Deckie Johnson commits to UNT

[Cooley]

Click here to view the article

[ntmeangreen11]

Averaged 19.9 PPG, 6.1 APG, 5.2 RPG

https://youtu.be/qDJ-doxg9Uo

Edited April 12, 2015 by ntmeangreen11

[Cooley]

One of these shooting guards must not be coming back. I would guess Harris. Otherwise, this makes no sense!

Shooting Guards

Maurice Aniefiok

DeAndre Harris

Carrington Ward

Gregg White Pittman

Chris Campbell

Point Guards

J-Mychael Reese

JaMichael Brown

Todd Eaglin

[Brett Vito]

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/04/unt-picks-up-commitment-from-juco-g-deckie-johnson.html/

[BillySee58]

We've also offered his teammate Shakir Brown

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/shakir-brown

I think Brown would be more of a Jordan Williams replacement than Johnson. Brown is a 6'6" small forward who averaged 20.3 points/game with 10.8 rebounds/game, and shot 36.5% from 3-point range.

[Harry]

This post has been promoted to an article

[Andrew]

One of these shooting guards must not be coming back. I would guess Harris. Otherwise, this makes no sense!

Shooting Guards

Maurice Aniefiok

DeAndre Harris

Carrington Ward

Gregg White Pittman

Chris Campbell

Point Guards

J-Mychael Reese

JaMichael Brown

Todd Eaglin

Anefiok is a 3 and Harris apparently can play that role as well. I am concerned about the lack of size next season. I was also hoping for a nice 3 star high school freshman :/

[Harry]

We've also offered his teammate Shakir Brown

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/shakir-brown

I think Brown would be more of a Jordan Williams replacement than Johnson. Brown is a 6'6" small forward who averaged 20.3 points/game with 10.8 rebounds/game, and shot 36.5% from 3-point range.

Very inciteful Billy -- I could see Brown as possibly the other missing piece. He fits the profile of a Voss replacement.

Also kudos to Cooley for finding and sharing the verbal! Welcome to the Mean Green family Deckie!

[Harry]

More on Deckie Johnson from an opposing junior college coach Scott R. Gernander at San Jac:

Deckie Johnson is a returner from last year that had a good year as a freshman. Hes hard to keep in front of you, hes good off the dribble, can also shoot the three. My favorite player for them is Shakir Brown. Last two games, I think he had 40 and 37, at Bossier and against Lee at home if Im not mistaken. He rebounds it really well, hes strong so you can play him at the four, but hes really more of a guard. I think he made six 3s against Lee. Hes tough off the dribble. Hes a really good player. I like him a lot, Gernander said.

Johnson is averaging 19.1 points a game, averaging nearly 33 minutes in a 40-minute contest, so the Roadrunners lean on him a lot. Brown is taking much of the scoring pressure off Johnson by averaging 19.3 points. Another sophomore like Johnson, he too is averaging over 30 minutes of a contest.

Read more: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/deer_park/sports/ravens-have-tough-task-waiting-for-them-in-lufkin/article_9e0b55d6-ffa8-5768-929a-1e88d3ce7c19.html?mode=jqm

[Harry]

Possible Marquette connection with his teammate at Southwind high school in Memphis??

"Among those key stops occurred inside of two minutes remaining and the contest knotted at 53-53. With Southwind looking to break the tie, Deckie Johnson heaved a lob to Marquette recruit JaJuan Johnson, who missed badly on the alley-oop attempt. That mishap eventually led to the Wolverines taking the lead for good as Nunns layup in transition gave them a 55-53 lead."

Read more: http://highschoolcubenews.com/2014/08/26/parker-led-simeon-edges-southwind-in-tenn/

[BillySee58]

Very inciteful Billy -- I could see Brown as possibly the other missing piece. He fits the profile of a Voss replacement.

Also kudos to Cooley for finding and sharing the verbal! Welcome to the Mean Green family Deckie!

I think Brown could play some 4 for us, but he's a high-volume shooter so I'd imagine he'd be more on the wing. He would be a great pull regardless, but it'll be interesting to see if we can get him. He's got some decent offers, but no schools listed yet who we don't have a good shot against.

