Hey Bears,

After national signing day, I’ll be coming out with a breakdown of the talent in the PAC12 for a couple different national sites. I’m putting together an excel worksheet that breaks down each roster by class and star rating, looking only at scholarship players. It’s a really user-friendly visual that I think you guys will enjoy having access to. I’m looking for some help from this board to fill in the blanks. I appreciate any answers you guys can provide:

1) Which players from the 2011 class redshirted and which played in 2011?

2) What walk-ons have earned scholarships and what year will they be in 2012?

3) Are there any players on the roster who grayshirted AND redshirted, giving them six years of eligibility?

4) Are their any unique cases on the roster who have earned a scholarship but graduated high school before 2008 (Mormon mission, injury, military, etc…)?

Again, I appreciate your help.

Hey Utes,

After national signing day, I’ll be coming out with a breakdown of the talent in the PAC12 for a couple different national sites. I’m putting together an excel worksheet that breaks down each roster by class and star rating, looking only at scholarship players. It’s a really user-friendly visual that I think you guys will enjoy having access to. I’m looking for some help from this board to fill in the blanks. I appreciate any answers you guys can provide:

1) Which players from the 2011 class redshirted and which played in 2011?

2) What walk-ons have earned scholarships and what year will they be in 2012?

3) Are there any players on the roster who grayshirted AND redshirted, giving them six years of eligibility?

4) Are their any unique cases on the roster who have earned a scholarship but graduated high school before 2008 (Mormon mission, injury, military, etc…)?

Again, I appreciate your help.

Hey Cougs,

After national signing day, I’ll be coming out with a breakdown of the talent in the PAC12 for a couple different national sites. I’m putting together an excel worksheet that breaks down each roster by class and star rating, looking only at scholarship players. It’s a really user-friendly visual that I think you guys will enjoy having access to. I’m looking for some help from this board to fill in the blanks. I appreciate any answers you guys can provide:

1) Which players from the 2011 class redshirted and which played in 2011?

2) What walk-ons have earned scholarships and what year will they be in 2012?

3) Are there any players on the roster who grayshirted AND redshirted, giving them six years of eligibility?

4) Are their any unique cases on the roster who have earned a scholarship but graduated high school before 2008 (Mormon mission, injury, military, etc…)?

Again, I appreciate your help.

First of all, congratulations on your Mavericks. I'm a die-hard Blazer/Cowboy fan, so this draft kind of numbed the pain a bit. Gotta give you guys credit though, you simply shot a lot better than we did. If we would have had Kidd/Terry out there shooting for us it might have been a different series.

That said, I have some questions for those who know more than me regarding the upcoming free agent class. Please excuse my ignorance...

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Hey all, I thought I'd give a recap on recruiting so far as well as look forward to what could unfold over the next month.

How is Oregon doing so far?

This year's class is looking really promising. For what it's worth, Scout has us ranked #24 (17 commits), Espn has us at #20 (19 commits) and Rivals ranks us at #13 (19 commits). I'm going to be using the Rivals rating system through this article since I'm a homer.

According to Rivals.com, Oregon has a class, so far, with 8 4-star recruits and 10 3-stars. The 4-star standouts of the class are DT Jared Ebert, DB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, TE/DE Christian French, OL Tyler Johnstone, QB Jerrard Randall, WR Tacoi Sumler, LB Anthony Wallace and OL Andre Yruretagoyena. The following guys are 3-stars who looks particularly promising in my opinion: LB/S Tyson Coleman, WR Rahsaan Vaughn, LB Rahim Cassell, LB Rodney Hardrick and RB Tra Carson.

What's next?

Looking ahead, we have 19 commits so far, meaning there's 6 scholarships still available, possibly more if you consider greyshirts and guys who early enroll. Some in the recruiting community have questioned whether Oregon brought guys aboard too early, guys who are going to end up stealing spots from superior recruits. The players brought up most often tend to be DE Sam Kamp, OL Jamal Prater, OL James Euscher and LB Carlyle Garrick. Strictly my opinion here, but I don't think fault lies with the staff. They didn't have a way of being sure they'd be a recruiting power with this many 4-star players considering them this late in the game back in September/October. They had no way of knowing they'd be in the national championship. That said, I'm sure the players they extended offers to were ones they really liked. Ones that fit their system. Plus, as I briefly mentioned before, there are ways to get around the 25-commit max. I cannot envision a scenario where a 4-star recruit wants to commit and we turn him away, even if it's as late as National Signing Day.

Big-time players still considering UO

The future of this class is still really bright. It is a good class that could (and probably will) become great. Most seem to think that of the 6 open spots, Five are going to be filled by 4-star recruits. Who are those guys going to be?

OLB/ATH Colt Lyerla and WR/ATH Devon Blackmon are thought to be locks to commit. They're both going to be big time players at the next level and would be HUGE for this year's class going forward. In reality, both players have it narrowed down to UO/USC but I would be disappointed if we lost either of them.

