I like the incoming class more than most based on their videos. I have posted about Monty Bowser before. I think he is solid and he has shown a lot of physical improvement in the last year. I don't know if he can be a difference maker. I feel better about Jalen Celestine based on a recent search.

First there is his summer highlights:
I like that he is left-handed. I like how smooth his jumper is. I like how he can come to a hard stop and shoot from any range. This guy is going to score.

So summer highlights may be deceiving so I went to look at his high school games: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm4VGLL_oSM&t=5s][/url] The high school highlights are confusing. In more than half he does not play. I wonder if he was injured, as he might be the leading scorer for the team, Long Island Lutheran, the #12 team in the country. In the video Iinked it shows him hitting three 3s. He does not do much with the ball like in his summer video but just lurks on the perimeter.

On 2/8 at 6pm (pacific, maybe) his team plays Sierra Canyon, now #2 in the country. I think the game will be available on the Fox Sports Go app, like, strangely, most of Sierra Canyon's games are.

I think next year Celestine will be the #3 scorer behind Bradley and Grant A. I could be wrong.

Sluggo

I don't think Celestine has played yet this season due to a leg injury. If he's come back, it would have been very recently. He was supposed to be getting close but I'm not sure. His LuHi team is pretty loaded with a couple of seniors rated even more highly as well as a top junior so he's never been a top option which makes those guys sometimes hard to scout. Hope he makes it back on the court soon, especially with some big national matchups (like you mentioned) coming up.

TheSouseFamily said:

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I don't think Celestine has played yet this season due to a leg injury. If he's come back, it would have been very recently. He was supposed to be getting close but I'm not sure. His LuHi team is pretty loaded with a couple of seniors rated even more highly as well as a top junior so he's never been a top option which makes those guys sometimes hard to scout. Hope he makes it back on the court soon, especially with some big national matchups (like you mentioned) coming up.

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Thanks for the update. Looks like I accidentally linked a game from last season. He is #5. Not sure if he worked on his all around game between then and summer or if he has a different role on his high school team. I hope the injury is not too serious. Jacobi Gordon was very good before he got hurt, but he is not the same now.

Sluggo

Why are we always recruiting players who're injured? Gordon was a waste of a scholarship.players who cant play their senior year of high school cant really help much when they get here. Aka Thorpe, Kuani.

oskidunker said:

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Why are we always recruiting players who're injured? Gordon was a waste of a scholarship.players who cant play their senior year of high school cant really help much when they get here. Aka Thorpe, Kuani.

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Well, he was offered prior to getting injured. He had a good summer playing for his EYBL team which generated the offer. Don't quote me but I think he averaged about 10 pts/game as a junior in HS but over the summer was in the 16-17 pts/game range playing for a good team.

As for the injury, I've looked around and can't seem to find anything about the nature or severity of the injury.

TheSouseFamily said:

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As for the injury, I've looked around and can't seem to find anything about the nature or severity of the injury.

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I remember hearing it was an achilles tear, those are worse than ACL tears.

Wonderful

stu said:

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TheSouseFamily said:

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As for the injury, I've looked around and can't seem to find anything about the nature or severity of the injury.

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I remember hearing it was an achilles tear, those are worse than ACL tears.

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That would be awful, obviously, if true. But given that he played over the summer (and as recently as October in a pre-season game) and that there reports in December saying that he was close to returning, that timeline doesn't seem to work. Regardless, I hope the he's ok and has a full recovery.

oskidunker said:

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Why are we always recruiting players who're injured? Gordon was a waste of a scholarship.players who cant play their senior year of high school cant really help much when they get here. Aka Thorpe, Kuani.

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We have to take risks in order to land top tier talent because we are not Arizona who just writes them checks.

hopefully not an Achilles

I like the first video (summer highlights?)

nice shooting form on his 3s and pull up jumpers

some nice passing too

TheSouseFamily said:

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Guys - We're not intentionally recruiting injured players.

Celestine got a Cal offer on October 1, 2019 and committed a few weeks later. There's a video of him posted above playing (and well) on Oct 13, 2019.

Similarly; Jacobi Gordon committed to Cal on May 31. 2017 after getting an offer back in 2016. He suffered his Achilles injury on Oct 22, 2017.

DJ Thorpe got a Cal offer in August 2018 and committed in September 2018. He hurt his ankle in December 2018.

As for Kuany, I don't have all the dates but it's my understanding he injured his leg while already at Cal.

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Thank you for this post. Actual facts which go against the typiCal fan reaction

TheSouseFamily said:

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Guys - We're not intentionally recruiting injured players.

Celestine got a Cal offer on October 1, 2019 and committed a few weeks later. There's a video of him posted above playing (and well) on Oct 13, 2019.

Similarly; Jacobi Gordon committed to Cal on May 31. 2017 after getting an offer back in 2016. He suffered his Achilles injury on Oct 22, 2017.

DJ Thorpe got a Cal offer in August 2018 and committed in September 2018. He hurt his ankle in December 2018.

As for Kuany, I don't have all the dates but it's my understanding he injured his leg while already at Cal.

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Wait! You mean we don't have a strategy to intentionally make things harder on ourselves???

89Bear said:

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TheSouseFamily said:

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Guys - We're not intentionally recruiting injured players.

Celestine got a Cal offer on October 1, 2019 and committed a few weeks later. There's a video of him posted above playing (and well) on Oct 13, 2019.

Similarly; Jacobi Gordon committed to Cal on May 31. 2017 after getting an offer back in 2016. He suffered his Achilles injury on Oct 22, 2017.

DJ Thorpe got a Cal offer in August 2018 and committed in September 2018. He hurt his ankle in December 2018.

As for Kuany, I don't have all the dates but it's my understanding he injured his leg while already at Cal.

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Wait! You mean we don't have a strategy to intentionally make things harder on ourselves?

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I wouldn't go that far. Look at our recent AD history.

We take chances because we cant get most 4 or 5 star players

oskidunker said:

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Why are we always recruiting players who're injured? Gordon was a waste of a scholarship.players who cant play their senior year of high school cant really help much when they get here. Aka Thorpe, Kuani.

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Welcome to the world of modern college basketball. This is not the era any of us grew up in, and just about every team has players on its roster now who are nursing injuries. Cal, this season, had some hopes, but out of 12 scholarship players, Gordon was nursing an injury, Thorpe and Klonaris arrived injured and not fully recovered, Kuany got injured in practice, and Harris-Dyson had to take time off for illness, and later got injured in a game.

Player preparation for this career has included intense training to increase weight, strength, quickness, and the added weight and added muscle is more than many skeletal frames can handle. The frames were not designed for this added bulk and power. Players are trying to jump higher, run faster, and make moves their bodies were not designed, that is over-extending themselves beyond their physical limits. The game is played at top speed with great force, and played in short bursts between multiple timeouts.

Thus, we have more injuries in basketball than ever before. Almost every team has their season's plans for success altered by the injury or injuries to one or more key players. Lose a star player, and your season is over. Many of the injuries are serious ones, which may affect the athlete's career or end it. And some of these teams have signed recruits, and had the recruit get injured before he even gets to play for his chosen college.

The NCAA response to this has been to tilt the rules in favor of the offensive player, and limit the aggression of the defensive player. A lot of help that has been.