Jahvon Blair 6'4" Guard 2017 commits to Georgetown

[Hoyas4Ever]

[TC]

Is this a high major player? I've watched the highlights a bunch of times now and the shot isn't exactly pretty, he seems all dominant hand (even though it's a left), couple of nice bounce passes, but the level of play didn't look that high. Only ranking I've seen is he's a 2 star guy.

[Deleted]

He's #15 Canadian prospect in 2017 according to this list - hoopshype.ca/2017_rankings/

Looking at the names above and around him:
A majority of the guys above him are high major commits
A few other schools - Santa Clara, St Joes, Siena, Princeton
The guys on either side of him (14, 16) are Syracuse/Pitt commits

That doesn't mean a ton, but it makes me feel a little more comfortable about the lack of hype/ratings.

[HometownHoya]

Nickname is Juggy, guess we have to pair him up with Jagan "Jiggy" Moseley?

[bostonfan]

For a coach with no official staff yet Coach Ewing sure seems to be getting Georgetown involved in the recruitment of some good players quickly. Having this kid, who was not even on the Georgetown radar two weeks ago to take an official visit to campus is a great sign. When Patrick was hired some people questioned if he would be willing to put in the time required to effectively recruit, it seems those concerns were unfounded. Let's get him a complete staff and I think we are going to be able to put together a solid roster pretty quickly and get the program moving in the right direction.

[95hoya]

Apr 19, 2017 7:11:42 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

For a coach with no official staff yet Coach Ewing sure seems to be getting Georgetown involved in the recruitment of some good players quickly. Having this kid, who was not even on the Georgetown radar two weeks ago to take an official visit to campus is a great sign. When Patrick was hired some people questioned if he would be willing to put in the time required to effectively recruit, it seems those concerns were unfounded. Let's get him a complete staff and I think we are going to be able to put together a solid roster pretty quickly and get the program moving in the right direction.

How does getting on the radar for a 2 star kid squash recruiting concerns? We are likely his best offer by far.

[TC]

Apr 19, 2017 7:11:42 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

For a coach with no official staff yet Coach Ewing sure seems to be getting Georgetown involved in the recruitment of some good players quickly. Having this kid, who was not even on the Georgetown radar two weeks ago to take an official visit to campus is a great sign. When Patrick was hired some people questioned if he would be willing to put in the time required to effectively recruit, it seems those concerns were unfounded. Let's get him a complete staff and I think we are going to be able to put together a solid roster pretty quickly and get the program moving in the right direction.

He's being recruited by Pacific, DePaul, St. Bonaventure, and Monmouth. This is something you want to hang your hat on?

[Cambridge]

Apr 19, 2017 7:26:36 GMT -5 95hoya said:

Apr 19, 2017 7:11:42 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

For a coach with no official staff yet Coach Ewing sure seems to be getting Georgetown involved in the recruitment of some good players quickly. Having this kid, who was not even on the Georgetown radar two weeks ago to take an official visit to campus is a great sign. When Patrick was hired some people questioned if he would be willing to put in the time required to effectively recruit, it seems those concerns were unfounded. Let's get him a complete staff and I think we are going to be able to put together a solid roster pretty quickly and get the program moving in the right direction.

How does getting on the radar for a 2 star kid squash recruiting concerns? We are likely his best offer by far.

Blair is almost certainly underrated by most rankings services as they likely haven't seen him play. Not sure how good he really is, but he looks very promising. At the very least, this recruitment certainly shows Ewing's not giving up on 2017 and is willing to look at somewhat unconventional recruiting markets. Also, CIA Bounce is a very legit program. Regardless of how this turns out, establishing a connection with them could pay dividends down the road.

[Deleted]

Sheesh.

I don't want to put words in Boston's mouth, but it sounds like he's saying Patrick's showing a very quick willingness to recruit -- which is a major question mark of his from people here and around the bball community.

He's already gone to see Tremont, scheduled a visit with JB, and seems to have contacted multiple transfers and '17/'18/'19 recruits.

