Jamal Olasaware '09

[hoya73]

Per the Washington Post's story on the Maryalnd 4A HS championship, JT III attended semis and finals to evaluate Springbrook's Jamal Olasaware, a 6'6' forward who led Springbrook to back to back state championships. He played on a lesser AAU team, Washington Shock, so not high profile had some academic issues, but could be an
under the radar 2009 recruit if the higher profile players don't pan out.

[Air Jordan]

www.reelathletics.net/JOlasewere.html

Looks good to me

[EasyEd]

With a name like that, sign him up.

[idhoya]

He's exactly the type of kid that slips away from the area and winds up at Nova, Pitt or W.Va. Sounds tough, physical grinder at the 2/3 with a motor who's developing. Then comes back and burns you. DeSean Butler, whom Hoyas recruited, turned out to be nice. He's 6'5.

[HoyasAreHungry]

This was posted in the Roscoe thread but Jamal is really the player that stuck out to me in those highlights #32 in white..

is it possible we take him as a walk-on with promise of a scholarship due to earning one or get him some sort of other financial aid?

[idhoya]

or maybe a redshirt or prep/juco.

[idhoya]

Now that I think of it, the time it takes to learn III's system would make a redshirt be the best option if Hoyas pursue. From my sources, the kid really, really, really get after it and is raw with limitless potential. Maybe not ready right away, after a redshirt and a year learning, watchout. The kid is always in attack mode and is relentless. Po is off the charts! Sign 'em up.

[ceb8]

Not sure if this was posted somewhere... voices.washingtonpost.com/recruitinginsider/2009/03/olasewere_will_visit_georgetow.html?wprss=recruitinginsider

[harwoodhoya]

He would be perfect for Mason or GW!

[guru]

So far JTIII hasn't shown much of an affinity for finding diamonds in the rough on the recruiting trail, so given the other schools this kid is considering, it's hard to get too excited about him.

[idhoya]

I just get tired of seeing these types of kids go to other BE schools and come back and bite the Hoyas in the rump! Properly developed this kid could be a nice find.

[sleepy]

Mar 18, 2009 12:53:58 GMT -5 guru said:

So far JTIII hasn't shown much of an affinity for finding diamonds in the rough on the recruiting trail, so given the other schools this kid is considering, it's hard to get too excited about him.

Jonathan Wallace says hello. Idk, he turned out ok I guess.

[SirSaxa]

After watching the video of Walbrook-Springbrook, I came away pretty impressed with Jamal. especially his motor.. boarding, O and D, and his determination. A kid with those personal attributes can have a big positive impact on a team. Hopefully, that's what happens.

I also wonder if JT3 is, perhaps, re-thinking some of his recruiting strategy.
A highly ranked kid like Macklin did not work out.
On the other hand, kids like Omar and Nikita have not produced much yet either.

He needs team guys, hard working guys with great attitude (Pat. Jr, Jeff, Roy, Tyler, Jon).
JT3 did say he was going to re-think EVERYTHING about the team from the top to the bottom and "Get it fixed".
We can be sure that recruiting is a big part of that evaluation.

[guru]

Mar 18, 2009 13:17:28 GMT -5 sleepy said:

Mar 18, 2009 12:53:58 GMT -5 guru said:

So far JTIII hasn't shown much of an affinity for finding diamonds in the rough on the recruiting trail, so given the other schools this kid is considering, it's hard to get too excited about him.

Jonathan Wallace says hello. Idk, he turned out ok I guess.

In response to the hello from JW

Tyler Thornton
Octavius Spann
Marc Egerson
Omar Wattad and
Nikita

are forming a conga line and waving toodles.

I will give you Wallace, though there were extenuating circumstances with the shift from Princeton and even JT3 had no idea what he had in him.

Otherwise, he has simply not had much luck with the under-the-radar guys coming in and contributing much. OTOH, his Mickey D's AAs haven't turned out so great, either, so...yeah. Hard to know which way to go.

[CO_Hoya]

Mar 18, 2009 15:22:17 GMT -5 guru said:

Tyler Thornton
Octavius Spann
Marc Egerson
Omar Wattad and
Nikita

are forming a conga line and waving toodles.

Marc Egerson was 11th nationally in defensive rebounding while shooting 39% from 3FG this year for Delaware. I'd argue that his transfer (for family reasons) turned out to be more damaging long-term than that of Thornton, Spann, Macklin or Rivers.

