Ranking the WCC’s 2011 Recruiting Classes, 3 Years Later
By Josh Horton
The 2011 class, which is chalk full of great talent, is now entering its fourth season of existence in college basketball. That means that a handful of players in this illustrious class are entering their senior seasons, assuming they did not redshirt.
After four seasons watching these players grow, I rank each WCC schools 2011 recruiting class based on their performance in the college ranks.
We have done this for the 2013 and 2012 classes as well. Read away:
10. LMU
Class: C.J. Blackwell; Bruce English
Neither player in LMU’s 2011 recruiting class currently remains at the university.
CJ Blackwell, who has transferred this offseason, averaged a little over five points per game in his two seasons at LMU – he was granted a medical redshirt during 2012-2013. Blackwell is transferring from LMU, assumingly due to the head coaching change.
English played two seasons at LMU before transferring, where he made a low-to-moderate impact.
9. Pepperdine
Class: Nikolas Skouen; Ramon Eaton; Jordan Baker; Manny Ochenje
The Waves really swung and miss with this class. Out of the three freshmen in this class – Eaton, Baker and Ochenje – zero will graduate from Pepperdine. Only junior college product Skouen will finish with his degree.
Baker was a two-year starter for the Waves and averaged 11.4 points his sophomore season, but transferred to San Jose State last offseason. Both Ochenje and Eaton were low impact players in Malibu before transferring out.
Skouen is the only player out of the four to stick it out at Pepperdine. While his playing time and statistics were inconsistent year-to-year, his outside shooting was not.
8. Saint Mary’s
Class: Jordan Giusti
Technically, Giusti came to Saint Mary’s as a walk-on. Since then, the Danville, Calif. native has earned a scholarship.
Giusti has made 17 starts in his two seasons playing at Saint Mary’s, providing the team tenacious perimeter defense and team oriented play.
7. BYU
Class: Isaac Nielson; Ian Harward; Nate Austin; Damarcus Harrison
This is a tough class to evaluate for the Cougars.
Harward and Harrison are both not on the team anymore. Harrison has since transferred to Clemson and Haward stepped away from the game early for injury purposes.
Nielson is still on the team, and is set to make his debut this upcoming season for the Cougars after serving a two-year LDS mission and taking a redshirt year.
Austin, who is entering his senior year – is the only player in this class that has made any long term impact for BYU. Austin has been in the Cougars rotation during all three seasons he has been in Provo, and is set to be a team leader as a senior.
6. Santa Clara
Class: Robert Garrett; Denzel Johnson; Brandon Clark; Karim York
Out of the four players brought in by Kerry Keating in the class of 2011, only York has departed. In this age of college basketball, that is a pretty good achievement. The former three-star recruit left the team after a redshirt season, and has now popped up at Prairie View A&M.
Garrett, Johnson and Clark – who are all entering their senior seasons – project to make a significant impact on the team this upcoming season.
Clark emerged as one of the premier scorers in the WCC last season after being primarily a role player in his freshman and sophomore years.
In his first three seasons, Garrett has flashed potential but has not quite put it together on the court. Due to the emergence of a number of guards in the Broncos system, Johnson’s playing time and production has dipped since his 6.2 points per game season his freshman year.
5. San Francisco
Class: Mark Tollefsen; Chris Adams
The Dons found two very solid players in the 2011 class, which should pay dividends in the upcoming season.
Tollefsen is entering his junior season at USF, and has emerged as one of the better athletes in the conference.
Adams is a dynamic 3-point shooter that is always a threat to fire from long range.
4. Pacific
Class: Markcus Falley; Lorenzo McCloud; Tim Thomas; Ross Rivera; Travis Fulton; Adam Eakles
With a class that was comprised only of junior college players, the Tigers landed a number of solid players.
Although Eakles and Falley never panned out, the Tigers landed two cornerstones to the Tigers 2013 NCAA tournament run: Fulton and McCloud.
Rivera and Thomas, who played their first season in the WCC this past season, were solid reserve big men for the Tigers this past season, especially Rivera.
3. San Diego
Class: Christopher Anderson; Johnny Dee; Nick Kerr
2011 was a great recruiting year for Bill Grier and the Toreros. Not only did he find two long time backcourt starters, but a key shooter off the bench as well.
Dee and Anderson have started every game but eight for USD in their three year careers, and Kerr shot 47.6 percent from beyond the arc this past year.
Since coming to San Diego, Dee has developed as one of the WCC’s best scorers while Anderson established himself as one of the conference’s best distributors.
2. Portland
Class: Kevin Bailey; Thomas van der Mars; David Carr; Dorian Cason
This class was hyped up by the acquisition of Bailey, but it was a Dutch big man that has arguably made the biggest impact.
While Bailey has been a three year starter for the Pilots, Van der Mars emergence this past season (13.5 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game) made him one of the more polarizing centers in the conference.
Carr has been a serviceable backup point guard off the bench, while Cason transferred after his freshmen season.
1. Gonzaga
Class: Kyle Dranginis; Kevin Pangos; Gary Bell Jr.; Ryan Spangler; Guy Landry Edi
Gonzaga has had some good recruiting classes in the past decade. This one could be one of the best.
The headliners in this class are Bell and Pangos, who both have started virtually from day one in the Bulldogs backcourt.
Dranginis, who redshirted his freshmen season, has a vast skill set and is still developing as a player.
The last freshmen in GU’s 2011 class is Spangler, who eventually transferred to Oklahoma after two season, where he led the Big-12 in rebounding.
The fifth and final member of the Zags 2011 recruiting class was Landry Edi. The Midland Junior College transfer was an athletic presence to the Bulldogs starting lineup his junior season, but eventually ventured into Head Coach Mark Few’s doghouse by the end of his senior season.