In two weeks on the job... while trying to piece together a staff... and taking stock of a team that's been falling apart for the last 9 months.

Nobody's saying his recruiting ability shouldn't be questioned -- but this activity should qualify as a positive sign.

[Cambridge]

Apr 19, 2017 8:24:59 GMT -5 TC said:

Apr 19, 2017 7:11:42 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

For a coach with no official staff yet Coach Ewing sure seems to be getting Georgetown involved in the recruitment of some good players quickly. Having this kid, who was not even on the Georgetown radar two weeks ago to take an official visit to campus is a great sign. When Patrick was hired some people questioned if he would be willing to put in the time required to effectively recruit, it seems those concerns were unfounded. Let's get him a complete staff and I think we are going to be able to put together a solid roster pretty quickly and get the program moving in the right direction.

He's being recruited by Pacific, DePaul, St. Bonaventure, and Monmouth. This is something you want to hang your hat on?

Georgia Tech is also recruiting him. Their staff was out visiting with him yesterday.

[bostonfan]

Apr 19, 2017 8:24:59 GMT -5 TC said:

Apr 19, 2017 7:11:42 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

For a coach with no official staff yet Coach Ewing sure seems to be getting Georgetown involved in the recruitment of some good players quickly. Having this kid, who was not even on the Georgetown radar two weeks ago to take an official visit to campus is a great sign. When Patrick was hired some people questioned if he would be willing to put in the time required to effectively recruit, it seems those concerns were unfounded. Let's get him a complete staff and I think we are going to be able to put together a solid roster pretty quickly and get the program moving in the right direction.

He's being recruited by Pacific, DePaul, St. Bonaventure, and Monmouth. This is something you want to hang your hat on?

I don't know anything at all about this specific player, but I am encouraged that Coach Ewing is engaging with players so quickly and seems to be working really hard trying to put together a roster for next years team. What would everyone have him do now, just sit back and not recruit anyone but 5 star players, who at this point in the 2017 recruiting process are not going to come to Georgetown anyways. Maybe he feels this kids game will translate well into the system he wants to play. 

To me it less about this player and more about the activity he is showing on the recruiting trail.

[Cambridge]

After reading this thread I'm even more confused about what direction TC thinks Ewing should take with respect to recruiting. In another thread, TC argued that Ewing shouldn't waste his time competing with the blue bloods for the five star players:

Apr 18, 2017 14:41:00 GMT -5 TC said:

No, I mean always, we're not going to be competitive in getting top 10, maybe even top 25 players, so we should be realistic and shoot down farther. Of the guys you listed, the only one who was a top 10 player was Monroe, and that was coming off the Final Four season. We don't win recruiting wars with Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC for their targets. It's just not going to happen, and if Patrick focuses on recruiting on those guys, I think we'll be worse off than we have the last 8 years. Can we occasionally land a top 20-50 guy, like Wright, or Freeman, or Porter or Tremont Waters? Sure. But focusing in on the Noels, the Christmases, the Stones, the Rabbs - it has screwed us out of so many other opportunities. We need to be a lot more realistic.

Apr 18, 2017 13:37:32 GMT -5 TC said:

Why? We wasted the last decade chasing guys like this, Rabb, Christmas, Noel - none of them ever pan out. It's a trap. Recruit some guys we can get and who'll stay long enough to improve so that we can be good. The Villanova formula isn't to get one-and-doners.

And now, he's suggesting that it's a waste of time to go looking at relatively under recruited markets. Granted Blair might not be anything special. I have no idea. But doesn't this at least show that Ewing is making an effort to recruit outside the box and off the beaten path?

