[LUconn]

Chris Lang breaking news on us?

http://www.mynewsadvance.com/index.php/ ... jury_news/

—The men’s basketball program added a late recruit and has lost one of its players from the class signed in the spring. Asaad Woods, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound wing from Mesa Mountain View High School in suburban Phoenix (the alma mater of Baltimore Ravens tight end Todd Heap) signed a national letter of intent with Liberty Saturday morning.

The website ArizonaPreps.com called Woods one of “the top unsigned prospects this offseason,“ and the site lauded Liberty assistant coach Brian Joyce for his recruitment of Woods. Woods was also looking at Longwood.

The Arizona Republic named Woods an honorable mention player on its Class 5A (largest schools) all-state team. Woods’ team went 25-6 and advanced to the semifinals of the 5A-I tournament (4A and 5A in Arizona are split into two divisions.)

He averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds per game as a senior.

[Sly Fox]

Wonder if he is any relation to the tall dude who hooped for Arizona & Wake?

[jcmanson]

I wouldn’t expect much of anything out of this kid. To be able to pick up a commitment from someone on August 21 can’t mean much for him. Plus it was apparently between us and Longwood. If he ever makes our regular rotation I’d be surprised.

[TDDance234]

I wouldn’t expect much of anything out of this kid. To be able to pick up a commitment from someone on August 21 can’t mean much for him. Plus it was apparently between us and Longwood. If he ever makes our regular rotation I’d be surprised.

Reminds me of a slightly taller Bill Weaver.

[olldflame]

I have no idea whether he will have a career at LU. Recruiting is such an inexact science that "blue-chippers" can flop and overlooked players can blossom and star.

I do know that having this kid instead of Johnson makes us even younger, and that's probably not a good thing.

[kingaling42]

I wouldn’t expect much of anything out of this kid. To be able to pick up a commitment from someone on August 21 can’t mean much for him. Plus it was apparently between us and Longwood. If he ever makes our regular rotation I’d be surprised.

I think that recruiting can always be hard to read into future success... for instance Western Carolina picked a recruit only after a scholarship became available when a kid decommitted a few years back.. they ended up scrambling and settling for a very skinny 6'7"- 170lb kid that no one had heard of from Zanesville, Ohio- the kid had no college scholarship offers at the D-1 or D-2 levels but his mother kept sending out tapes to programs after he graduated HS.. WCU signed him in August after a brief individual workout & tape review.. a few years later he was drafted in the 1st Round of the NBA Draft by the Sacremento Kings after leading the NCAA in scoring... this kid's name is Kevin Martin, perhaps you've heard of him, perhaps not...

Now I don't know if this Woods kid can even shoot a basketball & I'm not saying he's the next big deal- but it seems you never know in this crazy world of sports how things may end up.. with all the hyping up of folks you LU guys have done over the years with various kids- maybe this one deserves some support too; even if he was signed in August with few looks from other programs..

[LUnpretty11]

Wonder if he is any relation to the dude who plays golf and many know as Tiger?

FIFY

[jcmanson]

For every Kevin Martin I can name a hundred Asaad Woods. Or Bill Weavers. Or Johnny Stephenes. Etc. etc. etc.

[BJWilliams]

You cant just assume the kid is gonna be a bust before youve even had a chance to see him play. I am not saying he is going to be one of the all-time conference greats because I dont know that since he hasnt played a game. Of course in the same vein I cant say he is going to be a total and complete failure for the exact same reason. So its not fair to say he is going to not be a contributor before he has even hit the court in a college game. Did we know Seth Curry was going to set the world on fire and just about put Liberty on the map before he even took one shot at the college level? No...now once he did actually start playing he showed himself to be a major contributor but until that happened he was an unknown quantity.

[olldflame]

Layer had a choice of signing Asaad or holding the scholarship to use in 11. I'm guessing he thinks the kid has something to contribute.

[jcmanson]

Did we know Seth Curry was going to set the world on fire and just about put Liberty on the map before he even took one shot at the college level?

yes

[jcmanson]

Layer had a choice of signing Asaad or holding the scholarship to use in 11. I'm guessing he thinks the kid has something to contribute.

I agree, it's better than sitting on the scholly. Hopefully the kid works out

[Kolzilla41]

Layer had a choice of signing Asaad or holding the scholarship to use in 11. I'm guessing he thinks the kid has something to contribute.

I agree, it's better than sitting on the scholly. Hopefully the kid works out

Worse case scenario he sits on the bench.

