Rivals Roundtable: Difficult evals, surprising players

Friday, as always, brings with it another edition of the Rivals Roundtable. This week our analyst duo of Rob Cassidy and Jason Jordan explore past rankings hits and misses as well as current prospects that feel difficult to evaluate and could become either down the road.

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Cassidy: Baylor signee Jason Asemota is a tricky one because he broke out as a sophomore and is a hyper-intriguing skilled wing that can absolutely shoot the lights out when things are going well. The issue with him is that he often declines to take smaller defenders off the bounce despite having a massive physical advantage, electing instead to settle for contested jumpers. Add in the fact that he simply hasn't played many games against elite competition this year, and there’s some room for doubt.

That said, there are few prospects with as much upside as the Arizona-based senior, who has physical ability and skill in spades. Asemota turned heads every time he took the floor as a young prospect, but he’s been a little scarce this season. His current five-star ranking represents a bit of a risk, but it’s one that could pay off down the road based on his fit with Scott Drew’s system

Jordan: For me, it would have to be Isaiah Elohim. He burst onto the scene with a big reputation because of his ability to score and facilitate and his motor throughout, but over the years I feel like that motor has waned a bit. The other part that’s tough is where he’ll play at the next level in the backcourt; he’s a gifted scorer, but his IQ as a playmaker could have him running the point. Still, I believe that he’s at his best when he’s in attack mode and he seems to have absorbed the pressure that came with the ‘elite’ label and is back on the uptick as one of the most talented guards in the class.

Cassidy: There are a couple higher profile examples, but let’s talk about Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin. He’s maybe a bit of a deep cut, but it’s topical due to his recent double-double in a win over North Carolina. Rivals was the only service to have the Georgia-based power forward ranked ... and if we’re being honest was the only service that even had him on the radar. And while slotting him at No. 150 was still a bit cowardly on my part, it’s something.

I happened to be in the gym at a fall league game that saw Schieffelin square off with then five-star Jabari Smith and I thought the future Tiger did a great job against the future NBA Draft pick on both ends of the floor. I’ve always been impressed with the work he’s willing to do on the boards and thought his offensive game was more diverse than some people gave it credit for being back then.

I’m not one to pat myself on the back often. And, lord knows, I’ve been wrong about dozens of prospects, but I felt pretty confident he’d be an impact player at the high-major level when I walked out of the gym that day.

Jordan: I’d say Reed Sheppard, which sounds weird because he was a McDonald’s All-American, but you can’t debate that the general consensus was that he’d have to take a backseat to Rob Dillingham and DJ Wagner. I always had the same response to people who said that, ‘Have you legit watched him for a whole game?’ Now, Reed is higher on draft boards than sometimes both players and he’s on par with them stat-wise, leading the team in assists (4.2) and steals (2.4) to go along with 12 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. I’ll end this horn-tooting with what I’d leave Sheppard doubters with after our discussions, ‘Reed Sheppard is a bad man!'

Cassidy: I get a little frustrated with myself when I think about slotting Virginia’s Ryan Dunn at No. 112 because I did, in a lot of ways, believe in his talent. I wrote plenty about how impressive he was during the summer leading into his senior season but my sample size on him was small in part because a lot of his early career was played under the dark cloud of Covid-19. This made it easy to convince myself that I hadn't seen enough of the late-emerging 6-foot-6 wing to shoot him too far up the rankings, so I placed him below a number of lower upside guys with whom I was more familiar.

I also had some concerns about his jumper and ability to create for himself against top-flight competition. That was a total drop of the ball, obviously, as Dunn is now a projected first-round pick and averaging 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

Jordan: Silas Demary Jr. at Georgia. It wasn’t that I doubted he’d be productive eventually. I just wasn’t sure that it would happen in year one. I was wrong about that; his numbers are strong – 9.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists – and he’s absolutely a catalyst for Mike White on both ends of the floor. Demary always had all of the tools, but I always considered his coming out party to come post-freshman year. Demary, clearly, had other plans. A testament to him as a player in every way.