[Sly Fox]

Here's a rather well-regarded wing we are in the mix for as well:


Paul Guede
6' 5" 195 lb Small Forward
Sanford (NC) Grace Christian
Native of England

3-Star Prospect According to Rivals
2-Star Prospect According to Scout

Scout Profile

Here are his choices that have offered:

Texas A&M (Visited March 1st)
Washington St
Chattanooga
East Carolina
Nevada
UNC-Greensboro
UNC-Wilmington
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Liberty
Virginia Tech



He's been to Lynchburg with his church's youth group and it was chroni cled in the Washington Post, believe it or not in a story about Scaremare:

Paul Guede, 17, a British exchange student living with (Sanford NC Youth Minister Sylvia) Dickens, said Scaremare was worth the two-hour drive, four-hour wait and $7 admission. "It gets its point across. It tells you what hell is like."

[BJWilliams]

Itd be nice to get another player from Sanford (Doug Stewart is from there I believe)

[jmdickens]

Paul has lived with my family for three years. I am a current Liberty student, and have given Paul a tour three times. He is a unbelievable talent. He has strong ties with about 4 other Liberty students. It would be nice if we could land him. But, remember the same high school produced Doug Stewart

[PAmedic]

1 burlap sack, 1 rope, drag him to the mountain, float a pen and the signing papers in there and don't let him out until he signs. Easy enough.

Seriously, it sounds like we have a great "in" with this young man, be great to add him to the team. Can he shoot?

[jmdickens]

Paul loves Liberty. He is a devout christian, and the high school he attends puts a strong emphasis on academics. Paul wants to play the best...I do know his visit to A&M wasn't good, altough A&M beat Texas at the buzzer.

[PAmedic]

thats great news- don't want to be overly optimistic but it sounds like he'd be a great fit!

[jmdickens]

He comes up this weekend...it's CFAW. He doesn't want to be bothered by the coaches, so he can spend time with some of his friends. My younger bro is bringing him up. Talent wise...he would be the best playmaker on the team. He average 24pts, 9rbs, 8ast...He dunks on people too. He has great court vision as well....He is only a three star because he went to the ABCD camp just this past summer..


he is really a 1 or 2. He honestly would be 2nd only to Larry on this team..

[TallyW]

Someone tell SJ that a recruit for Texas A&M is said to be favoring Liberty and that he's a devout Christian to boot.

Regardless if we get him it just shows me that we should be able to recruit some of these guys. Once we get one or two we can use them to go after more.

[jmdickens]

We should get the best christian atheletes....people don't know this, but one time Doug Stewart was being recruited by UNC.

[Sly Fox]

Wow ... when I posted the excerpt from the Washington Post I didn't expect it to strike a chord with someone on the site. Thanks for sharing with us. Be sure to keep us posted on whatever decision he makes.

That's interesting about his trip to College Station. The Aggie sites were claiming they had flown up Paul's list based on a great trip. Poor Aggies (That's for my pastor friend up in SE PA).

[jmdickens]

i talked to Paul today. He has not made up his mind. That list has left off Vtech. I know they are on his top 3 list. I know Liberty liked Paul so much they planned on kicking some of the scrubs (last 5 guys on Liberty's bench) to make room for someone else that is turning into a package deal. He really does love this school, but the Big South conference is the ultimate decision. He doesn't like Dunton that much because he wants to get better and Dunton does not improve players...ex. Doug Stewart, big time prospect, smart basketball iq, and tons of potential. When he got here, he got worse, and he probably wont even play next season.

[PAmedic]

He doesn't like Dunton that much because he wants to get better and Dunton does not improve players...ex. Doug Stewart, big time prospect, smart basketball iq, and tons of potential. When he got here, he got worse, and he probably wont even play next season.

ouch

[Sly Fox]

I believe Larry Blair shows that you can't make a blanket statement about player development. He has improved dramatically each of the past few seasons. Doug's progress has been frustrating but he was still a key contributor this past season. Due to other losses to the roster, Doug was forced to play out of his natural position for th egood fo the team. For that we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Hopefully Paul weighs all of his options and does what is best for him in the long run. But we can't help but hope he chooses LU for our own selfish reasons.

