[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

TD, Do you know and quizzing us or were you asking?

[ALAFlamesFan]

Seth and Carter were both 87 in the end...

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiti ... %3dcommits

[TDDance234]

TD, Do you know and quizzing us or were you asking?

I was asking.

[TDDance234]

Seth and Carter were both 87 in the end...

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiti ... %3dcommits

Looking at 2011, seeing Canty there at a 90 is impressive. I don't think he'll stay there but didn't realize he was ranked so highly.

[ballah09]

From May to Nov this kid went from at 93 on ESPN to an 87. Did his skills diminish that much or is it just because he signed with us instead of Utah or A&M...lol. What a joke.

Welcome SB! Looking forward to you proving you deserved the 93!

according ESPN he barely got touches because he played on a guard dominated AAU team and of course playing for us is not going to help scout changed him from a PF to SF (reason he dropped) and they didnt bother to revaluate him.


Canty had a great showing this summer.

[Sly Fox]

ESPN had an evaluator at the tourney I attended a month or so ago when he was playing with John Caleb and HCYA. He wasn't in sync that weekend having not practiced much with the other guys. But i am perfectly cool with his rating dropping as long as he suits up in Liberty gear next fall.

[ALAFlamesFan]

I am guessing they are waiting for JC to sign before they put out a press release?

[Cider Jim]

I was doing the math on McKay's LU recruiting classes vs. Coach Layer's, and here is what their ESPN averages are (verbals & LOI):

McKay (5 players) = 65.4 ave. rating
Layer (8 players) = 83.75 ave. rating

[ALAFlamesFan]

I was doing the math on McKay's LU recruiting classes vs. Coach Layer's, and here is what their ESPN averages are (verbals & LOI):

McKay (5 players) = 65.4 ave. rating
Layer (8 players) = 83.75 ave. rating

You can't really average the "40" ratings in there. That just means they didn't evaluate them at all. Jesse was not a 40.

[olldflame]

I am guessing they are waiting for JC to sign before they put out a press release?

I think that's a pretty good guess.

[TDDance234]

I was doing the math on McKay's LU recruiting classes vs. Coach Layer's, and here is what their ESPN averages are (verbals & LOI):

McKay (5 players) = 65.4 ave. rating
Layer (8 players) = 83.75 ave. rating

You can't really average the "40" ratings in there. That just means they didn't evaluate them at all. Jesse was not a 40.

When you start rating the lower-tier players, it's all a crapshoot. Seth Curry and Armon Jones were ranked about the same.

[Cider Jim]

Seth Curry and Armon Jones were ranked about the same.

Seriously???

[ALAFlamesFan]

Sly- Did Stephen go back to play for his old team?

San Antonio Madison welcomes back Stephen Baird as the Mavericks also have eyes on Austin.

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/W0MbYNLTEd ... review.htm

[Sly Fox]

I believe that article was just going off last year's data. His family moved so I am guessing the chances of him still playing for Madison are nearly non-existent. In Texas they are serious about eligibility issues. Stephen told me he'd either commute for hoops with HCYA or find another group in the Alamo City.

[jcmanson]

So where's he playing ball this year?

[Sly Fox]

I have had conflicts come up twice int he past month that have kept me from their games. Since they have no homecourt, they travel everywhere and that includes tourneys all across the region. But they have a couple of games in January that I am hoping to attend.

[jcmanson]

So is he playing with HCYA?

[Cider Jim]

My understanding is that he's on the same Houston home-schooled team as John Caleb Saunders.

[Sly Fox]

He was to start the season, but I haven't seen a box lately to see if he is still willing to commute 3 hours each way to practice & play with HCYA.

They've been at a tourney in Dallas this week and I'll see if I can find some boxes. They only play twice this January in Houston and that's on the 12th & 15th (and the latter my son has a game so I won't be driving across town for HCYA). Since they don't have a homecourt, they travel anyplace regionally that they can line up games when most schools are in district play.

[Purple Haize]

I've seen him listed at 6'7" and 6'9" at either rate only 190?!?!! Someone get this boy to a buffet STAT!

[ballah09]

Madison ex Baird goes from standing out to sitting out
Stephen Baird's current teammates are accountants and IT consultants with bald spots and beer guts.

He was on a Madison High School basketball team last year that was ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation. Next season, he'll be playing Division I basketball.

This was supposed to be his senior season.

Instead, a recreational league at the Jewish Community Center is the closest thing Baird has to competitive basketball.

Baird, 19, would be one of the area's top high school seniors — if he were attending a high school.

He is being home-schooled this year, forgoing his final season of high school eligibility.