[Cooley]

This team will get hammered twice a week next year with 3 guards in the lineup. Sure, you can role out Anefiok and/or Harris at the 3 but we might as well just ask for Benford's keys now. I would like to see this program compete against teams beyond CUSA or SunBelt. I don't question the skill level of this guard (Johnson) but in a make or break season, this is not priority. I'm convinced that Benford assumed that he was going to go into the 2014-15 season with a center. He missed out. Why go through another season without an even distribution of talent and size at each position? Loved the Brice signing but he needs help. Jeremy Combs and Mohammed Ahmed are too thin and short to bang with bigger power forward each game.

So, are we down to only 1 scholarship left? (assuming no one leaves) Is Chris Campbell on scholarship? We still need a small forward and 1-2 bigs. The Brown target (Angelina JC small forward) would have made more sense but I had/have some concerns about him.

Hopefully, there is a plan in place and we'll just have to see how it plays out. I just can't get excited with this addition (position) with more pressing needs and limited resources. Just my opinion.

[Andrew]

This team will get hammered twice a week next year with 3 guards in the lineup. Sure, you can role out Anefiok and/or Harris at the 3 but we might as well just ask for Benford's keys now. I would like to see this program compete against teams beyond CUSA or SunBelt. I don't question the skill level of this guard (Johnson) but in a make or break season, this is not priority. I'm convinced that Benford assumed that he was going to go into the 2014-15 season with a center. He missed out. Why go through another season without an even distribution of talent and size at each position? Loved the Brice signing but he needs help. Jeremy Combs and Mohammed Ahmed are too thin and short to bang with bigger power forward each game.

So, are we down to only 1 scholarship left? (assuming no one leaves) Is Chris Campbell on scholarship? We still need a small forward and 1-2 bigs. The Brown target (Angelina JC small forward) would have made more sense but I had/have some concerns about him.

Hopefully, there is a plan in place and we'll just have to see how it plays out. I just can't get excited with this addition (position) with more pressing needs and limited resources. Just my opinion.

Campbell was a walk on. With Wesley not on the team we had 5 scholarships open this off season. Brown, Brice, and now Johnson have filled 3 of them. I do agree we still need a wing player and a solid post. We should have two scholarships left to get this done. There is also always the possibility that someone is not coming back. I sure hope Harris stays though. He is a great talent and handled his bussines in the class room and was the only scholarship player on the team to receive academic honors in the conference. If anyone goes maybe Ward since he was redshirted. I am still interested in that freshman SF Williams. We need some good young three star recruits out of highschool.

It does look as if we can sign Shakir Brown and another JUCO center though.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Andrew

[Andrew]

So here is who we are losing and who looks to be replacing them.

TJ Taylor- J Michael Brown

Greg Wesley- Deckie Johnson

Jordan Williams- (?) Hopefully the other Williams who is a three star high school recruit or Shakir Brown

Collin Voss- (?) Juco post with some major size yet to be named?

Armani Flannigan- Ricky Brice

This is assuming everyone comes back. We need Reese, Harries, Anefiok, Combs, and Ahmed to be big for us next season!

[Harry]

Brown, the 67 transfer from Baltimore, Maryland, put up All-American numbers, finishing as the league leader in both scoring (22.4 ppg) and rebounding (11.3 rpg) over the conference portion of the season. Brown notched 17 double-doubles in 29 games, finished with more than 40 points in one game and more than 30 points in three games; hit 39 percent from three-point range; and scored in double figures in all but six games the entire season.

Johnson, the sophomore from Memphis, averaged 19.9 points and 6.1 assists per game. Johnson wasnt afraid to hit the boards, either, gathering 5.2 rebounds per contest. Johnson this season surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for his two-year career at AC.

Read more: http://m.lufkindailynews.com/news/article_d3a94492-c866-11e4-91ac-d369ec04224c.html?mode=jqm

[Harry]

Johnson appears to be a good sign but Brown would be huge. I still maintain we need a pure shooter on this team. Benford seems to lean towards all around athletic multipurpose guys. The problem is teams will back into the paint because they know our shooting is streaky. Colin Voss might have been our most consistent shooter last year and he's a post... We need another Calvin Watson type shooter to keep teams honest.

[Andrew]

Landing both would be great gets for Benford however still concerning we do not sign more freshma. If we sign both then it's all but assured our last scholarship will also go to a JUCO player.

