John Wall’s coach calls 850 the Buzz(updated Sunday morning)

The reports that John Wall has made a decision to follow Dwon Clifton to Baylor may be premature. On Dave Glenn’s afternoon talk show currently being hosted by Bomani Jones, Word of God coach Levi Beckwith called in to set a few things straight. This is definitely worth listening too as he talks about the Clifton’s, his background, his role in the process and what he considers the most important factor in this decision – who is going to be John’s head coach during his time in college.

Original writeup from Friday

The John Wall recruiting saga appears close to ending. In this case, the rumors circulating that the nation’s number one prospect was likely to end up at a school willing to hire one of his AAU coaches, Dwon Clifton, appear to have a lot of truth behind them:

Wall’s travel team coach – Dwon Clifton of D-One Sports – will officially be named Director of Player Development at Baylor University on Friday, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

Wall is a 6-foot-4, 184-pound point guard out of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God Christian Academy. He is expected to announce his college decision early next week according to Brian Clifton, the director of D-One Sports and Dwon Clifton’s older brother.

Naturally, Wall is expected to follow his travel team coach to Baylor..

Baylor apparently was not the only school pursuing Clifton as a coach. According to a source close to the situation, Dwon Clifton was offered coaching positions by other Big 12 schools as well as schools in the Big East and SEC.

Why Baylor?

Apparently the connection to Clifton/Wall was Baylor assistant coach Matt Driscoll who was on the Clemson staff when Dwon Clifton played at the University of Clemson. Dwon grew up in High Point, NC and he was recruited by NC State’s former coach Herb Sendek. In the end, Sendek did not offer him a scholarship. After a couple of years at Clemson, Dwon transfered to UNC-G and only had a marginal impact at either program.

In other recruiting news, Scott Wood has been making a lot of noise recently with his play on the AAU scene. He has had two games of 35+ points in the past few days and has reportedly been lights out from behind the arc leading his teams to upsets. Here are some comments from Bob Gibbons:

Bracket play began Tuesday at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex for the teams still in the playoffs of the AAU Junior Boys’ National Championship Tournament, and there were some shockers. The biggest surprise was the SYF Players (Ind.) upsetting one of the tournament favorites, Houston Hoops, 94-82. N.C. State commitment 6-foot-5 second guard Scott Wood (Marion, Ind.) put on an amazing shooting performance, hitting six of eight 3-point point attempts and 15-of-16 free throws for a tournament-high 39 points, to lead SYF to the win. 6-9 C Keith Gallon (Houston, Texas) had a good game for Houston Hoops with 20 points and 14 rebounds. N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe has to be feeling great right now, getting recent commitments from top-rated players Lorenzo Brown and Richard Howell, and then seeing Wood, his earliest 2009 recruit, shoot the lights out here.

With recent 2009 commitments from top 30 combo guard Lorenzo Brown and top 75(moving higher?) combo forward Richard Howell, the play of Wood should not go unnoticed. Scott’s commitment received mixed reactions from this blog and many NC State fans across the internent. While signing top rated players is always welcome, hopefully the recent play of Wood is a very positive sign in terms of our staff’s ability to identify quality ACC players at early stages.

Basketball Recruiting General

75 Responses to John Wall’s coach calls 850 the Buzz(updated Sunday morning)

  1. packalum44 07/31/2008 at 3:35 PM #

    am i the only one weirded out by this? who would follow your aau coach to college and what college would hire an aau coach just to get some douche 18 year old (John, if you are reading this, i am only assuming you are a douche derived from the fact that you are going to baylor).

  2. SuperStuff 07/31/2008 at 3:42 PM #

    Should be interesting to see if he does follow Dwon Clifton to Baylor, but I’m just way more excited to hear about Scott Wood to be honest.

  3. Daily Update 07/31/2008 at 3:43 PM #

    IMO, Baylor has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Why not offer Clifton a job?

  4. choppack1 07/31/2008 at 3:50 PM #

    I am really beginning to believe in this staff’s ability to identify talent early.

    One thing to note, I believe we were some of the first big timers to offer Mays, Woods, CJ Leslie, Kelly, and Wall. We were early for Harrow too – I can see him trending the same way as Leslie.

