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Griz Sign JC G/F Out of Michigan

Montana Gym Rat

Montana Gym Rat

Well-known member
DONOR
Looks like the last scholarship is now taken.

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/07/15/sports/sports03.txt

"I'm totally psyched," said Mayes by telephone from Grand Rapids. "I'm going to contribute right away. That's what they (UM coaches) want me to do. If me and another other guy are competing for the same spot, I'm going to win. I don't like to settle for second."

Anybody else having visions of Roy Booker after hearing that? :-?

Hopefully that's the wrong read on this kid. If he's able to beat Dlouhy out for the 3 spot though, then we got one heck of a player. Looking at his stats, he looks like he loves the 3, even if he's not making it. 6'5" 190lbs, so he's practically the same frame as Dlouhy. I don't know about this signing. Mayes is a JR and so is Dlouhy. I really hope Mayes fits in and is able to find a good role on the team, but I'm worried that if he doesn't see playing time or play team ball, he could be the next JC to transfer from UM after one year.
 
My thought is that if they first saw him last week and signed him already, he must have something we like a lot!
 
He sounds competitive to me and I think the coaches like that. :D He was among his JC league leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. He also had some things to say about the way he was recruited that reflects very positively on the coaching staff.
 
#22
Co-Captain of the team.

http://www.grcc.edu/?PageID=979

His season stats:

http://www.njcaa.org/conferences/stats.cfm?sid=5&divid=2&gender=m&slid=2&menu=11&schmenu=5&cid=1396&teamid=32700&athleteid=96176&seasonselect=283&conferenceid=1

He was 13th in the league in scoring avg at 15.4 per game

http://www.njcaa.org/conferences/stats.cfm?menu=3&sid=5&divid=2&gender=m&slid=2&conferenceid=1&requesttimeout=500

Pretty good High School player too

http://goshenbasketball.org/team/teams/22sectional2/gametruth.htm
 
The link below has his stats game by game, and then the totals & averages at the bottom. I included the Tournament games in the total stats & averages too.

It looks like he's definitely a scorer & a very good rebounder for a guard. His assist/turnover ratio is pretty good as well. He does take a lot of shots, but his shooting % is pretty good for a guard. His 3pt shooting percentage isn't that great (Just under 30%), but he did have some games where he shot over 50% from the three.

He had several games where he had a double double, and one near triple double (24 points, 11 reb, 9 assists).

Anyway, thought some of you might find these stats interesting to look through:

http://www.gonewest.net/stuartmayes.htm

.
 
How does a coach let a guy, who shoots FTs as well a Shaq, heave up five 3s a game?


I guess I am on GymRats side here. I have my questions about him as a Griz in two years.

He must be quick and athletic though. I would guess that most of his points come in the paint off dribble penetration, and that is why he has a decent shooting percentage despite not being a good shooter.
 
If he is so good, why hasn't he signed with anyone yet. Late signees seldom workout and I do not look for this kid to do much for UM.
 
Virgil Matthews was a "late signee". I think he worked out pretty well! :D In fact, I'd say had it not been for Virgil's late season and post-season play, The GRIZ would not have gone to the "dance".
 
Grizzle said:
Eric Van Vliet is a late signee, and I think he will be a great player.

I believe UM has a walk-on coming from Spokane this fall. He's white and looks like a guard. Perhaps this has been previously discussed on the board, when I wasn't paying attention.
Click to expand...

The player who will walk-on is a 6-4 guard /forward who is a 2004 high school graduate. He took a prep-school year in Colorado I believe, so still maintains his 4 years of eligibility and redshirt year.

About late signies: There are two signing periods for basketball. The fall signing period (also called the early period) that last one week in November and the spring signing period (also called the late period) that starts in mid April and extends to mid May. When a coach refers to a player as a late signie he generally refers to a player signed AFTER the spring period. It is a little confusing. Eric Van Vliet is not considered a "late signie" because he signed in the spring period. Virgil Mathews and now Mayes ARE considered "late signies". The difference between Vliet and Mayes is that since Vliet signed during the spring period his commitment is an official NCAA letter of intent. The LOI bind Vliet to the U of M and the U of M to a guaranteed scholarship for the 2005-06 school year. I assume Mayes signed an agreement (but it is not a NCAA LOI) that guarantees him some sort of scholarship for next year, but nothing will bind him to the U of M if he choose to go else where between now and the first day of classes. When a coach or athletic admin. Refers to a late signie that is what he means. It is rather specific.

