PG Mike Conley (Memphis Grizzlies)

[tsteele316]

the longer this goes, the better off osu is.

3 reasons:

1. if momma wants you close, she usually wins, especially if he waits to commit.
2. the longer this goes, the higher the chance that someone else commits to wake.
3. AAU ball is coming up and Cook will really be in his ear about it.

also, if conley commits to osu, it could pressure lighty to do the same.

the cook verbal could really start a domino effect.

[BB73]

Hopefully the Big-10 having 3 teams in the Elite-8 and two of the Final-4 will lessen his preference for the ACC over the Big-10.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

SCOUT.COM$

4/7/05

Conley will take an official visit along with his teammate, Greg Oden, to Wake Forest on April 22-24.

I still believe we have a better than 50% chance to land Conley, he has visited OSU numerous times.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

According to BN.....OSU is visiting Conley today.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

SCOUTHOOPS.COM

4/8/05

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Top 10 Preseason Traveling Team Poll
By Jeff Goodman, Dave Telep National Recruiting Analyst
Date: Apr 8, 2005

Take a look at Scout.com’s Preseason Top 10 Traveling Team Poll. We’ll wait until after Memorial Day and give you a mid-season update.


</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
TOP 10 TRAVELING TEAM POLL

1) Spiece Indy Heat – They were No. 2 in the land a year ago and they won’t lose a beat. Not with the top-ranked player, Greg Oden, returning along with two other elite rising seniors – point guard Mike Conley (No. 19) and shooting guard Daequan Cook (No. 8). We haven’t even talked about one of the best in 2007 – Eric Gordon (No. 6). All the pieces are in place. Now Spiece just has to get it done.

2) D.C. Assault – When you have a quartet of the elite players in the Class of 2007, you’re going to be tough to beat. Sure, these guys may not be as experienced as some of their opponents, but they have size with 6-9 Michael Beasley (No. 2) and 6-8 Herb Pope (No. 17) – as well as strong guard play in Nolan Smith (No. 7) and Austin Freeman (No. 26).

3) Boo Williams – Ridiculous depth up and down the roster. It starts with elite rising senior Vernon Macklin (No. 5), but Boo also has Maryland-bound floor leader Eric Hayes (No. 68) as well as big-time shooters Stefan Welsh (No. 83) and Scott Reynolds (No. 42) in the backcourt. Add athletic wing L.D. Williams and youngsters like Chris Wright and Kenny Belton and this group can challenge anyone.

4) EBO – It starts with the Lopez twins, Brook (No. 23) and Robin (No. 38), but it doesn’t end with the Stanford-bound big man. Derrick Jasper (No. 53) and Tre’Von Willis, along with Quincy Pondexter and rising juniors Tyrone Shelley and Darshawn McClellan, should make this group one of the most talented in the nation.

5) Playaz Basketball Club – Wayne Ellington (No. 6) and Gerald Henderson (No. 12) will team together once again to form the nucleus of the team and when you add versatile Earl Clark (No. 37) into the mix, it’s a potent threesome. Kraidon Woods (No. 99) has already committed to Villanova and the Playaz boast one of the nation’s elite guys from the Class of 2007 in Corey Stokes (No. 13).

6) Southern Cal All-Stars – James Keefe (No. 22) and Taylor King (No. 9, Class of 2007) have already committed to UCLA and athletic two-sport star Chase Budinger (No. 45) could join them in Westwood. Pat Barrett also has a young, talented point guard in Class of 2008’s Brandon Jennings. Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett will also see major time for the west coast power.

7) Team Texas – Everyone knows about the frontline of Darrell Arthur (No. 4) and Bryan Davis (No. 29), but the boys from the Lone Star State have a pretty good wings in Jermaine Beal and Donald Sloan. The key will be the point guard play with Lionel Booker expected to receive the majority of the minutes.

8) Houston Hoops – Nic Wise will run the show and the Arizona-bound floor leader in coming off a state crown. He’ll be surrounded by plenty of talent, including arguably the best player in the state – rising junior Gary Johnson (No. 18). Damion James (No. 18), Darris Santee and Isaiah Rusher (No. 37, Class of 2007) give the team size while Jai Lucas (No. 48, Class of 2007) and Mike Singletary will also contribute. 9) Athletes First – This outfit doesn’t get all the hype of some of the east and west coast teams, but they have a trio of guys who will make some noise. It starts with 6-3 guard Obi Muonelo (No. 63) and 6-8 forward Keith Clark (No. 27), but don’t be surprised if 6-8 Ekpe Udoh makes plenty of noise. 10) D.C. Blue Devils – When you’ve got one of the top frontcourt guys in the country in Kevin Durant (No. 3) and you add in arguably the best point guard in the nation in Tywon Lawson (No. 17). The Blue Devils have more talent to add to that, but Durant and Lawson could be as potent a 1-2 punch as there is in the country.


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Cornerback6]

With Cook already on board, you have to think that if we landed Conley (regardless of who else we might add to this class), we should end up with a top 15 recruiting class easy.

[wadc45]

If we land Conley and Cook, you could add me to the class and still have a top 10 ranking...

I wonder if Cook will start working on Gordon as well? If we can't get Mayo and Walker because of the NBA, maybe we can get another Spiece baller in Gordon.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

If we land Conley and Cook, you could add me to the class and still have a top 10 ranking...

thats to funny wadc...

[tsteele316]

i wonder if drew lavender is the backup plan if conley opts for wake. not necessarily a bad fallback. however, if conley opts for wake, osu can probably say goodbye to oden (if he doesnt make it to the nba).

[BGriffBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Cornerback6

With Cook already on board, you have to think that if we landed Conley (regardless of who else we might add to this class), we should end up with a top 15 recruiting class easy.

Top 15? If we land Conley, we land Oden. Arguably the #1 class.

[Cornerback6]

I thought Oden was likely to go pro.

If we do land Conley though, still we're top 10-ish with ease. When is the last time that happened for our beloved basketball Bucks? I can't even think...

[BearBuck27]

Originally Posted by wadc45

I wonder if Cook will start working on Gordon as well? If we can't get Mayo and Walker because of the NBA, maybe we can get another Spiece baller in Gordon.

That would be great. But the problem is that they both play SG. Cook could have a tough time getting Gordon to come on board as well since they play the same position unless you move Cook to SF. However, I think Cook is a SG all the way.

[smitty03]

You can never have enough guards, just look at Illinois. They had three players that could of all played shooting guard on the court at the same time, most of the time. I'm sure Matta would be able to adjust an offense to his personnel. I think Matta is trying to stock-pile great basketball players at any position he can get them.

[BGriffBuckeye]

FYI - Chris Paul is declaring for the draft. Now, how does this affect Mike's decision is what I ask? Does it make Wake more attractive, even though he will get there 2 years after Paul leaves? They could find another PG next year that could break out. I don't know for sure, but these doesn't exactly strengthen our chances with him IMO. I really hope I am wrong though.

[Buckeye Nut]

I don't think it makes much difference one way or the other because Conley won't be coming in for two more years. If Conley is actually factoring in that then he had to have figured Paul would've left after his junior year anyway, so either way he would've left before Conley would be there. I really don't think this is going to make one bit of difference in his decision.