    As I said on another thread, the injuries to Thomas and Degand may keep us from realizing just how good this current staff is – and how good their 1st complete class could have been.

    Just a possible dark lining to the cloud here – I am a little worried about Howell – as he’s already had some issues w/ his back. You combine this w/ CJ Williams knee problems last year, w/ Thomas issues, you have to wonder if that snake is going to bite us again.

  5. packalum44 07/31/2008 at 4:03 PM #

    i agree, i believe we have good recruiters. according to rivals, wood is a monte towe recruit. i’ve mentioned before that woods, who is ranked 150, might climb to 4 star status, which would be top 100. hopefully i was being conservative. i think he’s a great find regardless of his ranking. you can watch clips of him on youtube.

    he is tall and can shoot over 2 guards. if we had him last year, we win another 3 games easy. not every player on the court has to be a freak-of-nature athlete. we need him to stretch the defense so L Brown can take his man 1 on 1 to the hole and dunk on his head. sort of the opposite of the defense played against johnson or javi where they look like islands when they stand behind the arc.

  6. SidtheKid 07/31/2008 at 5:38 PM #

    A player will be kicked off a team for accepting a free dinner at a restaurant from a booster, but a team can hire a recruits AAU coach. I’m not saying it was a shady deal, but it can very easily be seen that way. It policies like these by the NCAA which demonstrate how archaic and backwards the NCAA is.

  7. Dr. BadgerPack 07/31/2008 at 6:08 PM #

    ^Well, boosters have no business being around the kids unless it’s meeting at a team function. It’s like the “nothing good happens after midnight” saying. Well, nothing good happens when a kid is out with a booster either. I won’t get into hiring AAU coaches.

    As far as meals, these athletes do not go hungry. Furthermore, student-athletes can receive occasional meals from faculty, some support staff, teaching assistants, athletic department staff, etc. The boosters serve no needed function with the student athlete.

  8. Ismael 07/31/2008 at 6:48 PM #

    maybe Dwon Clifton is the greatest thing since the wheel and sliced bread or multi-variate calculus, but Director of Player Development? Isn’t the whole reason you go to college and then the pros is so that your development progresses? You are being taught by people who have progressively more knowledge about the game and your position in general?

    ok, enough of that, its obvious this is a one-n-done (OND) situation and maybe Wall is just trying to help out his coach make some loot.

  9. SidtheKid 07/31/2008 at 7:25 PM #

    ^^I think I was unclear in original post. I was just trying to say that the NCAA will enforce tick tack rules against the athletes but then allow agents to highjack AAU tournaments and get jobs for AAU coaches. It comes across as random enforcement of rules regarding amateur athletes.

  10. Dr. BadgerPack 07/31/2008 at 7:34 PM #

    sid- Yeah, “archaic and backwards” made that a little unclear, since 1 is legal and the other not currently.

    Personally, I say get rid of the boosters and the cushy positions for “coaches,” or “pseudo-coaches.”

  11. b 07/31/2008 at 7:41 PM #

    Larry Brown hired Danny Manning’s father under similar circumstances. What we in the ACC see as shady, is common practice in the Big 12.

    Wood is looking like a Kyle Korver type. That special bonus in addition to the outside game……he basically never misses a free throw.

    I have been pleased with how all the Lowe recruits play the game, even Javi when you step back and use perspective. It’s the conversion of the Sendekian players that has disappointed me with Coach Lowe.

    These latest commits look like basketball players, not overly flashy but showing some promise. They seem to meet needs as well, scorers on the wing and defensive, rebounding bigs. And a pass first PG in 2010 who shouldn’t have to learn on the fly with a senior PG(Gonzalez) and junior combo guard(Mays) ahead of him.

    Missing on Wall is not a huge letdown, it would have been a boon if he’d come, but things are headed in the right direction even without him.

    You have to question the decision making ability of anyone who would willingly live in Waco anyway.

  12. highstick 07/31/2008 at 8:26 PM #

    Waco? Whacko? I agree. Someone with that type judgement is very questionable.

