JUCO’s top scorer has Hawaii on list
Ryan Aaron, a dynamic shooting guard who just won the junior college scoring title, has Hawaii on a long list of his potential choices for NCAA Division I basketball next season.
Aaron, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound sophomore at Gillette College in Wyoming, finished first among all junior college players this season with an average of 26.9 points per game.
“He’s really, really athletic – a 40-plus vertical,” said Gillette assistant coach Joe Kittell. “He knows how to get to the rim and he’ll either finish or get fouled. He probably needs to work on his (3-point) shot for the next level, but he got a lot better at it as the season went along.”
Aaron scored 30 points or more in nine games this season, including two games of more than 40 points. He also averaged 7.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. He was also tops among all JUCO players with 320 free throw attempts (he made 224 for a .700 percentage).
“He’s tremendous in the open court,” Kittell said. “He’s just a really fun player to watch.”
Kittell said “a lot” of other schools are recruiting Aaron include Dayton, Central Michigan, Florida International, Wyoming and Niagara.
“We’re out here in Wyoming, so not a lot of the big schools know about Ryan,” Kittell said. “But there are a lot of others from all over the country who are looking at him. Who ever gets him is going to get a great scorer.”
Here is a video from two years ago, when Aaron was a high school senior at Madison High in Madison Heights, Mich. (you can see he already had the athleticism):
As Aaron’s coach says, he’s “fun” to watch — especially in the open court and finishing at the rim. Just read that as a high school junior he high-jumped 6 feet 10, and drew interest from UCLA among others for track. Can’t tell how good a shooter or ballhandler he is, but he’s so athletic and dunks with either hand. They still need a point guard, unless Blakes steps in as a frosh.
Yup, we need a poised , and ready for D1 pg, Pierre Jackson of So.Idaho
Wow! Is this guy exciting or what. What’s his vertical leap?
40″
dunking shouldn’t be the only prerequisite, we need a guard that can defend, bring the ball up under pressure, passing accuracy, presence on the court to run the offense, on ball defender, shoot inside, outside, this guy does not fit all of the above. We need a guy like Pierre Jackson.
The vibe I got after talking to the Gillette coaches was that Ryan Aaron is unlikely to end up at Hawaii.
Not sure if that’s because Ryan does not have Hawaii high on his list, or if Hawaii does not have Ryan high on its list.
Either way, good to know that the Hawaii coaches are scouring the nation for quality players.
i agree…we need a pg who has handles, can penetrate and finish, is happy kicking it as much as taking it, play tough d, can shoot including from treyland, and hit 90% of his free throws. this would free up zane johnson and make vander a star.
sounds like pierre jackson? if not a darius smith would also be a great pickup.
Well, Gib now in Europe scouting,recruiting future players .
I’ll take whomever has HAWAII high on their list…. of course the coaches have to do their due the scouting of the player
why hawaii not interested in this guy he could come out and do some work with this guy and a scoring inside man hawaii would be unstoppable in the wac