[jmdickens]

I have known Doug since we were in grade school. Once he stepped onto this campus he lost his will to get better. Larry Blair has gotten better because he goes to places like Dominican Republic and plays. Also, that is out of his own desire...ask one of the players if Dunton pushes them. Larry is awesome, but his progression has nothing to do with Dunton. Paul will probably choose the school he feels he will get better. That is Dunton's problem. The players should be his number one priority, not just trying to win. look at the last 5 guys on the bench, go to LaHaye and there are 40 players better than them.

[PastorZack]

Trust me, Billy slow played Paul. I have to admit, College Station is alot like Lynchburg. If you don't like it the 1st time, you'll never like it. I don't understand how LU can not attract the Christian players to our school....For the life of me, would you rather be a towel waving bench mongrel at VT or start for at least 3 years and probably get into the tourney? I do believe that this is a coaching/recruiting issue. I believe we as alumni in churches can be better recruiters than some of our dearly departed coaching staff.

[Sly Fox]

I know this is hijacking this thread ...

PastorZack -Have you heard the rumors of Billy Clyde being a target at NC State?

[PastorZack]

i heard it awhile back...but they really want either Rick Barnes or GT's coach. I have seen that LSU's head man is looking around because he's only making 750k. BG would be better served by staying at TAMU then by leaving. the board of regents just approved another raise, another practice facility and additions to Reed Arena. So I doubt Billy will look the gift horse in the mouth. but, Rick on the other hand. I would hate coaching at NC State. Youre at best the third option for every instate kid.

[Hold My Own]

i talked to Paul today. He has not made up his mind. That list has left off Vtech. I know they are on his top 3 list. I know Liberty liked Paul so much they planned on kicking some of the scrubs (last 5 guys on Liberty's bench) to make room for someone else that is turning into a package deal. He really does love this school, but the Big South conference is the ultimate decision. He doesn't like Dunton that much because he wants to get better and Dunton does not improve players...ex. Doug Stewart, big time prospect, smart basketball iq, and tons of potential. When he got here, he got worse, and he probably wont even play next season.

If he truly is interested dont let your last statement scare you...that's just not a good statement to make b/c Doug's a different story....for every 1 player you PM me I'll PM you 5 with their cell #'s so you can hear it right from them, not me....that's the truth

[jmdickens]

Stick to the post on Paul Guede......listen I want what is best for the players. They're not being developed into better basketball players.

[Hold My Own]

it's just a statement for you to accept and hear what thier opinions are from guys on the inside not the outside looking in

[Sly Fox]

I would present Anthony Smith as an example of someone who developed considerably over the past season. But since you are close to Doug I have a feeling your opinions are fairly well defined and that's perfectly reasonable. I'm not in favor of an uncontested herd mentality. But I believe your premise may be somewhat skewed.

(Sorry for the hijacking .... its a Texas thing)

[LUconn]

Louvon Sneed
Leo Lightbourne
Jason Sarchet

3 players off the top of my head that were exponentially better by their senior year.

[Guest]

Dunton greatly improved the Hankinson Holdovers.

[jmdickens]

Louvon played one year at LU.....could have gotten better
Leo Lightbourne was JuCo.....played behind Gabe Martin, Sneed, and Sarchet......was a scrapper player. No real offensive threat, and was the only option last season..
Sarchet....was good at Drake before coming to LU. I really liked him.
Anthony Smith, a freshman was good from the beginning....what improved about Smith??

[LUconn]

What? Sneed played 1 year under Duton. I believe he suited up 3 total. Leo was not good his Jr year. The guy was a pogo stick but that's all he had going for him until conference play of his senior season he had a complete turnaround. You are right about him being stuck behind Gabe though. Nobody would have gotten PT over him. I was a Sarchet fan as well but his play frustrated me to no end under Hankinson. Maybe it was a case of Mel destroying his early years but it could have been Dunton's coaching staff working with him. I guess only a few could know that but I tend to think the way our big men have developed the last few years it was the latter. (there was no big man development this past season though). Anthony Smith was good when he got here so I guess you can just chalk up his improvement to the freshman learning curve.

But seriously, who has Seth Greenburg developed? Danny Gathings? Bottom feeder of the Big East, found success in the ACC (I believe just because the conference wasn't familiar with them or Miami), and soon to be bottom feeder of the ACC.