    I certainly am no expert at the internal workings of the AAU programs, but a few years ago I had a friend with a daughter who decided to be 6’5″ and had a soft touch with a BBall. I watched her grown from an infant, then picking up a BBall in the 5th grade or so and becoming pretty good mainly because she was bigger than everyone else then. Also followed her through high school, summer AAU programs, and eventually to Div I basketball. Watching her, as well as the workings, of the AAU tourneys was an eye-opener for an old school guy like me. It’s no wonder there aren’t any “penalties” at the college level anymore cause it starts when they are very young. I’m sure all I saw was just minor stuff too and can’t imagine what goes on with some of the top male players.

  13. Sweet jumper 07/31/2008 at 9:18 PM #

    I have to wonder if Wall’s academic standing has anything to do with his decision. The SEC and the old SWC always had lower acceptance standards than the ACC–remember Pete Maravich! Just a thought. Might be a combination of academic standing and taking care of AAU coach. I really like our committments, and the recent flurry of good committments made Wall less critical to our program.

  14. Sweet jumper 07/31/2008 at 9:31 PM #

    Sounds like Scott Wood has a sweet jumper!

  15. Dr. BadgerPack 07/31/2008 at 9:33 PM #

    Given our uninventive student section I can already envision the quality Wood chants… shudder…

  16. primacyone 07/31/2008 at 10:11 PM #

    Scott Wood scored another 36 points in his game Thurday.

    Whats impressive about the game Tuesday is he had 16 free throw attempts. Not to often a SG gets 16 free throw attempts. He must have been doing some driving to the basket or else he had someone all over his arse while he knocked down all those three pointers.

    His numbers this summer have just been kick arse considering he still has another year of high school.

  17. packbackr04 08/01/2008 at 8:03 AM #

    We need a lights out shooter/assasin from the 3.

    I read Lo Brown say he had never seen Scott play but he heard he can shoot. Also, Lo Brown said he and Howell are working on getting Favors to Raleigh as well.

  18. newt 08/01/2008 at 8:19 AM #

    You can always use a lights-out shooter on the team. That’s the one player-type where you can really benefit from a not-so-highly-rated player. Those types are not so much “projects” as “specialists.”

  19. happypackdad 08/01/2008 at 8:23 AM #

    Scott had 14 last night in a loss. Didn’t have much help to keep the D honest.

  20. packbackr04 08/01/2008 at 8:23 AM #

    anyone see the photos of Glennon at packpride? hes still a bean pole, but it looks like he has been in the weightroom hard this summer. throw 15 lbs on that frame and you are talking a seriously talented QB that could make some waves in the ACC

  21. Noah 08/01/2008 at 8:25 AM #

    AAU leagues are a Dickensian nightmare of child endentured servitude.

    A few years ago in California, there was a woman who wanted to swim with the seals in the ocean. So she put on a wet suit and went out and was swimming around, having a fine time. Observers said they saw all the seals suddenly disappear — right around the time a great white shark bit the woman in half.

    You do have to question the wisdom of the decision to dress up like bait and swim NOT with the seals, but with sharks. Because where there are seals, there ARE sharks. And the seals have evolved to the point where they can mostly evade sharks. I’m sure the last thing that went through that woman’s head (other than those shark’s teeth) was the thought, “Hey, where’d all the seals go?”

    That story is a pretty good analogy for kids playing in AAU leagues. The shoe companies and the “coaches” are the carnivores. The shoe companies are the sharks. They get the kids used to being a billboard for Nike or addidas or whoever.

    The “coaches” are like remoras or suckerfish that attach themselves to sharks. They get carried along for the ride, get left alone by other predators and feed off the little bits of meat and blood that float away from the big chunks of used-to-be-fish.

  22. Ed89 08/01/2008 at 8:35 AM #

    If we can get Favors, Kelly, or DeWitt, it will be a very nice class!

  23. packbackr04 08/01/2008 at 8:49 AM #

    i want Favors!

  24. happypackdad 08/01/2008 at 9:03 AM #

    Favors & Kelly are top priority IMO. Keep an eye on Dewitt, Sherill & Adams though.

  25. Rick 08/01/2008 at 9:15 AM #

    I just do not understand why a kid would affect his college choice by requiring his AAU coach be hired. It just does not make sense to me.

    Personally I would be embarrassed to be the parasite that Dwon Clifton is.

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