[Filo]

Apr 19, 2017 9:46:13 GMT -5 Cambridge said:

After reading this thread I'm even more confused about what direction TC thinks Ewing should take with respect to recruiting. In another thread, TC argued that Ewing shouldn't waste his time competing with the blue bloods for the five star players:

Apr 18, 2017 14:41:00 GMT -5 TC said:

No, I mean always, we're not going to be competitive in getting top 10, maybe even top 25 players, so we should be realistic and shoot down farther. Of the guys you listed, the only one who was a top 10 player was Monroe, and that was coming off the Final Four season. We don't win recruiting wars with Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC for their targets. It's just not going to happen, and if Patrick focuses on recruiting on those guys, I think we'll be worse off than we have the last 8 years. Can we occasionally land a top 20-50 guy, like Wright, or Freeman, or Porter or Tremont Waters? Sure. But focusing in on the Noels, the Christmases, the Stones, the Rabbs - it has screwed us out of so many other opportunities. We need to be a lot more realistic.

Apr 18, 2017 13:37:32 GMT -5 TC said:

Why? We wasted the last decade chasing guys like this, Rabb, Christmas, Noel - none of them ever pan out. It's a trap. Recruit some guys we can get and who'll stay long enough to improve so that we can be good. The Villanova formula isn't to get one-and-doners.

And now, he's suggesting that it's a waste of time to go looking at relatively under recruited markets. Granted Blair might not be anything special. I have no idea. But doesn't this at least show that Ewing is making an effort to recruit outside the box and off the beaten path?

He has become the new Eagle. Nothing positive to say any more, and almost looks like he wants to see Ewing and the program struggle to vindicate his position that JTIII shouldn't have been fired. Pretty unbearable and nearing ignore territory.

[TC]

Apr 19, 2017 9:31:44 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

Apr 19, 2017 8:24:59 GMT -5 TC said:

He's being recruited by Pacific, DePaul, St. Bonaventure, and Monmouth. This is something you want to hang your hat on?

I don't know anything at all about this specific player, but I am encouraged that Coach Ewing is engaging with players so quickly and seems to be working really hard trying to put together a roster for next years team. What would everyone have him do now, just sit back and not recruit anyone but 5 star players, who at this point in the 2017 recruiting process are not going to come to Georgetown anyways. Maybe he feels this kids game will translate well into the system he wants to play. 

Honestly?

- provided no additional transfers and Peak leaves, there's four open scholarships. Fill three, only fill the the fourth with Tremont if he wants to come. Leave one for the 2018 class and bank on signing a bunch of kids there - you've got more time and your results will likely be better.
- would rather have grad transfers or JUCOs for those slots - if we take a Jahvon Blair, it's for four years. If Tremont signs on, there's the possibility of being good right away, so the JUCOs / grad transfers would probably help more immediately than a Canadian freshman. If Tremont doesn't sign on, we're going to be bad anyway, at least then you have the scholarships to work with in 2019 or 2020. I don't think JUCO/grad transfers are a great move long term, but this spring they make sense.
- no 2 star Class of 2017 kids this Spring - tying up a scholarship on a kid that isn't going to change our fortunes next year and likely is only a body for 2017 and will sit bench 2019-2021 - that's going to hamper things in the future. If you can find a 3 or 4 star kid like Allen, that's a different story.

Again, can anyone give me anything on this particular kid, why he's a win other than no one's heard of him because he's from Canada and therefore he must be a hidden gem? I've watched the videos, maybe he can score, but I'm kind of doubtful on that in high majors, and he doesn't seem like a floor general/pass-first guy. He doesn't look particularly strong, although 6'4" is tall for a guard. Doesn't seem like he dunks in games.

[hoyaboya]

Apr 19, 2017 8:37:27 GMT -5 Cambridge said:

Apr 19, 2017 7:26:36 GMT -5 95hoya said:

How does getting on the radar for a 2 star kid squash recruiting concerns? We are likely his best offer by far.

Blair is almost certainly underrated by most rankings services as they likely haven't seen him play. Not sure how good he really is, but he looks very promising. At the very least, this recruitment certainly shows Ewing's not giving up on 2017 and is willing to look at somewhat unconventional recruiting markets. Also, CIA Bounce is a very legit program. Regardless of how this turns out, establishing a connection with them could pay dividends down the road.

