Done deal. Brayon to GW!!!! Welcome to GW. Great get by JC and staff.

Last edited by GWRising (8/04/2020 11:32 am)

Raise High!! This is a really good pickup. Welcome Brayon and your family to Foggy Bottom! Seems like JC recruiting him the past three years has paid off.

Brayon is great at getting to the hoop (very crafty) and has a high basketball IQ. He varies his pace and has some nice hesitation moves in his arsenal as well. I would say he is a very underrated passer - he did flash the ability at Huntington this past year, but was somewhat splitting duties with AJ Hoggard and played a lot off ball. There is no questioning this guy's talent - he was the starting PG on a nationally ranked team (#5 in the country) that was filled with talent - I mentioned Hoggard who is headed to Michigan State, but Jaemyn Brakefield (Duke), Isaiah Cottrell (West Virginia), and former GW target and future Baylor Bear Zach Loveday were on the roster as well. There were times where Freeman forced the issue a bit (he is definitely not afraid to shoot the ball; that fits JC's scoring point guard mentality), but I get that given he was on a talented team where everyone was trying to showcase their skills. Having watched a few games on YouTube the past few days, I will say that Huntington, while talented, was completely underwhelming at times (I guess it's worth noting that they did play a ton of road games during the season). They were beat several times by teams less talented than them that ran a better offense. I can't say that the Irish really had a system per say - there was a lot of iso and limited passing. I would say in terms of energy, Brayon brought it on a nightly basis more than most on the team, and he showed that he was a good team player, giving his teammates high fives throughout games whether they made a good play or bad play. That definitely fits the "connectedness" that JC is looking for.

Defensively, I think he will be a great fit in the Mayhem system. Brayon has really quick hands and constantly deflects passes, turning many into steals. However, guarding penetration is a bit of a question mark. Like many on the Huntington team, he opted to try to poke the ball from behind when a player got past him. That is definitely a fixable thing - Huntington also played a fast pace so there usually was a guy or two who tried to break the other way with the expectation that the other team would lose the ball or someone like Cottrell would clean up the glass.

Three point shooting is the only real hole in Brayon's game, and he still has another year to fine tune that (in that respect, his former AAU teammate AJ Williams would be a good fit - wish we had a spot open for him as well). He has improved somewhat since he was at O'Connell, but it still remains a work in progress. He definitely thrives closer to the hoop (he did rush some layups) and at the midrange. Weirdly, his game reminds me a bit of Mazzulla, not sure why though. I get why Mojo offered him early on - Brayon's strengths offensively definitely fit the way Mojo's teams played (only 15 teams attempted more shots in the midrange than Mojo's squad in 17-18 - the numbers were similar in 18-19 as well). His mechanics are good, but he has this weird kicking motion (I wonder if that ruins his rhythm some). He is nearly automatic from the free throw line, as you would expect with him being money at the midrange.

I think Brayon can absolutely get some good minutes at the point on day 1, partly because his handle and ball security is fantastic (I don't really remember seeing him ever turning it over in the game footage). Playing top notch HS competition will also help him in his college transition. Getting Brayon to play point will allow James and JNJ to play off the ball some as well, which will be really deadly. Although both can definitely play point, having them play off ball some can really unlock another dimension on this team as they become juniors.
 

Very informative interview. At the 13:08 mark he talks about wanting to bring in Elijah Hawkins from Dematha: http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/elijah-hawkins

A few seconds after that he says "I think we have a commit or a soft commit so I don't want to say his name but he's coming here." 

Any idea on who this could be?

If it's a 2021, doesn't that bring them over the scholarship limit?

Dare I ask...?

Do we finally have a foothold in the DMV area???

A big advantage that this program has going for it right now is the equitable distribution of talent among classes.  When analyzing the Hobbs and Lonergan eras, there was a need to essentially clean house the moment that they could, which was Year 2 for both coaches.  The result was that players like Pops, Mike, Omar, JoeMac, KevLar, Pato and to a lesser extent Kethan were all logging significant minutes as freshmen.  Hobbs followed-up with Elliott, JR and Maureece.  Rice did not play that much his freshman season but that left 5 freshmen and sophomore each playing major minutes.  Similarly, with the Fab 4 (plus Zeke for 2 years, Creek for 1 year, and eventually Tyler for 2 years) playing as much as they did, this made future recruiting a challenge.  Talented players like Yuta Watanabe, Paul Jorgensen and Jordan Roland were subsequently recruited but other than Yuta, it was difficult to find the minutes for these guys.  Then, when eligibility was to expire, the Marfo/Smith/Toto/Bolden class came in together representing another influx of talent.  Had ML stayed on as coach and had that class progressed, a similar recruiting issue would likely arise based on those four playing.

By contrast, after our next season, Maceo's minutes will open up as will Matthew Moyer's minutes.  There will then be a one year gap which is not nearly as detrimental as a two or three year gap.  Assuming Bishop is granted the waiver, you would then have a two year gap between:  JNJ/Battle/Paar/Dean/Lindo//Seymour/Bishop and Freeman/Gapare/alluded to third recruit.  In between, you'll have the incoming freshmen trio of Ball, Brelsford and Brown, plus Bishop should he not be granted a waiver.  Amir Harris becomes anyone's guess as to where to slot.

The point being that we should not have a situation under JC where the same 4 or 5 guys are logging practically all of the minutes for three or four years at a time.  

Thought this may have been Elijah Hawkins given the DeMatha connection to Brayon.  Seems like we're going to be more than OK at the point between Brayon and James Bishop.  Plus, Elijah appears to be blowing up a bit and can end up at a major program.  Seems too easy but I'd keep an eye on Miami where Chris Lykes will be departing.  Larranaga finds another small, lightning quick point guard from the DMV to take his place.

dmvpiranha wrote:

My interpretation was that he said the soft commit was a wing and from the area, so my first thought was Devon Savage. I guess we will find out soon enough, as Savage will be one of three 2021 guys we offered who will be making their commitment tomorrow, the others being Daeshon Shepherd and Brandon Murray. If I had to guess, Shepherd will probably stay closer to home in the Philadelphia area, and Murray is expected to be going to LSU (I don't think we were ever in the running for him).

My understanding as of now is that we will not be getting a commitment from any of the three if that helps clarify things.

GWRising, it more than clarifies things if one of the players Brayon was alluding to (as likely coming to GW) was one of these three players.  Can you at least say whether this was or was not the case? 

Don't get to post recruit score updates much this year, but here you go...

Capitol Hoops@CapitolHoops[/url] Final stats from @I95League @NewWorldAAU 76 @DistrictBC 61 Brayon Freeman 20 Favour Aire 15/9 Elijah Hawkins 15 Cam Tweedy 11 Ryan Cornish 15 Miles Webb 10[url=https://t.co/qNIq3l8tEQ] Legit Sport Stats and The St. James 8:29pm · 15 Aug 2020 · Twitter for iPhone

Last edited by BM (8/15/2020 7:31 pm)