Q&A: Gophers Interest in Wisconsin's Duane Wilson Heating Up

Gophers Interest in Wisconsin's Duane Wilson Heating Up
By Chris Monter

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/133767?referrer_id=331171

Duane Wilson, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Whitefish Bay Dominican, is one of the top players in the Midwest in the Class of 2014. He has drawn early interest from many of the top programs in the area, including Minnesota. Minnesota assistant coach Vince Taylor has watched Wilson at practice and game earlier this season.

Wilson has helped lead Dominican to a 17-1 start and a No. 1 ranking in Wisconsin’s Division 4. Their lone loss was to Germantown, the top team in Division 1, Wisconsin’s biggest class.

Wilson is averaging 18.6 for the Knights that also have two Division I caliber players in Jamall Taylor (20.4) and Diamond Stone (20.4). Stone has also drawn some recruiting interest from Minnesota.

Gopher Hole: Your team is off to a great start and are ranked number one in the state. How pleased are you with the team’s play?

Duane Wilson: I feel very pleased. We deserve the number one spot. We go hard every day in practice. We listen to coach and do whatever it takes to win.

Gopher Hole: You had had the one loss to Germantown, who is an outstanding team. You are considered the big favorite in Division 4, the second smallest class. Your team has a big target on their back because everyone wants to compete with you and knock you off. Is that something you like, knowing that you are getting everyone’s best game every night.

Duane Wilson: Yes, I like that. No one is going to back down. I like when everybody comes in ready to attack you, so it can be a good game and the fans like a good game, too.

Gopher Hole: How many offers are you up to right now?

Duane Wilson: I think that it is seven or eight. I’ve got Memphis, Marquette, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Iowa and Indiana State. I’ve got interest from Virginia, and Minnesota.

Gopher Hole: Have you had a chance to attend many college games this season?

Duane Wilson: I went to Marquette, Memphis and an Iowa game earlier in the season.

Gopher Hole: Do you have a favorite school yet or is it still a bit early?

Duane Wilson: It is still kind of up in the air. I am just evaluating right now. I am just looking around.

Gopher Hole: What things are you working on to continue to improve yourself as a player?

Duane Wilson: Right now, I am just working on being a leader, getting stronger and defense. Just the little stuff.

Gopher Hole: Have you even thought about when you might decide on a school?

Duane Wilson: Maybe next year, around September or October in the signing period.

Gopher Hole: Are you going to try to make some visits after the season?

Duane Wilson: I am going to take all my official visits.

Gopher Hole: You are playing with the Playground Elite AAU program (they will be playing at the High Performance Academy in Eagan in April). I know that you had a young team last year, but you should be very good this season. Have you gotten together and talked about the upcoming AAU season.

Duane Wilson: We’ve got some new players on our team. This year, I am actually playing my grade, so it is like a new team coming. Deonte Burton (an outstanding wing from Milwaukee) should be playing with us and we should be good.

Seven offers from big time schools and "interest from Minnesota". Repeating theme: Late to the table. It would seem that a program such as ours is not going to get out of state players unless you are in A) early and often or B) they are overlooked by other programs. Too often it appears we are the "Johnny come lately" on good out of state players, which appears to be sort of a waste of time.

bga1 said:

Seven offers from big time schools and "interest from Minnesota". Repeating theme: Late to the table. It would seem that a program such as ours is not going to get out of state players unless you are in A) early and often or B) they are overlooked by other programs. Too often it appears we are the "Johnny come lately" on good out of state players, which appears to be sort of a waste of time.

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In principle, I agree with what you're saying, but at least he's only a sophomore. That's plenty of time to build a relationship...especially if (massive 'if') we start winning next year.

920/414 Gopher said:

In principle, I agree with what you're saying, but at least he's only a sophomore. That's plenty of time to build a relationship...especially if (massive 'if') we start winning next year.

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I was thinking the same thing as bga1, but when he said he hasn't even thought about schools and that he will take all his visits I felt a little better.

920/414 Gopher said:

In principle, I agree with what you're saying, but at least he's only a sophomore. That's plenty of time to build a relationship...especially if (massive 'if') we start winning next year.

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the article contradicts itself by saying he is a junior and a 2014 prospect. The junior part is correct though. 2013 kid. rated #2 (by WISSPORTS) junior in Wi, behind Deonte Burton that he mentions playing with.

Minnesconsin fan said:

the article contradicts itself by saying he is a junior and a 2014 prospect. The junior part is correct though. 2013 kid. rated #2 (by WISSPORTS) junior in Wi, behind Deonte Burton that he mentions playing with.

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Gotcha. I thought there was something fishy about that as I typed it. Kind of shoots my argument out of the sky.

The type of player we need . The kids we have gotten from Wisconsin weren't recruited like this kid. He's no Devron Bostick. A ballhandler and athletic. He would look great in gold .

920/414 Gopher said:

In principle, I agree with what you're saying, but at least he's only a sophomore. That's plenty of time to build a relationship...especially if (massive 'if') we start winning next year.

