Raiders pick up commit from Greenville sophomore

Bob Knight and the Texas Tech coaching staff are off to an early start to the 2005 recruiting season, picking up a commitment from 6-8 sophomore forward Justin Wilkerson on Monday afternoon. We caught up with Greenville head coach Rusty Harden to get some information on his star player and the surprising commitment. Here are Harden's thoughts:

Can you first off just talk about the commitment a little?

It’s really big news. He’s just a sophomore. I think being out of the Metroplex area, he’s not really well known yet. But coach Knight saw him play in the shootout there in Denton this summer. He’s 6-8 and he can play inside or outside. In talking to coach Knight, he’s the kind of kid that can fit into their system really well.

Did this even catch you by surprise?

Well, we’ve had some people interested in him and everything. He’s a gym rat … he lives in the gym. I knew he was going to play someplace and I knew it would probably be someplace big. When other kids leave and go home, this kid stays in the gym and keeps shooting. Last year, as a freshman, he started on the varsity and averaged 16.1 points per game and eight rebounds per game. That’s at 4A as a freshman so that’s pretty good. Right now, through two games, he’s averaging 19.5 points and 16 rebounds. And he had 100 blocks last year as a freshman and 40 threes, so he can shoot outside.

Do you mainly play him in the post?

We call it a forward position but when it comes time, we’ll post him up or he can go outside – either way. There are some times when he’ll help us bring the ball down the floor too. In talking to Knight, the teams that he usually has, he usually emphasizes how he doesn’t have a point guard or a 1,2,3,4 or 5. He just wants basketball players that can play anywhere. That’s what he likes with Justin. He’s a kid that can basically play anywhere on the floor. And he has basketball knowledge. He’s played since he was a kid and he had an older brother who was an all-stater here a few years ago. So he’s in a basketball family.

Can you give an update on his height and weight?

He’s 6-8 and probably about 175. He’s very thin. But that’s the thing – they’ll specialize so much in the way of individual workouts for him. He went up there (to Lubbock) on an unofficial visit and he said that’s what was so neat about the locker room – they had different supplements already out there for the guys and they had their individual workouts. I told him, when he works out up there it will be designed just for him. But you know, coach Knight was excited. I talked to him and he said during that shootout, of all the kids that he wanted, Justin was the kid that he wanted the most. He was the top sophomore.

It sounds like he’s a pretty good player right now but his potential seems limitless.

Oh yeah. I don’t know, he might still grow some more. He wears size 17 shoes. But Baylor had called and Illinois had called. He’s getting mail galore. But in talking to coach Knight, they said they have a scholarship with his name on it and they’re going to make that commitment to him right now and he’s going to commit to them.

Did Justin call coach Knight yesterday then?

Yeah. We called coach Knight because he knew Justin was thinking about it. We told him what he was thinking and the decision that he had made. Coach Knight was very excited. He wants guys from Texas and local players and he wants to be able to get some of these high school kids for the future. Justin’s dad talked to him and they talked about how this year they were going to be on national TV like eight or nine times. And think about it in two or three years from now. And they’re playing in front of 15,000 in a brand new arena. You’re playing for a coach who is the dean of almost every coach out there. Basically every coach has come from his system or coached under him (laughing). But the school is great and he liked Lubbock when he went up there.

How rare is it to have a kid commit so early?

Well, coach Knight said he’s had a few who have done this. One of the things we were worried about … we asked “what if something was to happen to him?” And they said they would stand by him through thick and thin. And also we asked about coach Knight being there and he said he will be there up through when Justin graduates.

Did he talk to you about why he went ahead and made a move so early?

“Well, he said his thought process was that he could play another year or two and this to him would still be one of the best offers from anybody, no matter who offered what. He wanted to play close to home. He wanted to play in a good conference. He wanted to get national exposure. And it’s not out of the question that he’ll play at the next level after college and coach Knight has had a lot of players that have done that.

Can you talk more about his game?

He’s very fundamentally sound but he’s not uncoordinated or anything like that. He has great control of his body. He can shoot outside or take it inside. He can post up and score. He can hit the three two or three feet behind the line. And he’s worked his butt off. I remember when his brother was playing for us, we’d have to kick (Justin) out of the side gym in our games because he’d be shooting all the time. If I would have known all of this, I would have left him over there (laughing). We got home from a scrimmage a week or two ago and we didn’t play very well. While he was waiting for his dad to come get him, he took a ball into the gym and just shot. That was about 8 or 9 o’clock at night after we got back. Everybody talks about the things that Knight demands and I don’t think it will bother Justin at all. He lives in the gym. And he’s really worked on his grades. He’s an A or B honor roll student.