8


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Good question BM. I definitely feel like there was a changing of priority after Tafara committed. I think definitely right now in terms of mutual interest, I would say Devon Savage is the highest. He was offered by Byington at JMU (who just came over from Georgia Southern) but otherwise his recruitment has been relatively quiet recently. Loyola Chicago, Charlotte, East Carolina, and others showed interest along the way but none offered for whatever reason (maybe wanted to watch him in person during AAU season). Savage definitely has a pretty good reputation as a shooter and is one of the leaders at Riverdale Baptist. I don't know how good of a shooter Tafara is (I think he is continuing to develop), but we will definitely have to replace Maceo's 80+ made threes somehow (of course, Ball, Brelsford, and Bishop can all take some of that on).

I know Coach Omidvar has been on Brayon Freeman a lot the past month or so. He was another guy who I'm surprised didn't blow up even more, especially after he made the move to a program like Huntington Prep in WV. He would be a steal if we could get him. It seems us and Ole Miss have been in contact a lot, according to this interview. The same guy interviewed Tyler recently for those who haven't seen it.

According to an interview that I think is on his recruiting page on this site, our top priority is Poulakidas, but I didn't get the sense that we were frontrunners from reading it. He mentioned that he wanted to take visits to the other three schools that were mentioned (Minnesota, Butler, and Yale) but not us which didn't strike me as encouraging.

As for Lincoln/Tyler, I definitely got the sense that both are combo guards that can play multiple positions. I have watched several of Tyler's MSJ games the past few weeks (they are available on YouTube, shoutout Dye Sporting Network - you can also see how he fares with James on the floor as well from the previous year's games; I got the sense that James was more of a score first guy than pass but that might have been his designated role at MSJ). Tyler had moments where he brought the ball up, especially late in games, but MSJ often had multiple ball handlers on the floor at once, with Crawley as the PG many times. Tyler is a really good passer and has great vision (sometimes opts to be pass first), especially with his ability to get to the hoop and kick it out or find the roll man (I think MSJ's scheme will be an easier transition to JC's offense because the Gaels deploy a PnR based system). I also have to say that Tyler's growth from his junior year to senior year in terms of playmaking was considerable, he truly took on an alpha role his final year, while in his junior year he tended to defer to James a bit more. I think his senior year experience will give him a chance to play some important minutes off the bench for us, although of course the transition to the college game has to be factored in as well. I only watched Lincoln's game against Seneca Valley, and while the competition was definitely not on the same level as Tyler's at MSJ, he showed the ability to make really good passes in tight windows and was clearly the leader of the team. Both seem to have good mechanics on their shots, and could definitely play some off the ball. I think Tyler in particular could be deadly off the ball with less attention on him than high school (he shot I think 48% from deep during the live session last year).

JNJ's ability to make shots from the outside may also play a role in this. Assuming he will be shifting over to the point next year, it may be beneficial to have Lincoln and Tyler play off the ball and play to their shooting strengths. Next year at least, I would assume JNJ to get the majority of the point minutes, so I think Lincoln and Tyler can definitely handle spot minutes, assuming James is not eligible (which I still expect him to be).

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7/22/2020 1:27 pm  #9


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Tyler reminds me of Ricky Lucas and Jordan Roland.  Same body and similar games in HS.  Both were combo guards with ability to score from the outside and off the dribble and solid defenders.  All-around players, but not specialists.  Both had a bit of a rough time in their first two years here breaking out, transferred, took a year to work on their bodies and game and ended up as stars in their new schools.  I think it would help Tyler tremendously if he takes a redshirt year, but that's a rarity these days.

 

7/23/2020 12:10 pm  #10


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Boise State
DMVprinaha you might have been 100% on the mark with this one
 

 

7/23/2020 1:18 pm  #11


Re: Recruit: RJ Keene, Guard/Forward, 2021 - (Committed to Boise State)

Thanks Florida Colonial! Boise has had some pretty good success in the Mountain West the past few years, and they have a strong fanbase so it's understandable from that standpoint. Keene clearly wanted to leave Texas  - none of the TX schools made his final list!

I think it's encouraging that we made his final list despite offering him pretty late into the process (I think we offered sometime around mid to late June, and he cut his list in early July). Glad we our diversifying our recruiting. I can't really remember us recruiting too many players from Texas, Kennedy Milton who had committed a couple years back to Oral Roberts is the only one that comes to mind right now, but there must be some talent there given the size of the state.

BM, I agree with the opportunity to possibly redshirt one of Ball or Brelsford, although Amir potentially being lost for who knows how long makes that harder to pull off. JC has actually mentioned in recent interviews that red-shirting is something he is willing to consider as another way to "stay older", apart from us landing transfers and selling the fact that they can earn their graduate degree from GW as well.

Last edited by dmvpiranha (7/23/2020 1:23 pm)

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