[GMG24]

Which won't be to much of a shock if you followed Marquette before he left they were always littered with jucos

[Cooley]

Campbell was a walk on. With Wesley not on the team we had 5 scholarships open this off season. Brown, Brice, and now Johnson have filled 3 of them. I do agree we still need a wing player and a solid post. We should have two scholarships left to get this done. There is also always the possibility that someone is not coming back. I sure hope Harris stays though. He is a great talent and handled his bussines in the class room and was the only scholarship player on the team to receive academic honors in the conference. If anyone goes maybe Ward since he was redshirted. I am still interested in that freshman saga Williams. We need some good young three star recruits out of highschool.

It does look as if we can sign Shakir Brown and another JUCO center though.

Thanks for breaking this down Andrew. It's hard for me to imagine Carrington Ward not coming back when Benford stated that he was really looking forward to him helping next year. Whoever comes in must contribute big time right away. The Williams kid is good but also slim. We have to get better defensively as well. I was a little turned off on Brown after reading some of his Twitter posts a few weeks ago. (Still dont understand why kids do this to themselves) Ideally, you want to build around freshmen for the future. The future is now for Tony Benford. (Both JaMichael Brown & Rickey Brice are also freshmen)

At the top of my wish list is Antwan Space (Texas A&M) who is available immediately (graduates in May) He would bring to the roster what I feel is critical, a PF/C with bulk, athletic ability and skill. He would be an impact player for us immediately. A Desoto kid that transferred from Florida St to A&M. There are a handful more options from the ever growing transfer list. We don't have to settle.

With the hoops season officially over, the dog days of summer is officially here for me. At least it's nice to speculate during this down time. Maybe Jalie Mitchell can provide a surprise or two to get me excited about the future of women's hoops.

[Cooley]

Then it happened.

An Angelina team that has lost to Navarro in the regular season and looked like it was ready to pack its bag and call it a year, came out of nowhere and ripped off a 19-0 run that gave the Roadrunners the lead and seemed to take the wind right out of Navarro.

The Roadrunners started slowly by chipping away and then Deckie Johnson took over. Johnson scored 12 of the 19 points that turned the game around and a run all his own. He had an and-one play that closed the gap to 45-38 and then came right back with an inside move to make it 45-40 before hitting a pair of free throws to close the gap to 45-42. And when Navarro didn’t answer, Johnson drilled a 3 and was fouled on the play. He bagged the free throw to complete a four-point play and lift Angelina 46-45 lead to complete a personal 11-0 run. He had three points at halftime and finished with 23 points, scoring almost as much as Angelina had scored during the first half.

“The difference in this game is when Deckie Johnson came alive,’’ Angelina Coach Todd Neighbors said. “He got going and gave us life and then everybody else got going and came to life.’’

http://www.navarrocollege.edu/athletics/2014/03/06/runners-rally-knocks-down-navarro-82-76-in-1st-round/

[Cooley]

Thanks for breaking this down Andrew. It's hard for me to imagine Carrington Ward not coming back when Benford stated that he was really looking forward to him helping next year. Whoever comes in must contribute big time right away. The Williams kid is good but also slim. We have to get better defensively as well. I was a little turned off on Brown after reading some of his Twitter posts a few weeks ago. (Still dont understand why kids do this to themselves) Ideally, you want to build around freshmen for the future. The future is now for Tony Benford. (Both JaMichael Brown & Rickey Brice are also freshmen)

At the top of my wish list is Antwan Space (Texas A&M) who is available immediately (graduates in May) He would bring to the roster what I feel is critical, a PF/C with bulk, athletic ability and skill. He would be an impact player for us immediately. A Desoto kid that transferred from Florida St to A&M. There are a handful more options from the ever growing transfer list. We don't have to settle.

With the hoops season officially over, the dog days of summer is officially here for me. At least it's nice to speculate during this down time. Maybe Jalie Mitchell can provide a surprise or two to get me excited about the future of women's hoops.

Former Texas A&M forward Antwan Space to complete eligibility at UMass http://t.co/SkEfx27Ce1

— CollegeBasketbllTalk (@CBTonNBC)

April 19, 2015

Oh well, so much for wanting to be closer to a daughter (in the metroplex) and to get more playing time. (for his final year after a May graduation at Texas A&M)

[Harry]

We've also offered his teammate Shakir Brown

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/shakir-brown

I think Brown would be more of a Jordan Williams replacement than Johnson. Brown is a 6'6" small forward who averaged 20.3 points/game with 10.8 rebounds/game, and shot 36.5% from 3-point range.

Looks like Brown inked with JMU per Vito