You realize the two bolded statements are completely contradictory, correct? While I agree that "CIA Bounce is a very legit program", it's because of that fact that scouts have actually seen Blair play a ton, and have still rated him a 2-star prospect. You can go through EYBL game logs from last year, where Blair played with ranked teammates including Howard Washington, who is going to Syracuse. He's been on the Canadian national team for his age group for at least 3 years. If you actually read the articles on Blair, you'll find that he's been a well-scouted prospect for some time, just not a highly regarded one.

That said, I have a slightly different take than TC on this recruitment. My take is Ewing knows he's not getting Waters. Therefore, he wants to have a PG in the system, since there really aren't any pure points in the program (thanks JT3 for the positonless guard theories over the last 13 years!). Additionally, I think you can tell by Ewing's actions, which include the recruitment of the transfer Atewe from Washington, that he's pushing a connection to the Canadian basketball powers-that-be, including CIA Bounce, Athlete First Academy, and the Ennis kids' dad. Wouldn't shock me to see us push hard for Simi Editedtu (Rivals #11 overall in the 2018 class) and RJ Barrett (Rivals #1 in the 2019 class) in upcoming classes. As such, taking Blair now, when you know 2017-2018 is likely to be a disaster anyway, isn't a horrible way to develop a pipeline for some big-time players in 2018 and 2019.

[TC]

Apr 19, 2017 11:18:58 GMT -5 hoyaboya said:

That said, I have a slightly different take than TC on this recruitment. My take is Ewing knows he's not getting Waters. Therefore, he wants to have a PG in the system, since there really aren't any pure points in the program (thanks JT3 for the positonless guard theories over the last 13 years!). Additionally, I think you can tell by Ewing's actions, which include the recruitment of the transfer Atewe from Washington, that he's pushing a connection to the Canadian basketball powers-that-be, including CIA Bounce, Athlete First Academy, and the Ennis kids' dad. Wouldn't shock me to see us push hard for Simi Editedtu and RJ Barrett in upcoming classes. As such, taking Blair now, when you know 2017-2018 is likely to be a disaster anyway, isn't a horrible way to develop a pipeline for some big-time players in 2018 and 2019.

I'm pretty sure this kid is a SG, not a point, at least from watching the videos and reading online.

Correction- Jahvon Blair is a SG. He is a scorer, more of someone who can do a lot of things. Kind of like once Pacific recruit and now San Diego signee Joey Calcaterra. That fact that he went after Joey who I have seen play and avg about 29 per game and now Jahvon makes it clear that a major priority for Coach MM is getting a scorer.

He's listed as a pg here but he is a SG primarily

pacifictigerssports.yuku.com/sreply/31209/Jahvon-Blair

[Cambridge]

Apr 19, 2017 11:18:58 GMT -5 hoyaboya said:

Apr 19, 2017 8:37:27 GMT -5 Cambridge said:

Blair is almost certainly underrated by most rankings services as they likely haven't seen him play. Not sure how good he really is, but he looks very promising. At the very least, this recruitment certainly shows Ewing's not giving up on 2017 and is willing to look at somewhat unconventional recruiting markets. Also, CIA Bounce is a very legit program. Regardless of how this turns out, establishing a connection with them could pay dividends down the road.

You realize the two bolded statements are completely contradictory, correct? While I agree that "CIA Bounce is a very legit program", it's because of that fact that scouts have actually seen Blair play a ton, and have still rated him a 2-star prospect. You can go through EYBL game logs from last year, where Blair played with ranked teammates including Howard Washington, who is going to Syracuse. He's been on the Canadian national team for his age group for at least 3 years. If you actually read the articles on Blair, you'll find that he's been a well-scouted prospect for some time, just not a highly regarded one.

That said, I have a slightly different take than TC on this recruitment. My take is Ewing knows he's not getting Waters. Therefore, he wants to have a PG in the system, since there really aren't any pure points in the program (thanks JT3 for the positonless guard theories over the last 13 years!). Additionally, I think you can tell by Ewing's actions, which include the recruitment of the transfer Atewe from Washington, that he's pushing a connection to the Canadian basketball powers-that-be, including CIA Bounce, Athlete First Academy, and the Ennis kids' dad. Wouldn't shock me to see us push hard for Simi Editedtu (Rivals #11 overall in the 2018 class) and RJ Barrett (Rivals #1 in the 2019 class) in upcoming classes. As such, taking Blair now, when you know 2017-2018 is likely to be a disaster anyway, isn't a horrible way to develop a pipeline for some big-time players in 2018 and 2019.

