Zaire Baines - MBB Recruit?

[Jojogunne]

Zaire Baines of the Portledge School in Locust Valley just became LI's all-time scoring leader. He's closing in on 3,000 career points.

So far, all he has are D2 offers. Is he a D1 prospect? If so, should we recruit him?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejiIQY6Z1C0

Newsday article:

https://www.newsday.com/sports/high-sch ... 1.50492239

[Cards]

Well, he is lefty

[triplec2195]

Zaire Baines of the Portledge School in Locust Valley just became LI's all-time scoring leader. He's closing in on 3,000 career points.

So far, all he has are D2 offers. Is he a D1 prospect? If so, should we recruit him?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejiIQY6Z1C0

Newsday article:

https://www.newsday.com/sports/high-sch ... 1.50492239

I did see the article about him and never would have thought he was a D2 Player but the pundits know a lot more then we do. The school he plays for is also high ranked from what I've been told at least on Long Island that's.

[triplec2195]

https://nychoops.rivals.com/news/new-al ... ing-scorer According to this article it says he has received a "TON" of college interest however you want to translate that??

[HofstraMathew]

http://flyingdutchmenfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10560

FYI - We already have this thread started. Maybe one of the moderator's could merge and sticky this.

[triplec2195]

http://flyingdutchmenfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10560

FYI - We already have this thread started. Maybe one of the moderator's could merge and sticky this.

Yes this is very true but s... does happen!

[HofstraMathew]

http://flyingdutchmenfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10560

FYI - We already have this thread started. Maybe one of the moderator's could merge and sticky this.

Yes this is very true but s... does happen!

OK??? So shouldn't we just use one?? I don't really get the point of your comment. I am just trying to be helpful here. Every year I have been on these boards the recruits thread has been stickled; so don't believe I am saying anything out of turn here.

[triplec2195]

http://flyingdutchmenfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10560

FYI - We already have this thread started. Maybe one of the moderator's could merge and sticky this.

Yes this is very true but s... does happen!

OK??? So shouldn't we just use one?? I don't really get the point of your comment. I am just trying to be helpful here. Every year I have been on these boards the recruits thread has been stickled; so don't believe I am saying anything out of turn here.

Actually HM I didn't think it was that big a deal it has happened before. I'm sure at some point Cactus can merge these two of the same topics. I wasn't trying to be contentious it's not my style. When there haven't been posts for a while on a certain topic it drops out of sight as you well know so it's evident that JoJo started the topic and forgot about the old one. All good.

[HUSID74]

Yeh, all has been pretty quiet on the recruiting front at least as far as we know...Always like to hear some news about what's going on!

[Jojogunne]

Sorry, I did not see the other thread. I renamed this one to avoid any confusion.

[triplec2195]

Sorry, I did not see the other thread. I renamed this one to avoid any confusion.

I didn't know you could do that but thanks. I learned something new today.

[joeg1]

I don't know anything about him, but I do see he is only 5'10", and did not make all-county in Nassau last year, which means he's likely ranked outside about the top 35 or so players. Nassau is not exactly a hotbed of talent

[stuball888]

At 5ft 10 he is another Carlos type of point guard. Would like more length from our guards

[Polito]

Recruiting has been totally dead for HU - pretty concerning / frustrating really, thought Speedy would produce a lot more excitement year round. I know it's the season, but you can't ignore it until the seasons over, I hope these guys are on top of this - can't only be transfers, you need to develop some pipelines.

Not even any rumors or updates - not a fan if this is the approach - I don't like no activity and/or secret-ville. I'd like to see something to get the fanbase excited.

As far as this kid, he's not getting D1 offers for a reason. Perhaps he's one of the few diamonds in the rough, but they are extremely rare today, not likely he's a big secret. At my first glance, he can certainly shoot, but he's not fast or quick, and at that height there's no way he's going to get those open looks in D1 without being able to create separation. He seems a bit slow driving to the basket, although he certainly is a big body and can take contact, just can't tell how 'strong' he is. Didn't see much mid range game. Didn't see any rebounding. No clue how he is on D, although that doesn't seem to matter to anyone anymore lol.

All in all, LI may not be a 'hotbed', but the tri state gets plenty of attention and brings plenty of P5 programs into the fold thanks to the LuHi's of the area. Z made this comment once a long time ago, and it's hard to argue it (although nothing is absolute, credit to HUSID ), the type / level of offers a player gets typically tells the story.

[joeg1]

My point is if you're not Nassau all county, you're not the best among a soft county

[Polito]

Oh I def agree on that joe.

My point was more that there is enough talent and big time programs sniffing around LI that diamonds in the rough are rare. If he doesn't have a D1 offer, it's likely for good reason.

Is he worth a flyer? Perhaps. Depends on what else HU could bring in with him. But for now, HU needs to pound the trail for proven commodities. And I see no action right now, which is quite scary.

Imagine this fledgling team WITHOUT Ray and Cooks next year? Yikes. They better be getting busy behind the scenes. This program can't afford anymore 'rebuilding' periods.

[cactus]

Thanks all for the input. I made the 2022 recruits thread a sticky and left this one since it's just speculation, not actual recruiting news.