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I understand this. However, I think that you want to have a kid think- "these guys were with me from the very beginning." In this case it may be fine- but this is what we hear on almost every recruit.

Duane planning to announce tomorrow afternoon. The kid is a Warrior on the court, has the skills and determination to do nice things in college. Also now a state champion.

Gopher Warrior said:

Duane planning to announce tomorrow afternoon. The kid is a Warrior on the court, has the skills and determination to do nice things in college. Also now a state champion.

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Very subtle hint. I would tend to agree, though I guess I wouldn't be shocked by Memphis or Mizzou.

I'm sure he is impressed with Tubby. And will become a Gopher. It would be nice however to get a few decent guards. Watching St Louis yesterday it looked to me Jett was better than many of Tubby's recruits.
Wilson looked great along with super frosh Diamond Stone this past weekend. Minnesota can forget about them. It would be great even to get guards in the same class as many mid majors have playing for them in the tourney.

Kind of wish you didn't post this in the old thread. I knew he was coming to a decision soon and seeing the title of our recruitment with him heating up was bit misleading considering we are no longer an option for him (Marquette, Memphis, and maybe Missouri unless he eliminated them). Thought maybe he was pulling an Andre Hollins and stuck us in his final list at the last minute...

Blackhammer said:

I'm sure he is impressed with Tubby. And will become a Gopher. It would be nice however to get a few decent guards. Watching St Louis yesterday it looked to me Jett was better than many of Tubby's recruits.
Wilson looked great along with super frosh Diamond Stone this past weekend. Minnesota can forget about them. It would be great even to get guards in the same class as many mid majors have playing for them in the tourney.

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Most mid major guards are seniors by the time they make the tournament. When you don't have blue chip prospects, it takes more time to get them to that high level. Look at Devoe as a senior, Cobbs as a would be junior, al as a senior, Blake, etc. the downside (again) is that Tubby's guards have become seniors elsewhere and so we haven't reaped the benefits as much.

When Andre, Austin, Joe, Wally, etc are seniors id bet they are better than any of those mid
Major guards.

Admittedly I didn't watch Jett, but his numbers for the season aren't terribly impressive.

Jett must have just had some good games though as this season he only averages 6.5 points and an A/TO Ratio of 1.5 shooting 47% overall and 33% from three in the A10.

Andre averages 7.9 points with a 0.9 ratio in the Big 10 shooting 39% overall and 39% from three. Austin averages 9.1 points with a 1.2 ratio shooting 45% overall and 38% from three. Welch averages 10.1 with a 0.9 ratio shooting 48% overall and 43% from three.

I'm going to side with Tubby's guards on this one.

Blackhammer said:

I'm sure he is impressed with Tubby. And will become a Gopher. It would be nice however to get a few decent guards. Watching St Louis yesterday it looked to me Jett was better than many of Tubby's recruits.
Wilson looked great along with super frosh Diamond Stone this past weekend. Minnesota can forget about them. It would be great even to get guards in the same class as many mid majors have playing for them in the tourney.

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nm

bga1 said:

Seven offers from big time schools and "interest from Minnesota". Repeating theme: Late to the table. It would seem that a program such as ours is not going to get out of state players unless you are in A) early and often or B) they are overlooked by other programs. Too often it appears we are the "Johnny come lately" on good out of state players, which appears to be sort of a waste of time.

Click to expand...

nm

Blackhammer said:

I'm sure he is impressed with Tubby. And will become a Gopher. It would be nice however to get a few decent guards. Watching St Louis yesterday it looked to me Jett was better than many of Tubby's recruits.
Wilson looked great along with super frosh Diamond Stone this past weekend. Minnesota can forget about them. It would be great even to get guards in the same class as many mid majors have playing for them in the tourney.

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How did you come up with that conclusion? Jett could end up being a nice player at St. Louis, but he hasn't been anything special so far. People complain about us not having many shooters; Jett has made a grand total of 8 three pointers in 1500 minutes of playing time his first two years.

Again, not ripping on Jett at all because he could end up being pretty good, but there are very little indications of that right now.

GophersInIowa said:

How did you come up with that conclusion? Jett could end up being a nice player at St. Louis, but he hasn't been anything special so far. People complain about us not having many shooters; Jett has made a grand total of 8 three pointers in 1500 minutes of playing time his first two years.

Again, not ripping on Jett at all because he could end up being pretty good, but there are very little indications of that right now.

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He is on the all defensive first team Atlantic Ten which shows he is no Chip or Maverik.

I was at the WI state tourney games this past weekend and Duane Wilson looked pretty good. In the championship game he was forcing the issue a little bit and had about 5 travelling calls go against him in the first half but he showed great range. 25ft plus on a couple shots. He ended up with 9 turnovers for the game. They have 3 division one recruits at least on the roster and play in division 4 which is one above the smallest school so it is a little tough to guage but I liked his shooting ability. His games seems more suited to being a shooting guard than a ballhandling guard though.

Blackhammer said:

He is on the all defensive first team Atlantic Ten which shows he is no Chip or Maverik.

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That's two players, hardly "many".

Committed to Marquette today

I would've rather he signed with Minnesota!