Verbal commits is also showing four other recruits. VC is less than perfect on long term recruiting, I suspect we’re chasing a dozen+ other 2025 guys not shown.
6-2 point guard Elijah Perryman - Bay Area kid (Concord)
6-1 point guard JJ Mandaquit - Utah Prep (from Hawaii)
6-4 guard CJ Shaw from Las Vegas
6-6 small forward Jasir Rencher - from SF (Riordan)
I came across this rather accidentally. 6-8 forward, Michael Simcoe, Glendale, Az is ranked #134 by 247 for Class of 2025. He is described as
intense, high energy, and a kid that makes plays. He is an outstanding student. His cut list of 7 schools includes the following: He is a southpaw.
Source: KSL - 07/29/24
BYU
Cal
Northwestern
Santa Clara
UC Irvine
UCSB
Washington
Very cool! It looks like Francis was once considered a 5-star, top 20 prospect. He had offers from Kansas, Alabama, K-State, Michigan State, and others. His stock has dropped since then to a top-150ish recruit (still great for SCU historically). I think it’s a great move to see if Francis still has the promise that high high major programs once saw in him. If he’s “merely” a 4-star player, then he will be an immediate contributor at SCU.
He was offered by a bunch of top programs two years ago when he was just entering his sophomore year. My guess is that they saw the frame and athleticism and wanted to offer early in case the coordination caught up to his body. They may have even thought he would be a potential one-and-done if he developed enough.
Then he didn’t develop quite to the degree hoped for. Also, two years ago was before NIL and unlimited transfers really took off (that’s how quickly the game has changed). So whatever his development, those same programs have largely shifted away from freshman projects as a rule.
He still has an incredible frame for rim protection–7’5" wingspan will do that. And he has enough talent to be a top-150 recruit. I’m more than happy to have SCU take a shot at developing him further. Big men are always a bit of a crapshoot at the mid major level. But SCU rarely gets a talent that has ever been glanced at by Kansas or Michigan State.
Ranking plummeted to barely in the Top 150, now a 3-star depending on what ranking source you look at which doesn’t seem to line up with the list of schools that had interest. And doesn’t appear SCU was one of the early schools to offer him; would be interesting to hear all the backstory on his journey, how the Broncos entered the mix and why/if others backed off. May simply be what Patty mentions…Power conf schools may prefer to throw NIL money at an experienced transfer.
Regardless, will be exciting to see him next season with the Broncos.
Francis will be a great pick up for the Broncos! Crazy long wingspan and defensive instincts and soft touch. KJ Cochran is another great pick up as the 6”4 swingman has a great shooting touch and good passer and feel for the game. Bradley Longcor a 6”4 true PG with great passing instincts, very poised with great shooting touch, should all have a chance to compete early!
It’s easy to forget that the high school basketball season is also finishing up right now, with most schools well into post-season play. I looked for SCU’s 2025 commits and found that Bradley Longcor, III was named MVP of his league (2nd straight year) and that KJ Cochran just hit 1000 points for his varsity career.
Cochran’s team has several highlight videos on Hudl if anyone is curious. I haven’t found anything similar for the other two recruits.
Also, there’s a short interview with Francis Chukwudebelu here in which he shares a bit about himself. A recent news clip says that he scored 25 points in a playoff game. I still think he’s a pretty raw talent, but a raw talent with great size and strength.
The death of local journalism has meant that there aren’t reporters on the high school sports beat anymore, and it’s hard to find much info out there, but I’ll scan again once the full season has wrapped.
PattyMac, Thanks for the update. We have a senior loaded team so will need some strong recruiting or transfer portal recruits to fill the departures if we are to remain competitive next year. Nice to see that we have some good players coming our way. Thanks for shedding some light on our future.
Bradley Longcor II scored 17 in a losing effort in the Illinois HS Elite 8 (class 4A, the highest class). Ironically they lost to my alma mater who advanced to the IL final 4.
The coaching staff and administration is very high on the recruiting class this year. It’s probably the highest rated in program history. The first ever 4 star recruit for SCU and 3 3star recruits, depending on publications.
Plus they’re planning on going portal shopping for a PG that can shoot and a physical big man, think Caffaro but with more skills offensively
I think the last time we had a true big-boned starting big man was John Bryant (I may be wrong, but I can’t think of anyone else since). Unfortunately, he didn’t have great footwork. Before that, I think it was Ron Reis who definitely didn’t have great footwork. I’m not sure I would put Zurek in the big-man group, he wasn’t much of scorer as I recall. I saw him more as the enforcer. There was also the fellow who was a transfer from Western Kentucky (Higgins?) who played a couple of years for us but I don’t recall him being a regular starter. I think he played with Travis Niesen.
Funny story, Reis was a school grade below me, so every other year he would be in my age division in youth soccer. I played left wing, he played right fullback. The last year in the league, I was probably 5’2" and he was already 6’ and big-bodied. Most of the time I could get around him, but one time he guessed correctly and got in front of me while I was full speed ahead. Next thing I remember I was flat on the ground seeing the proverbial stars and birdies. The guy was basically already a fully-grown man in 5th grade.
Here’s the write-up of the game Midwest is referencing. Longcor III finished with 17 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals.
It’s harder to find info on Cochran and Chukwudebelu. It looks like KJ Cochran’s team lost the PA State semifinal game and then lost a play-in game for a national prep tournament. Cochran plays for his school’s “national” team which seems to be an invitation-only team that plays at the highest prep level on the East Coast. They have all home games recorded here in addition to the Hudl site I posted earlier. The only update I can find for Chukwudebelu is that he was the only player from his squad to make the All Region list for his division and was named District Defensive MVP. He also was named to the District’s All Academic team.
Overall, and you really want to take these rankings and sources for exactly what they’re worth (relatively little), On3 gives Santa Clara the 62nd best recruiting class in the country–behind GU and SMC but ahead of all other WCC schools. Granted, the most important recruiting is now done through the portal, but the On3 list puts SCU towards the top of the mid-majors for 2025. 247Sports ranks the recruiting class as 53rd.
Yup. I hope that with a year of practice against D1 guys, Graves will be pretty much ready to jump in and compete. Losing O’Neil and Tongue (and seemingly McEldon) will be a blow to the front court, and he’s the only true 4 remaining on the roster.