I suppose they are a bit contradictory. I wasn't trying to suggest that they hadn't seen him play at all. I was suggesting that since he wasn't on the usual prep or AAU circuit, they hadn't seen him as much and/or in the same context as other recruits. I don't think he's some five star superstar hidden in the rough, but I think it's entirely possible - and therefore reasonable to do some diligence on the kid - that he may have been overlooked.

[hoyaboya]

Apr 19, 2017 11:32:48 GMT -5 Cambridge said:

Apr 19, 2017 11:18:58 GMT -5 hoyaboya said:

You realize the two bolded statements are completely contradictory, correct? While I agree that "CIA Bounce is a very legit program", it's because of that fact that scouts have actually seen Blair play a ton, and have still rated him a 2-star prospect. You can go through EYBL game logs from last year, where Blair played with ranked teammates including Howard Washington, who is going to Syracuse. He's been on the Canadian national team for his age group for at least 3 years. If you actually read the articles on Blair, you'll find that he's been a well-scouted prospect for some time, just not a highly regarded one.

That said, I have a slightly different take than TC on this recruitment. My take is Ewing knows he's not getting Waters. Therefore, he wants to have a PG in the system, since there really aren't any pure points in the program (thanks JT3 for the positonless guard theories over the last 13 years!). Additionally, I think you can tell by Ewing's actions, which include the recruitment of the transfer Atewe from Washington, that he's pushing a connection to the Canadian basketball powers-that-be, including CIA Bounce, Athlete First Academy, and the Ennis kids' dad. Wouldn't shock me to see us push hard for Simi Editedtu (Rivals #11 overall in the 2018 class) and RJ Barrett (Rivals #1 in the 2019 class) in upcoming classes. As such, taking Blair now, when you know 2017-2018 is likely to be a disaster anyway, isn't a horrible way to develop a pipeline for some big-time players in 2018 and 2019.

I suppose they are a bit contradictory. I wasn't trying to suggest that they hadn't seen him play at all. I was suggesting that since he wasn't on the usual prep or AAU circuit, they hadn't seen him as much and/or in the same context as other recruits. I don't think he's some five star superstar hidden in the rough, but I think it's entirely possible - and therefore reasonable to do some diligence on the kid - that he may have been overlooked.

Understood, but you're still wrong. He's played on the EYBL circuit, in the U.S., against all the top U.S. AAU competition, just like all the other college prospects that are ranked. Unfortunately, Blair apparently wasn't good enough to be regarded as more than a 2-star. He's not some hidden gem that Ewing found out of nowhere.

[Deleted]

Personally don't this kid isn't going to open up a Canadian pipeline. If they wanted to do that, they should hire a CIA bounce couch. That's usually how these thing work.

If that is factoring anywhere in this, it's a flawed strategy imo.. If you think he can help, cool.

[Deleted]

There seems to be some discrepancy with his US ratings (ESPN, Rivals, Scout, etc) and his performance/recognition to date.

- He was the MVP of the Jordan Brand International game in 2014, MVP of the All-Canadian game (McDs equiv.) last year and made the roster for that again this year.
- He's consistently been rated at least one of the top 20 kids in his grade in Canada since 2014, and scored 20+ ppg for a talented squad this year.
- He's ranked #212 on 24/7, around players like Sterling Manley (late blooming big headed to UNC) and above Jamir Moultrie (who many here would have gladly taken earlier when other G prospects passed).

Nobody's predicting NBA here -- but as much as any kid playing in North America can be, he seems to be flying under the radar a bit.


And most importantly -- even if you consider this "taking a flyer", this is the one position where we REALLY need more competition.