Now someone asked who / why a JC player might not sign till now. There are usually two major reasons. The first is that their grades or graduation from the JC was in question. Coaches generally may have backed away from a player if he was not sure if he would make the grades and/or credits. I don't think this was the case for Mayes, but I think was the case for Mathews. After the final grades come in at the end of the school year or after taking some summer coarse a few athletes become available. The other reason is that some athletes simply do not get recruited, or have questions related to their game. I hear this is where Mayes I hear comes in. There are a series of tournament in June and July though out the country where unsigned JC players can play and hope to catch the attention of a program. With the top player already signed the best of the rest can generally rise to the top.
 
as a football player once said when i asked him his major, "uh, i dunno. coach knows." well, let's hope coach knows, cause this signing thrills me about as much as spilling ketchup on a new tie.

sure, virgil matthews too was a late signee, but his numbers were something like 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists per, so he virtually averaged a double double while kicking in six assists. no wonder he was his league's mvp, while mayes was a second-team all-conference. doesn't look to me like many schools were interested, while with our freshmen recruits, any one of them could have gone to any number of schools, and it may turn out that we were unbelievably lucky to get van vliet and sharp. mayes, on the other foot, seems thrilled to get us.

but the biggest problem i have here is the "opportunity" cost. does this cost us the scholarship that might have gone to junior russell, the dynamo point who led santa cruz to a division three cal championship, and whom his veteran coach called the best player he'd had in thirty years? i would remind you griz fans, we have really struggled at the point lately, with shane christiansen being the only true point guard we've had the last 15 years. enough "combo" guys already!
 
City- Your views are always well thought out and I know you paid a lot of attention to incoming recruits Swift, Van Vliet, and Sharp. I also know you watched Russell a few times and were very impressed although a little concerned about the number of shots he took. You also expressed some concerns that his game might take a little away from Swift's game. I would not be suprised to see Swift become a point guard. As I recall, he played the point very well his junior year when Russell was hurt. We also have Bryan Ellis coming in who is exclusively a point guard. I think the coaches may have been looking to a year from now when they recruited Mayes. Criswell and Matthews will be seniors. After the upcoming season, our only experienced guy at the 2/3 postion will be Dlouhy. I realize Martin may play some 2 but there is no way he'll play the 3 spot. This will give the GRIZ a better opportunity to redshirt Staudacher and Swift. I believe Greg Spurgetis is the All-greater Spokane League forward who will walk on with the GRIZ. He attended Air Force Prep last year and had pretty decent numbers as I recall. He has impressive credentials for a walk-on. So did Matt Dlouhy and that worked out pretty well. :D
 
whiz: you well remember my worries about junior. not only did he jack it up too often, he wasn't that good a shooter. there were times he seemed like a guy driving sixty in a thirty mile-an-hour zone, he was injured often, and i also worried about his size; at 5'6"--generously!--it looked like you could post him up quite easily.

still, i do not recall ever seeing a player that size dominate a game like he did the one i saw during santa cruz's championship run. at one point, he had three consecutive(!) steals for breakaway layups. and in the championship game (which i missed) he apparently just took the game over, which won him the division 3 player of the year award for the entire state of california.

now my philosophy is, you can't recruit too many centers, and you can't recruit too many point guards--especially point guards. montana basketball history is filled with good big men--kamarr, brent smith, bob olsen, matt williams, krysko, mckenzie, engellant, tinkle, pope, kempfert, stroeder, lee johnson, not to mention the real old guys from helena, russ sheriff and ray howard, or the two new ones, hasquet and strait. but rattle off the great point guards, and the list gets real short real fast--shane christiansen being the last four years ago, decuire, maybe camel, zanon before that, glass, mike murray, and way back, perhaps the quickest point guard we ever had, ray lucien, a guy whose unlimited talent was utterly wasted in frosty cox's old-fashioned pattern offense. i think that's seven guys i've mentioned in a period spanning 45 years! if you're gonzaga, you've got santangelo, dickau and raivio in what, seven years?

anyway, for whatever problems junior might have, i'd have taken a gamble on him. why not? if swift can play point, more power to us; i still see him as a kid with a lot of growth in him who will wind up as a "3." in an era of small, super-quick point-guards, a la nate robinson of washington, dee brown of illinois, pooh jeter in portland, john lucas of oklahoma state and tim smith of east tennessee state, that leaves us with one bona-fide point guard. well, that's a start; it's been four years since we had one!
 
grizzle: i'm a bit confused here. you say junior visited. then what? we decided not to offer? or was it an unofficial visit. weird if we invited a guy, then didn't offer.

yes, swift did play point his junior year, and was good enough to win his league's mvp title. if he can handle against the smaller quicker new breed of college point guard, he could be very good indeed because he'd be real tough to defend near the basket. kid's got skills. he also has a tendency to play soft at times, to disappear, which junior never does. when junior's out there you know it. innate leadership. swift? we'll see.
 
Baller- you jump to conclusions son! :D I'll I did was point out that Dlouhy was a walk-on who worked out extremely well. I love watching him play and we were extremely fortunate to get him as a walk-on. Pat Kennedy may have had a little to do with that. My hope is that Spurgetis will be successful too. He has a lot of road to travel before he warrants comparsion with Dlouhy!
 
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