parentswerebears;842590480 said:

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This would definitely be an awesome pick up.

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He has definite flaws (athleticism, defense, position questions) to go with the strengths (confidence, shooting ability). Not a "sure thing" prospect by any means. There doesn't appear to be much left out there, though, and we do have competition for the kid.

time to dig up the link to our Aussie tour game against the Centre of Excellence. Dejan is #4. You can watch his PG and shooting skills. I hate to lose out on him if only because he may end up at Stanford which will give him the opportunity to torch us twice a season.

tsubamoto2001;842590478 said:

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Looking at some Dejan video, he kind of reminds me of Bryce Alford in terms of his playing style. They don't move the same way or anything like that, but just how they play.

Let's hope Singer has a heck of a season and gives us the confidence that we'll have a nice senior PG leading our team in 2016-17.

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I think even if Charlie had picked Cal that Singer, barring a disaster this year, would have the upper hand to start at pg as a senior. Familiarity, experience, defense, etc...

There is another pg out there mentioned with Cal, funny enough also a smaller pg from Illinois -- Micah Bradford. He is an intriguing under the radar guy.

There are bound to be lots more names out there in the Spring. Frontcourt seems like a bigger need though.

smokeyrover;842590490 said:

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I think even if Charlie had picked Cal that Singer, barring a disaster this year, would have the upper hand to start at pg as a senior. Familiarity, experience, defense, etc...

There is another pg out there mentioned with Cal, funny enough also a smaller pg from Illinois -- Micah Bradford. He is an intriguing under the radar guy.

There are bound to be lots more names out there in the Spring. Frontcourt seems like a bigger need though.

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It would be nice land the Aussie.

Looking at the depth chart in 16-17

PG - Singer / Chauca / Freshman recruit
SG - Mathews / Jolly
SF - Bird / Moute / Davis
PF - Rabb (?) / Domingo
C - Rooks / KO

I'm assuming Brown is gone. Rabb is tougher to predict. Bird seems unlikely, but is a possibility with a great season. There's definitely priority for a PF, especially with Rabb being an unknown for next season.

smokeyrover;842590490 said:

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There is another pg out there mentioned with Cal, funny enough also a smaller pg from Illinois -- Micah Bradford. He is an intriguing under the radar guy.

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This says he's 6ft

https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/micah-bradford-pg-2016

SFBear2012;842590505 said:

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This says he's 6ft

https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/micah-bradford-pg-2016

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My "smaller" reference was more to Bradford's weight. He got some notice over the summer, but at 150lbs teams weren't ready to pull the trigger with offers yet.

more info about Dejan's current school -- the Centre of Excellence ...

"Despite providing inspiration for similar systems around the world, the Centre of Excellence remains a unique institution at the core of Australian basketball. Promising young players in their mid-teens are selected from around the country to join a residential program where they train, eat and sleep like professional athletes for two years. The group – 12 boys and 12 girls chosen every season – receive access to world class sports science, nutrition, physiotherapy and psychology services while they complete a rigorous training schedule and attend high school. The government-funded program was developed to ensure a bright future for Australia’s male and female national teams, the Boomers and the Opals."

re-posted from another thread:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/31/inside-australias-basketball-talent-factory

while we are on the subject of Aussie guards, the following comment is from the Illawarra Hawks team source right around the time we played against them ...

"One of our locals juniors - Angus Glover - has just joined the COE, but blew out his knee a couple of weeks back so didn't play [against Cal]. He was the youngest at the recent Under 19 World Champs at just 16, so he's still a couple years off college but he can really play, he's a super athletic 6'3 Point Guard and probably still growing."

Angus would be a 2017 recruit, one year after Dejan. Highlight:

https://www.facebook.com/yabbaguru/videos/1622751251298493/

tsubamoto2001;842590482 said:

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He has definite flaws (athleticism, defense, position questions) to go with the strengths (confidence, shooting ability). Not a "sure thing" prospect by any means. There doesn't appear to be much left out there, though, and we do have competition for the kid.

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His flaws enable him to drop 25+ pts on us TWICE. The 2nd time that happened, JB said they clamp down on D against him. If we get DV and Conzo fix his flaws...he could be unstoppable.

GoCalBears;842590987 said:

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His flaws enable him to drop 25+ pts on us TWICE. The 2nd time that happened, JB said they clamp down on D against him. If we get DV and Conzo fix his flaws...he could be unstoppable.

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No, his flaws didn't help him score points against us, his strengths did. That said, the guy put up a high volume of shots against us. Still put up numbers, which is a large part of why we're going after him. He's good, not saying he isn't. If you think he's the next Steph Curry, good on you. I've already said I hope we land him. But yes, he does have flaws, which may or may not improve.

Tsubamoto, your comments about improvement are the key for any player. Since I really did not watch Curry when he was at Davidson and did not watch him much with the Warriors till last year's playoffs, I cannot say much about him and his improvement. However, I am amazed at his skill and his continuing improvement. I am sure he has been honing his skills over many years.

It should be an inspiration to every basketball player that practice makes perfect, or at least can make any player a whole lot better.

latest interview ...

http://www.stateoftheu.com/2015/11/17/9738602/caneshoops-recruiting-in-the-land-of-oz-in-depth-with-rising-star?utm_campaign=stateoftheu&utm_content=article%3Atop&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Dejan's academic preference ...

"For me, a combination of academics and basketball program is important. I have always been good in mathematics and considered an engineering program in the past. However, my parents asked me to select an economics course prior to my junior year in high school and I really liked it since it is in some way applied mathematics with a social angle. So I will certainly pursue a program in this domain ...."

Dejan needs to read this ...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-30/econ-101-chicago-m-i-t-nope-berkeley-s-on-top

BearBackerinLA;842594792 said:

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Dejan's academic preference ...

