Gifford & Yocom

[UAFAN]

I sat in front of both in Philly. They cheered like crazy and are VERY excited about coming to Albany! We kept turning around to them and saying thats going to be you guys in the NCAAs next year. Seem like very good kids and their parents are very nice as well. Jamar came up after the game and said he would see them on campus this summer.

[Patch]

Mike Yocum Third Team All City in Philly

 

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DAILY NEWS ALL-CITY TEAM

 

(Players listed by Name, School, Height, Position, Year)

 

 

FIRST TEAM

 

 

Wayne Ellington, Episcopal, 6-4, G, Sr.

 

 

Gerald Henderson, Episcopal, 6-5, F, Sr.

 

Derrick "D.J." Rivera, Neum.-Goretti, 6-2, G, Sr.

 

 

Rodney Green, Prep Charter, 6-5, F, Sr.

 

 

Rick Jackson, Neum.-Goretti, 6-9, C, Jr.

 

 

SECOND TEAM

 

Malik Alvin, Simon Gratz, 6-0, G, Sr.

 

 

Jeff Jones, Msgr. Bonner, 6-4, G, Jr.

 

 

Mike Ringgold, Roman Catholic, 6-6, F, Sr.

 

 

Reggie Redding, SJ Prep, 6-4, F, Sr.

 

 

Lewis Leonard, Frankford, 6-3, G-F, Sr.

 

 

Sammy Zeglinski, Penn Charter, 6-1, G, Jr.

 

 

THIRD TEAM

 

 

Name, School, Ht., Pos., Yr.

 

 

Mike Yocum, Episcopal, 6-9, C, Sr.

 

Ray "Doodles" Sims, Roman Catholic, 5-8, G, Sr.

 

 

Earl Pettis, Neum.-Goretti, 6-5, G, Sr.

 

 

Andrew Ott, Gtn. Academy, 6-10, C, Sr.

 

 

Zahir Carrington, Julia Masterman, 6-7, F, Sr.

 

 

HONORABLE MENTION

 

 

(Seniors Unless Noted)

 

 

Bradley Wanamaker, Roman, G, jr.; Antonio "Scoop" Jardine, Neumann-Goretti, G, jr.; Kevin Hudgeons, Ryan, C; Vinny Simpson, Dougherty, G; James "J.J." Franklin, Judge, G; Pat Kirby, O'Hara, F; Chris Mayo, West Catholic, G; Matthew "Moo" Johnson, Straw. Mansion, G; Kenny St. George, Central, G; Jernardo "Jay" Lucas, Comm. Tech, G; Aaron Stephens, Univ. City, G; Malcolm Eleby, Franklin LC, G, jr.; Markieff Morris, Prep Charter, F-C, jr.; Andrew "Scootie" Randall, Comm. Tech, F, soph.; Tyrell Coleman, Germantown, G; George Baker, Edison, G, soph.; Eugene Moss, Straw. Mansion, G-F; Kenny Moore, Univ. City, F, jr.; Kyle Griffin, Gtn. Academy, G, jr.; John Haldy, Haverford School, G, jr.; Julian McFadden, Chestnut Hill, G.

[B9j2j6s]

Yocum is in very good company

 

Andrew Ott, Villanova

Carrington, Lehigh

Pettis Considering Prep Schools but highly rated and has three schools offering

Sims, Couldn't find anything about him

 

Next season will see the Battle of the bigs with Gifford, Yocum, Covington, and Connelly.

Edited March 30, 2006 by B9j2j6s

[Clickclack]

Yocum is in very good company

 

Andrew Ott, Villanova

Carrington, Lehigh

Pettis Considering Prep Schools but highly rated and has three schools offering

Sims, Couldn't find anything about him

 

Next season will see the Battle of the bigs with Gifford, Yocum, Covington, and Connelly.

13645[/snapback]

 

Man we have awsome size for the next few years. But it's not just size they are skilled big men. Should be fun to watch. When is the earliest we can see the team practice/play?

[Dane Pound]

As always you can take these rankings with several grains of salt but hoopscoop gives both Gifford and Yocum the same ranking.

 

109. ALBANY (8 Points)..........3 Recruits..........2.7 Talent Rating Average Per Recruit..........America East Conference..........(3) Brett Gifford, 6'11, C, Rock Bridge (H.S.) MO; (3) Mike Yocum, 6'8, C, Merion Station (Episcopal Academy) PA; (2) Michael Knight, 6'3, 2G, St. Petersburg (JC) FL.

[Clickclack]

As always you can take these rankings with several grains of salt but hoopscoop gives both Gifford and Yocum the same ranking.

 

109.    ALBANY (8 Points)..........3 Recruits..........2.7 Talent Rating Average Per Recruit..........America East Conference..........(3) Brett Gifford, 6'11, C, Rock Bridge (H.S.) MO; (3) Mike Yocum, 6'8, C, Merion Station (Episcopal Academy) PA; (2) Michael Knight, 6'3, 2G, St. Petersburg (JC) FL.

13652[/snapback]

 

Any idea where Reid Anderson is? The higher the number the better?

[Patch]

Ratings are opinion polls, very often the rater has never seen the player or has seen the player very rarely so take the ratings with a grain of salt.

 

All I know is that Gifford was getting some pretty good attention from schools much more highly regarded than UA (at the time). As for Yocum I was pleasntly surprised to see him make 3rd Team All Philly. There were quite a few players who were recruited and signed at a higher level who were also on the 3rd Team and quite a few on the Honorable Mention list too.

 

If Reid Anderson is anywhere near a Brian Lillis type I'd be thrilled.

 

If we can defend on the interior next season we will be very competitive.

[reeder]

I have tempered my enthusiasm for Gifford a bit. I think he will become a very good player in the AE, but I look at the stats and they remind me an awful lot of Joe Dyson. Clearly, Gifford is on a better HS team than Dyson had. I forget who all recruited Dyson but all of the sites said that he could have gone higher as well.

 

There was a quote from Brown in one of the papers recently that said (paraphrase)" people haven't realized how good Gifford can be". Sounds a little like Brown understands that there is some work to be done.

 

All of this said, I have never seen the kid play but I think at 6'10" he will certainly help this team. I think that Filien will get some good work in with him in fall workouts and I do think he'll be able to provide some quality minutes as the season progresses.

[Patch]

Reeder - I understand your caution.

 

I met Yocum and Gifford just to say Hi at the NCAAs in Philly. I had met Yocum in Albany during the AE Championship game and realized he's probably 6'8" maybe 6'9" when he stands straight up (he tends to slouch a little) and I was quite surprised when I met Gifford he is atleast 6'10" maybe even a little bigger.

 

If Coach Brown says he has the skill set to help us right away and the potential to be somewhat special I'll believe him until I see otherwise.

 

To paraphrase something Brown said earlier after Gifford signed - he has the potential to have the most significant impact of any recruit, on the program since the signing of Jamar, that's high praise.

 

We all know Bigs coming to the AE level are always somewhat of a project so it should be interesting this summer and fall to get some reports on his progress and ability.

[KingDane]

What does Gifford weigh? Is he muscle? Soft?