And it's Josh Thornton and Tyler Crawford, who you've seem to have conflated.

[guru]

Mar 18, 2009 15:56:40 GMT -5 CO_Hoya said:

Mar 18, 2009 15:22:17 GMT -5 guru said:

Tyler Thornton
Octavius Spann
Marc Egerson
Omar Wattad and
Nikita

are forming a conga line and waving toodles.

Marc Egerson was 11th nationally in defensive rebounding while shooting 39% from 3FG this year for Delaware. I'd argue that his transfer (for family reasons) turned out to be more damaging long-term than that of Thornton, Spann, Macklin or Rivers.

And it's Josh Thornton and Tyler Crawford, who you've seem to have conflated.

Yep, you're right. Meand Josh Thornton. Hate to do that to Tyler - loved that kid. You might be right that Egerson is a better player than the others listed, but he didn't manage to contribute much during his time here.

[SFHoya99]

Egerson was a quality player -- a sometime starter and sixth man -- as a first semester sophomore.

[sleepy]

Mar 18, 2009 15:22:17 GMT -5 guru said:

Mar 18, 2009 13:17:28 GMT -5 sleepy said:

Jonathan Wallace says hello. Idk, he turned out ok I guess.

In response to the hello from JW

Tyler Thornton
Octavius Spann
Marc Egerson
Omar Wattad and
Nikita

are forming a conga line and waving toodles.

I will give you Wallace, though there were extenuating circumstances with the shift from Princeton and even JT3 had no idea what he had in him.

Otherwise, he has simply not had much luck with the under-the-radar guys coming in and contributing much. OTOH, his Mickey D's AAs haven't turned out so great, either, so...yeah. Hard to know which way to go.

His mickey D's haven't turned out so great? One, maybe. But one is playing in his first year in the Big East running point and more than held his own, and really started to turn a corner in the middle of the season. The other is a sophomore who has definitly shown potential to be great and can go off for 18 on any night, and is also playing out of position. The other was Big East Rookie of the Year. Idk what exactly great is, to you, but those results are pretty darn good.

Considering Nikita and Wattad are only sophomore its a little early to totally write them off. And then his only real "diamond in the rough" you totally write off by he didn't know what he was getting. Really? Because I do believe Wallace was starting point guard since Day 1, and JTIII had some idea that he would be Big East material when he brought him over from Princeton. Other than that no, he hasn't had a lot of luck with under the radars, but at the same time he wasn't going after them. He was trying to build the program back up, so he was going after the big name recruits. Imo, he has done a pretty good job of both.
Yes, we had one bad year, but according to you all our low profile recruits suck and our high profile ones aren't much better. Not only can JTIII not coach, now he can't even recruit.

[guru]

Where did I say JT3 can't coach? And where did I "write off" Wallace? I acknowledged he was a great find while pointing out that he was a Princeton recruit first.

As for high profile recruits, I would count Summers and Freeman as mild disappointments so far in their GU career. Greg and Chris have been good. Macklin was a disaster.

For the record I think III is a very good coach who had a very bad year and is still figuring out his best recruiting philosophy. So please don't put words in my mouth to suit your argument.

Sleepy? Sheesh. More like Grumpy.

[GIGAFAN99]

Mar 18, 2009 17:48:57 GMT -5 guru said:

Where did I say JT3 can't coach? And where did I "write off" Wallace? I acknowledged he was a great find while pointing out that he was a Princeton recruit first.

As for high profile recruits, I would count Summers and Freeman as mild disappointments so far in their GU career. Greg and Chris have been good. Macklin was a disaster.

For the record I think III is a very good coach who had a very bad year and is still figuring out his best recruiting philosophy. So please don't put words in my mouth to suit your argument.

Sleepy? Sheesh. More like Grumpy.

Agreed. Maybe JTIII ISN'T good at finding diamonds in the rough or at least hasn't shown it. Have we even considered that possibility?

And here's something maybe we should hope he doesn't have to be. Every single top program (I'll say it, GW at Maryland might be the exception) rests its success on accumulating talent. I hope III continues to try and find the right diamonds in diamond piles like the top 50 and All-American lists. A special eye for talent is cool, but it's like saying you're a "good scrambler" in golf. Hit your drive straight and you don't have to worry about it.