"For me, a combination of academics and basketball program is important. I have always been good in mathematics and considered an engineering program in the past. However, my parents asked me to select an economics course prior to my junior year in high school and I really liked it since it is in some way applied mathematics with a social angle. So I will certainly pursue a program in this domain ...."

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BearBackerinLA;842594838 said:

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Dejan needs to read this ...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-30/econ-101-chicago-m-i-t-nope-berkeley-s-on-top

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Looks like he didn't read it. I wonder what happened here.

tsubamoto2001;842595042 said:

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Looks like he didn't read it. I wonder what happened here.

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????

tsubamoto2001;842595042 said:

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Looks like he didn't read it. I wonder what happened here.

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Why did you post that?
Oh. A little research... Ben Parker, whoever he is, tweets that Dejan eliminates Cal as one of the schools he intends to visit.
Verbalcommits says he's a two-star prospect. Lots of chatter here for a two star.

concordtom;842595048 said:

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Why did you post that?
Oh. A little research... Ben Parker, whoever he is, tweets that Dejan eliminates Cal as one of the schools he intends to visit.
Verbalcommits says he's a two-star prospect. Lots of chatter here for a two star.

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Australia has a population of 20+million, so TWO stars goes a lot further down under. Also, in the southern hemisphere, the stars are much brighter due to less light polution.

concordtom;842595048 said:

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Why did you post that?
Oh. A little research... Ben Parker, whoever he is, tweets that Dejan eliminates Cal as one of the schools he intends to visit.
Verbalcommits says he's a two-star prospect. Lots of chatter here for a two star.

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Based on his offer list, he seems to be getting recruited at a level or two above the 2* level. My guess is he hasn't been thoroughly evaluated by the recruiting services, which probably explains the 2*.

Verbalcommits is probably the worst place to look for a "star" rating...I doubt they even have scouts in the field, let alone Australia...

Its a resource. None of the pages I have been on alone shows the whole picture, but if you piece them all together, you can get a pretty good idea of what is going on (at least as much as an outsider can have a complete picture).

parentswerebears;842595238 said:

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Its a resource. None of the pages I have been on alone shows the whole picture, but if you piece them all together, you can get a pretty good idea of what is going on (at least as much as an outsider can have a complete picture).

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Unless of course the player in question rhymes with Schmaleb Schmwanigan. ALL of those sites were tripping over each other on that one.

this confirms it ...

"I'm going to visit Miami, Stanford and Texas in January," Vasiljevic said.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/basketball/basketball-american-college-scouts-check-out-australian-talent-at-schools-titles-in-canberra-20151201-glcbta.html

BTW, here are his last 2 games' stats from the Australia high school national championship tournament ...

BearBackerinLA;842606687 said:

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this confirms it ...

"I'm going to visit Miami, Stanford and Texas in January," Vasiljevic said.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/basketball/basketball-american-college-scouts-check-out-australian-talent-at-schools-titles-in-canberra-20151201-glcbta.html

BTW, here are his last 2 games' stats from the Australia high school national championship tournament ...

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Olgun Uluc
‏@OlgunUluc
Dejan Vasiljevic (@DejanMv) finished with 37 points (15/29 FG, 5/13 3pt), 6 rebounds and 4 assists in Lake G's 119-65 win over Concordia

Olgun Uluc
‏@OlgunUluc
2016 guard Dejan Vasiljevic (@DejanMv) had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in Lake G's win over Marcellin today

Please recall that Sam Singer averaged 36 ppg as a junior and 30 ppg as a senior (IIRC).
Time will tell if he is Steve Nash or Sam Singer.

FWIW, he did not replace us with another school on his visit. He simply cancelled his Dec visits which were originally scheduled to be Louisville and Cal. could be a scheduling issue, as he is playing in the Aussie national high school championship tourney this week. But then the final is set for 12/04 which would still give him plenty of time to fly over here.

44 pts and 14 rebounds in the Aussie high school national championship game ...

He dropped Cal from consideration on November 17.

parentswerebears;842609980 said:

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He dropped Cal from consideration on November 17.

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Damn...anyone know why?

yes I was aware. I continued to follow him because I wanted to see where he ends up. looks like Stanford is the frontrunner now, what with his emphasis on academics. This means he may play twice against us each year. BTW, I won't post any more about him unless we are back in the picture. He is done with competitive basketball for a while now that he has won the national HS championship for his team. He is done playing for the Center of Excellence but has signed up to play in the Big V *semi-pro* league which won't start their season until March.

parentswerebears;842609980 said:

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He dropped Cal from consideration on November 17.

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BearBackerinLA;842610418 said:

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yes I was aware. I continued to follow him because I wanted to see where he ends up. looks like Stanford is the frontrunner now, what with his emphasis on academics. This means he may play twice against us each year. BTW, I won't post any more about him unless we are back in the picture. He is done with competition basketball for a while now that he has won the national HS championship for his team. He is done playing for the Center of Excellence but has signed up to play in the Big V amateur league which won't start their season until March.

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By the way, you have been a great addition to the forums.

down to Miami and Stanford ...

http://ausahoops.com/1-on-1-dejan-vasiljevic-speaks-on-college-training-roots-more/

looks like he will be attending our game at Stanford on 01/14.

How do you get from 50 offers down to those two schools? Anyway I hope he chooses Miami. Playing against him twice in exhibition was more than enough.

I'm not worried about him ending up at Stanfurd. He'll join an underachieving squad led by the Claude Jorgensen Chair of Basketball, Johnny Dawkins and his abilities will be underutilized and he will experience an NIT or 2 along with a losing season here and there.. More wasted talent on the farm.