The 2007 men’s basketball recruiting class was announced by coach Ernie Kent Wednesday, a class of five players who are all rated among the best in the country at their respective positions.
The class features three players from Chicago, former stomping ground of current Duck Joevan Catron, and Kent said the sophomore played a huge role in getting the recruits to sign with Oregon.
“Those Chicago guys all know Joevan Catron and see where he’s going with his body, his game and his success,” Kent said. “Joevan was a walking advertisement.”
Kent wasn’t willing to compare the class directly to other recruiting classes of his, but the five recruits have been ranked as high as the seventh-best recruiting class in the country and Kent acknowledged their potential. He said that Oregon got every guy it wanted, and answered every need.
“These are the ones we went after. They’re an excellent group for us to have here,” he said. “Losing that great class that’s leaving after this year, we feel like we have another great one coming in the door.”
And they may walk through the door straight onto the court, as Kent said all five have the ability, and will have the opportunity, to play right away.
“All of them are good enough players that they can step right in and play and help us,” he said. “They’re going to be impact players, every single one.”
The most heralded among the stack of blue chips is 6-foot-10-inch center Michael Dunigan of Chicago, who was ranked No. 3 among high school centers by Scout.com and No. 8 by Rivals.com. Dunigan averaged 18 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks per game last year as a junior at Farragut High School.
“We feel that we got one of the premier big men in the country in Dunigan, and he’s got an opportunity to be maybe the best there is that’s out there,” Kent said.
The other low-post player coming to Eugene from Chicago is forward/center Josh Crittle, who is ranked as high as the No. 23 post player in the country by some recruiting services.
“We got a real skilled big man in Crittle. He’s a load to handle in the block, but he’s skilled,” Kent said. “He’s a terrific shooter from 15 to 18 feet and I feel like he has three-point range in his game too. I just think these are very, very skilled big guys that we’re getting.”
The third Chicago recruit is Crittle’s teammate at Hales Franciscan High School, 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard Matthew Humphrey, who averaged 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists per game last season.
And though getting those Chicago recruits to come to Oregon was a combination of Catron’s presence and Kent’s sales pitch on the basketball program and the University of Oregon as a whole, the entire class is a team victory according to Kent.
“It was really, really important for those guys to feel comfortable with everybody on this team,” he said. “In the recruiting process of getting those guys here, everybody on this team was involved when they came on their visits.”
One recruit who didn’t have to come very far was forward Drew Wiley of Springfield ‘s Thurston High School. Wiley transferred to Thurston this year from McKenzie High School in Finn Rock, Ore., where he averaged 24.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game last season as a junior. Oregon has had great success with local players in recent history, and Kent said Wiley could be the next local product to make a big splash for the Ducks.
“He’s certainly one that fits (our system),” Kent said. “He’s got the skill, he’s got the size, I think he’ll fit in nicely with how we play and hopefully he’s that guy next year.”
Shooting guard Teondre Williams of Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Ga. rounds out the five recruits. Williams averaged 18 points and seven rebounds per game last season as a junior, and has been rated a top-25 recruit at his position by most recruiting services.
“Williams gives you probably one of the better athletes in the country,” Kent said.
“It’s a very impressive recruiting class. It gives us five outstanding players,” he said. “We got a little bit of everything we needed.”
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