After those two the next in line is DT Danny Shelton, another 4-star guy out of Washington who's narrowed it down to UO and UW. Even though he resides up north I like our chances of stealing him. He leads the way for a string of 4-star Defensive Lineman strongly considering Oregon. Others include Christian Heyward, Delvon Simmons and Kevin McReynolds. I wouldn't be surprised to see us land 2 of these 4 dangerous men. 

Coming to the end of four-stars still strongly considering UO are S/ATH Marqise Lee and WR BJ Kelley.

Coaching Change Shake-Up

With coaching changes come de-commits. We're already seeing this with the Florida and Texas programs. Those two situations provide interesting opportunities for Oregon. The most widely publicized is #1 OG Christian Westerman looking, potentially, for a new landing spot outside of Texas. One reason the Ducks are considered front-runners if he chooses to leave is because his fellow teammate and lineman Tyler Johnstone is already committed to Oregon. Unless a lot of unforeseen events take place though, I don't see this one happening. Luckily, the coaching changes could have an effect on a highly touted WR and DT. Ju'Juan Story is a freak WR whose committed to Florida but is rumored to have been visiting Eugene with recent Duck commit Tra Carson. If he decides to leave Florida, I could definitely see him coming to Oregon. Imagining a WR class of Sumler/Vaughn/Blackmon/Story is almost too much. Another recruit we could end up stealing is Todd Barr, who chose California over Oregon. The guy who recruited him and his position coach Tosh Lupoi is rumored to possibly be headed to Texas, which would certainly give Oregon a huge edge. Keep an eye on these developments.

My Semi-Optimistic Prediction

This is who I believe will fill the final 6 spots available in the class of 2011.

OLB/ATH Colt Lyerla

WR/ATH Devon Blackmon

WR/CB/S Marqise Lee

DT Danny Shelton

DT Heyward/Simmons/McReynolds

WR B.J. Kelley

This would give us 14 four-star and 10 three-star players! That is a monster class.

So that's it. I'm not an expert on this so feel free to correct anything here or disagree. If any new information comes up post in the comments. I'll try and keep the comments up and make this a home here at ATQ for recruiting information over the next month.

The intention is that this essay will published in a 5 day series in the Oregon State school newspaper. My favorite Blazer moment was selecting Greg Oden. Sorry about the length.

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Last night, after the draft, I played GM in my head; for a very, very long time. I’m sure many of you did the same thing. I wanted to come up with the most realistic possibilities for adding to this team sometime this July. That’s what this fanpost is about. Who could we possibly be targeting? What is the most likely scenario to unfold? Will we do anything at all?

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The Blazers had a great year and I can’t wait for summer league.  That said, there are  some issues to address this off-season. They’ve successfully built a good young team that has the potential to be special. With such a solid core, KP&CO will surely be looking to fill in every last roster gap.

As far as most can tell, the SG, SF and C positions are set for awhile. We need to start looking for Joel’s replacement in a couple years, but other than that, there aren’t any holes in those three positions.

At PG, the Blazers started Steve Blake and allowed Sergio and Bayless to earn back-up minutes. Blake is gradually aging and has some well-documented faults. Sergio has been molded by the organization, but he seems to be on his way out. Whether or not Bayless is developing into the PG of the future is the big question. 

At PF we have LaMarcus Aldridge.  His back-ups this year have been some combination of Travis Outlaw and Channing Frye. The series against Houston did a great job of showing why some feel the need to beef up behind Lamarcus, be it Outlaw’s untimely and off-target jumpers or his inability to guard Houston bigs. Frylaw’s inability to get crucial rebounds was devastating. Over summer, the question of back-up PF needs to be addressed, even if what’s desired is inaction.

This off-season, the Blazers as an organization will have two big questions to answer:

1.     What’s the deal at PG?

2.     Who is our Backup PF?

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This happened in my dream last night.

I got up out of my bed because I was thirsty. I opened the fridge and found some Odwalla OJ, which I found strange since it’s too expensive for me to consider buying. Nevertheless, I drank it all. It was delicious. I went to go walk upstairs and saw the TV was on. Only, it wasn’t actually on, there were just words on the screen. It was almost like a Powerpoint presentation. After I read what was on the screen, it automatically changed to show more. My mind was the remote. Here, more or less, is the Dream-TV transcript:

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I’ll be the first one to say that I dislike the way Travis Outlaw plays the game of basketball. It looks so unnatural. He isn’t fluid, fundamental or pretty. Basically, he uses raw, unadulterated athleticism to defy the laws of nature and make the orange ball go through the red circle. In fact, I’m inclined to think this is how he thinks about the game.

I am responsible for starting a heavy, anti-Travis sentiment throughout my house. It’s come to the point where my roommates are starting to shake their heads every time he touches the ball. This is my fault. Since before the season began I’ve been preaching the wrongs of Travis and how much he hurts this team. The one-dribble pulls. The lazy defense. The terrible passes. Even the “oh my god Travis what the hell is tha…” shots that somehow find the bottom. Just about everything he does bothers me.