[flamesbball84]

I wouldn’t expect much of anything out of this kid. To be able to pick up a commitment from someone on August 21 can’t mean much for him. Plus it was apparently between us and Longwood. If he ever makes our regular rotation I’d be surprised.

I think that recruiting can always be hard to read into future success... for instance Western Carolina picked a recruit only after a scholarship became available when a kid decommitted a few years back.. they ended up scrambling and settling for a very skinny 6'7"- 170lb kid that no one had heard of from Zanesville, Ohio- the kid had no college scholarship offers at the D-1 or D-2 levels but his mother kept sending out tapes to programs after he graduated HS.. WCU signed him in August after a brief individual workout & tape review.. a few years later he was drafted in the 1st Round of the NBA Draft by the Sacremento Kings after leading the NCAA in scoring... this kid's name is Kevin Martin, perhaps you've heard of him, perhaps not...

Now I don't know if this Woods kid can even shoot a basketball & I'm not saying he's the next big deal- but it seems you never know in this crazy world of sports how things may end up.. with all the hyping up of folks you LU guys have done over the years with various kids- maybe this one deserves some support too; even if he was signed in August with few looks from other programs..

Excellent point. Kevin Martin can't play any D or stay healthy, but on the offensive end he is one mighty talented player.

[JK37]

it's better than sitting on the scholly.

Not necessarily. Unless Layer accepts the "Cut-'em-if-they-can't-cut-it" philosophy, long-term, the scholarship could be a bust. Its a common philosophy early on at a school, but it's harder to defend such decisions the longer you're with a program because it calls into question your own evaluation abilities.

The other side is he tells the kid up-front that he's got 2 years for a chance, and if he can't cut it, Layer helps him find a nice D-II. That's the likely scenario here.

[jenkins]

I disagree, I think it is better sitting on the scholarship. Recruiting is all about a plan and when a piece of that plan falls through I dont think you scramble out and take the leftovers, especially if it's between us and Longwood for this guy. There's always that small chance you find a diamond in the rough but there's thousands of instances where that's not the case. I like holding onto it and identifying a player of need and going through the whole process rather than rushing into somethign to fill a spot at the last moment. I had really liked what Layer had been doing up until this move, time well tell like always. I just dont' like being rushed into something up against a deadline.

[JK37]

I think it is better sitting on the scholarship.

Oh, I absolutely agree. I'm just trying to offer a possibility or two of the staff's perspective.

Recruiting is all about a plan.

You have no idea just how right you are!

[olldflame]

I think it is better sitting on the scholarship.

Oh, I absolutely agree. I'm just trying to offer a possibility or two of the staff's perspective.

Recruiting is all about a plan.

You have no idea just how right you are!

Signing just anyone so you have a full complement of scholarship players is indeed a bad idea.

I think I can say with confidence that Dale Layer has "a plan". I'm also sure he gave serious consideration to sitting on the schollie. The fact that he decided to sign Asaad instead makes me think we may have a sleeper.

[Chris Lang]

And as much as you guys don't want to admit it, some players have come through Longwood. You think Dana Smith couldn't have been a very good Big South player? Just because he was down to Liberty and Longwood (Furman was in the mix earlier, too) doesn't mean he's a trash player.

[Sly Fox]

Jerome Kersey is not walking through that door.

[jenkins]

I mean clearly sometimes there are players that slip through the cracks. I think in sports you play the percentages and the percentages aren't good. Maybe he turns into a serviceable player, i personally like the idea having one open to recruit a more highly rated player. Plus it seems to me that we have an abundance of guards anyway and that we still need to find some bigs somwhere. Carter and JVP are each kinda underweight and Burrus doesn't quite have the height. I dunno, that's just my thoughts.

[olldflame]

He's a swing player. Once again, I need to point out that we are not overstocked with guards. Don't let the letters next to the names on the roster fool you. John Brown and David Minaya aren't going to play in the backcourt, and I'm not sure Jeremy will play there much either. He played mostly at the 3 last year.

We have already added a lot of size this year with JVP, Sommy and Baird, and have more height than we have had in a long time. The breakdown of scholarship players is 4 true guards, 5 bigs and 4 swing players. Pretty good balance IMHO.

[jcmanson]

Update: Asaad Woods ended up at D2 Limestone. He's averaging 12.2 points, 5.8 boards, and 2.5 assists this season.

Last season he averaged 12.3 points and 3.9 boards for Mesa Community College.