KAEO LuWane Pipkins (PG-2015)

[NilesGold]

Hope he signs but don't think his recruitment is over...

It's never over. Never. Stop. Recruiting. In all seriousness, I've heard of way too many players backing out of verbal commitments and getting released from LOI's to ever feel 100% confident that a recruit will actually come to UMass until they actually step foot on campus and are enrolled. DK and staff will probably spend just as much time, or time so, watching and talking with Pipkins now that he's given a verbal than if he hadn't.

[gmogmo]

http://www.highschoolcubenews.com/news_ ... ign=buffer

Good article questioning why he'd commit now when people are starting to come around to how good he is

[Marty Peretz]

Thrilled with his signing. Now I just hope he stays committed. Kid could be a really great get.

Also, I love that we now have a Chicago kid in the fold. Could help open an awfully fruitful pipeline there.

We now have kids in the DK era from DC/BMore, Memphis, NYC/NJ, Philly (Holloway is closer to Philly), Houston and Dallas.

[MaxPower]

Great news! Welcome Luwane and look forward to seeing you represent UMass.

Go UMass!

[baseline47]

Agree with NilesGold, i.e., Never. Stop. Recruiting, etc., and that many players back out of verbal commitments, etc.

Love to get a commitment from a big guy who can play!!

With Put and Sampson graduating (I hope they are graduating!!), we're going to be smaller next year. But, maybe we'll be quicker/more aggressive?
Other than Cady, who's going to pound th3e glass next season?

[NilesGold]

Good article questioning why he'd commit now when people are starting to come around to how good he is

It's an understandable question to raise and it's strange that he committed before visiting the campus, but there are also lots of good reasons to commit now. UMass is honestly about as perfect of a fit for Pipkins as there is, the only missing piece is that it's not close to home (if that even matters to him).

It's early in the AAU season, but the recruiting process has been going on for a while. The process can be arduous and detract from everything else in their lives, including school and actually getting better at basketball. With all of the exposure events, kids are going to have a pretty good idea of which schools really want them by now. A school like Illinois, right in his back yard, has known about Pipkins for a long time, yet they still have not offered, so how badly do they want him? Pipkins is smart, more kids should be picking schools that are a good fit and not just going to the highest level or most prestigious school that offers them a scholarship. A "better" school isn't always best, each kid is different.

[sbloombe]

Two thoughts on this:

1. Based on everything I've heard, he's underrated nationally and is the best player in Chicago right now. He will be 1 or 2 in Mr. Basketball Illinois. There's a reddit thread in r/collegebasketball right now where someone said they saw him play last year and he dominated the court.

2. I don't think it's weird that he committed early at all. Some kids value loyalty; I know I do. UMass has been there since early on. Moreover, he's coming into a situation where he'll have 2 senior PGs to mentor him and then he'll start as a Sophomore. We play a comparable style to his school and have had success with undersized PGs (though, I'd note that he is probably 3 inches taller than Chaz and can dunk with some ease, so he's clearly not as undersized. Plus who knows he may still grow.)

Can't wait for him to play here. He's going to be a star, no doubt.

[uz2b-len]

He's quoted as saying that he saw DK let Chaz play his game, and that's what he's looking for, too.

[MJatUM]

I'm not a fan of the "let the point guard play his game" offensive game plan.. With no sets and plays built in behind it, it is incredibly easy to defend if you DON'T let the point guard play his game... As we saw for much of the 2nd half of this past season..

[Marty Peretz]

Everyone says this kid is a real good kid and loves to play the game. I say this a lot, but that stuff matters a ton. People forget that for many, high level D1 hoops can become devoid of joy and that this impacts performance. The kids who truly love the game often end up shining (see: Davis, Trey).

[NilesGold]

I'm not a fan of the "let the point guard play his game" offensive game plan.. With no sets and plays built in behind it, it is incredibly easy to defend if you DON'T let the point guard play his game... As we saw for much of the 2nd half of this past season..

I think you can achieve a healthy balance, where you give your PG lots of freedom, but also have sets in place and can call set plays.

As for the best player in the Chicago area, no, he is not. He's at best the 2nd best PG in Chicago, behind Jalen Brunson. And widely considered at best the 5th best college prospect in Illinois (but probably closer to the 10th). Illinois is loaded in the c/o 2015.

He's comparable to Chaz in that both are short, quick, athletic, disruptive defensively, competitive, fearless and have a lot of heart & toughness. But their skill sets are quite different. On offense, Pipkins' money maker is his jump shot. He has one of the nicest looking jump shots you will see and he hits it with great accuracy past the 3pt line, from both catch and shoot and off the dribble. Chaz, on the other hand, didn't look for his jump shot nearly as much, when he did it was usually off catch & shoot. Instead, he preferred to drive to the basket. In my opinion, Chaz's propensity to drive, often caused quite a bit of harm to UMass because he often got blocked and was rendered out of position and unable to get back on defense, one of the reasons UMass' transition defense was often sub-par.

Pipkins' ability to be an effective floor general at a high D1 level is somewhat of a question mark. Chaz was very good at creating opportunities for teammates. However, I would point out that the UMass offense often stagnated with the ball in Chaz's hands, with everyone waiting for him to create. So might less be more in this case? Many felt as though the offense ran smoother with Trey running the point, even though Trey is known more for his outside shooting and less for his ability to drive and break down defenses. Might the same scenario play out with Pipkins?

Defensively, Pipkins is regarded as both an excellent on ball defender, as well as a master pickpocket and disrupter. Chaz had the ability to be extremely disruptive on defense, but that ability was often only seen at the end of games, while the rest of the time his on ball defense was mediocre at best.

I'm giddy for what I think Pipkins can do in a UMass uniform, I think he can be exceptional.

[Chris20]

I share MJatUM's concerns about how our offense looked for much of Chaz' time here, but that concern is tempered by what we hear about Pipkin's jumper.....if that is his preferred way of generating his own offense, it seems to make for a better fit for his size. Chaz exploited his own weakness by driving and often running into trouble. A diminutive PG who has a lights out J makes more sense.

And I love guys that can shoot. It's a vastly underrated skill in college hoops. Guys that can make buckets win.

[eldonabe]

And I love guys that can shoot. It's a vastly underrated skill in college hoops. Guys that can make buckets win.

It really plays inbto the whole theory surrounding about how scoring more points than the other team leads to more wins....

[sbloombe]

And I love guys that can shoot. It's a vastly underrated skill in college hoops. Guys that can make buckets win.

It really plays inbto the whole theory surrounding about how scoring more points than the other team leads to more wins....

Go on...

[uz2b-len]

Remember, it's only a theory. Like evolution.