Now, I’m not saying I’ll ever like Travis’ game. I’m simply too versed in the fundamentals. From my point of view, if NBA players are graceful swans, Outlaw is a headless Chicken. However, last night, for whatever reason, I realized something. There’s a reason Travis Outlaw is a legitimate player in this league.

Let’s pretend Travis gets the ball at the top of key. He pump fakes and starts penetrating right. His freakishly long steps allow him to elude his defender, but instead of taking it into the C underneath the hoop, he thinks better of it and decides to spin the opposite way. Now he’s whirling around his defender and across the lane. Uncontrollably, he “pulls up” off his right foot. Unfortunately, his momentum is carrying him quite far, so this “pull up” turns into an off balance, leaning runner off the wrong foot. Meanwhile, all his defender can do is watch and say “I’ll give that to you all day long my friend.” The ball comes out of Outlaws hand with a sideways, knuckleball-like spin that makes Tim Wakefield jealous. You sit on your couch and put your hands over your face, shouting “god dammit Travis!” You start thinking about who the Blazers could get back in a trade for ‘ol Catfish and wonder why this hasn’t happened yet. Then, something miraculous happens. The ball goes in. Nothin’ but net. Straight wax. You stare in disbelief. You feel kind of violated, but sort of happy at the same time. You stand up to go have a cigarette.

If you can’t fully imagine the complexity of the situation above, you haven’t watched a full Blazer game this year. This type of thing happens often. Obviously, not everything Travis does matches this description, but I’d say it’s close.

Now, imagine being the defender in this situation. You’re guarding an athletic savant one on one. You play perfect defense and force your man into an impossible shot. He makes it. Then this happens eight or nine more times. How demoralizing is that? Soon, your team is wondering what the hell must be done to stop this one they call “Catfish.” Before long, the fourth quarter comes along and this mystic keeps stabbing you with knuckleball daggers, rendering you useless in your pursuit of victory due to frustration. People…this actually happens!

Sure, Travis shoots a lot of bad shots. He makes plenty of boneheaded passes. He often dribbles himself into traps and ruins the flow of the offense. He frequently misses defensive assignments. But, after it’s all said and done, Travis Outlaw makes plays. And he usually makes them when we need them most. His best games come when no one else can score. When he knows people are counting on him, he comes through. Whether this “clutchness” is a result of mental fortitude or plain ignorance to the situation does not matter. The fact is, the guy continues to make plays, and is undoubtedly responsible for winning us more games than he’s lost.

TO is really starting to come on. When he can hit the three, attack the basket, play hard in-your-face defense and sky for amazing rebounds, he is indispensable. He’s starting to do these things on a more consistent basis. Add that to his friendships with teammates and good-natured attitude and it’s easy to see why the guy we all love to hate is still around. I might never marvel at the beauty of his game, but I’m finally starting to understand why Travis Outlaw is such a valuable part of this franchise.

It’s a great time to be a basketball fan. Talented young stars are leading the NBA back to its rightful throne atop the sports world and we’re all here to witness it. In this era of technology and information, we have the opportunity to follow what could become “the great basketball era”. Not since the early 90’s has there been such a collection of superstar talent and never has there been so many up and coming legends.

Of course it’s possible that 10 years from now I’ll look back at this post and laugh at my ignorance, but something tells me the likes of James, Wade, Paul, Roy and Rose won’t let that happen. I don’t even think David “Snake Slither” Stern can screw this up (knock on wood).

What began as a phillie-smoke afterthought has morphed into a very real vision of what the NBA’s future holds. Think about it. Can anyone else picture an East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry reminiscent of the Celtics and Lakers of the 80’s? No? Just imagine if LeBron and Bosh decide to team up in New York, only to meet the Oden and Roy led Blazers in the finals every year. I know it’s a dream, but is it that far-fetched?

Regardless of what King James decides to do in a couple of summers, great things are in store for this league that we all love. Look at the names. Look at the teams. Look at the fans. Too many pieces are starting to fall into place for this not to happen. There are simply too many star players.

This is the idea that sparked a heated discussion amongst my friends and I last night. Sure, there are a lot of stars, but who’s the brightest? What does the future look like and who is going to be responsible for making that happen? Who are the best 25 players in the league going to be?

25 players. 5 at each position. Look at it through the lens of someone watching the game three years from now. Basically, in three years, excluding future draft picks, who will be amongst the top 25 players in the league?

After looking at the list, it’s difficult to comprehend the amount of potential the sport holds.

Here is my “Future Top 25”

Honorable Mentions: Rajon Rondo, Kevin Martin, Tayshaun Prince, Tim Duncan, Brook Lopez

Alright Go! Criticize, correct, defend, question and bash my picks. If you would swap out one player for another (Say Darko Milicic for Greg Oden) then please support your picks with some reasoning. This is just a guideline chart. All opinions welcome. Remember, this is three years from now not today. If there is a good response/discussion, I will repost this chart in a couple of days but with BEdge input/changes.

Peace 88