“I know it doesn't make sense, but basketball didn't seem right this year,” he said.

“Sometimes, I crave basketball like crazy and ask myself why I'm doing this. But I know it was the right decision.”

Elite athletes often opt for home schooling rather than public school, but in individual sports such as tennis and gymnastics. Not in team sports.

Baird signed with Liberty University, a school in Virginia that last made the NCAA tournament in 2004. Until he goes to school in June, he'll prepare by playing in the weekly rec league and working part time as a basketball referee at middle school games.

“We all get senioritis,” said former Madison teammate Tyler Wood. “I think Stephen got the worst case of it.”

Baird would be a typical teenager with braces, except he's 6-foot-8 and, according to Texashoops.com, he's the area's second-ranked college prospect behind Wagner's Jordan Clarkson.

He said he's viewed basketball as a business, and his goal was to earn a college scholarship.

The only problem with the philosophy is that the game felt like a job.

Baird was burnt out after years of going from high school to AAU basketball. The day before school started in August, his father, Mike, called Madison coach John Valenzuela to tell him Baird withdrew from high school.

“This was Stephen's decision, and we support him,” Mike Baird said. “Sometimes, you have to step away from something so you can enjoy it again.”

Baird currently spends his days working out alone, because everybody else is at school. Aside from two college classes at San Antonio College, he spends “a couple hours a week” on online home-school courses.

When he wanted to get a part-time job, he decided to become a basketball referee. Baird officiates mostly middle school and some junior varsity games.

“A couple of times, the guys I ref with will stare at me,” Baird said. “Then they realize they called a foul on me last season.”

Baird tried to play this season with a home-school team based out of Houston. After one tournament, he decided the constant trips wouldn't be worth it.

Looking for competition, Baird landed on a rec league team when Jed Arnold, his former middle school coach, asked Baird to play on his team.

On a recent Thursday night, Baird faces a team that's sponsored by a local auto shop. Baird's team loses by 18 points, and he's outplayed by Paul Darden, 45, who spends the night defending Baird.

“To be honest, I don't think he was really trying,” Darden said. “If he has a college scholarship, the last thing he wants to do is get hurt in this game.”

Baird said he isn't worried about his conditioning, because players often come back from a year off when they get injured. But those players didn't take a year off voluntarily.

Baird said he thinks it will take two months at Liberty to get into college basketball shape.

“It's a very unique situation,” Liberty coach Dale Layer said. “Most don't do this — save for academics and injuries — but we'll have plenty of time to get him going again.”

What made the decision easier for Baird is that he said he felt as if he was always a home-school student in a public school. Baird, one of eight children in the family, was the first one to attend public school when he spent two years at Madison.

He was a key bench player on Madison's 2008 state tournament team. Last season, he was the Mavericks' second-leading scorer, averaging 11.3 points per game as the Mavs finished 34-2.

“It was a great run,” Baird said. “We had two successful teams and last season was a good ending.”

His fellow seniors and former teammates at Madison don't agree that it was the end. Guard Jamal Johnson said he felt betrayed, and Madison players and coaches still don't understand why he's gone.

“I don't see how it helps,” said John Valenzuela, the Madison coach. “You stay sharper and you stay crisp any time you compete with other opponents. Every day, you either get better or someone else does.”

Baird has attended about five Madison games this season. He gets asked why he's in the stands and not on the court.

“I'm about to play for four more years,” Baird said. “When I decided to sit out, I didn't know what basketball meant to me.”

Now he's finding out how badly he wants to get basketball back.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/high ... g_out.html

[Cider Jim]

Best line in the whole article:

Now he's finding out how badly he wants to get basketball back.

[LUconn]

Sounds like Elena Delle Donne. So much for making an immediate impact. He is gonna be awfully rusty next year on top of being a freshman. I hope he doesn't turn into a project. I guess if he didn't do this, he might not be playing for us next year so, I guess it worked.


I also like how salty his high school coach sounds.

[jcmanson]

Thanks for posting that. It's definitely something to be concerned about. Hopefully it works out for everyone's benefit.

[UNCA Alum]

That's kind of a weird story. Gotta think we aren't getting the whole picture. If he is already getting tired of basketball when he's 18 and usually the best player on the court... I don't know how he is going to handle playing college basketball. Hopefully (for yall's sake) it was just an issue with the coach or the school and not him being burned out by basketball.

Because it goes from practicing maybe 10 hours a week at a relaxed pace with guys who are all smaller and not as good as you to practicing intensely for 20 hours a week against guys that are just as tall, stronger and better than you in the blink of an eye. If he thought it felt like a job in high school........