Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Naji Hibbert of Hyattsville, MD is Turgeon's first verbal commitment for the class of 2009. At 6'6'' and averaging 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals, Hibbert is the 54th overall prospect and the 10th shooting guard according to rivals.com. This guy will fit nicely into the slot left open by a graduating Josh Carter. Hibbert is a bit taller than Carter (not counting the 2 inches Carter grew in his 3 years), has similar high school numbers (Carter averaged 21.3, 6.9, and 2.3), but Hibbert is a 4-start guy where as Carter was a 3-star.

Here is a video of Hibbert.

He looks stronger and comfortable around the basket than Josh did his freshman year. Josh eventually learned to get to the rack and pull down boards, but he started as a pure sharpshooter.

I think this is called "reloading".

This commitment is interesting to me for a few reasons:
  1. Living 5 miles from Maryland University, College Park, I hear A LOT about Gary Williams's inadequate recruiting. I hope I hear something on the radio today about how he let another one go.
  2. Living 8 miles from Hibbert's high school, I may make an attempt to see Hibbert play in the fall.
  3. How long will it be until people start bitching that Turgeon is recruiting only out-of-state kids (two guys from FL in 2008, first guy in 2009 is from MD)? These complaints where make about Laurie Corbelli (volleyball), and when she switched to in-state kids we became less competitive.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah if they can recruit outta state kids and win...what's the problem...even if they are from prominet high schools...I love the signing of Hibbert...most kids that come outta there are college stars and move on to the NBA...great hire Turg...keep it up...

Anonymous said...

I actually personally know Naji and he is very excited about his commitment to A&M.

You guys found a great guy and a great player.

And don't worry.....He's very solid with his commitment.

If you wish to find out more about him. IM me @ Jwick180.

Take care!