Luke Worthington - Forward - Commit

[byucougar1]

According to reports, BYU basketball received a commit from Luke Worthington from Mequon, Wisc. Worthington is a 6-foot-8 forward prospect who held offers from Davidson, Penn and Princeton according to espn.com.

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[Cougs_Rule]

Looks like a Chris Collinsworth type. Tall big lumber but seems a little slow. Would be a good backup to Eric Mica. Don't mean to cut on the guy, just remarking on his utube video.

[Schmoe]

I was thinking he reminded me of Trent Plaisted. A little undersized, but a good frame, good post moves, puts in work down low.

[scott715]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... ugars.html

The offer put BYU near or even right on top of his 33 scholarship offers.

"I've always liked BYU and have always liked visiting there, so when they offered I immediately had them near the top," Worthington said. "I had Davidson, Butler, Penn and Princeton at the top of my list with BYU

I get the feeling he is a marginal player, not a potential star. Will play 4 straight years.

[HoosierCougar]

check out the video in the KSL story: I think we have a new candidate for worst unis ever.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=219842 ... its-to-byu

[craigoscarson]

Worthington is a 3 time varsity letterman on his football team, had offers from some very good academic schools and some with great academics that also have had more success than BYU in the NCAA tourney (Princeton, Davidson, and Butler have all exceeded us in tournament success in the last 20 years).

Worthington has many more offers than Jimmer did (mostly because it's harder to find big men) but it does say something that this kid being recruited hard by some successful programs with solid hoops history (basketball 1st schools).

I think this is a smart kid that will rebound and know how to use his body to help his teammates get open (picks, positioning and holding his ground). He is fairly adept from each side of the hoop, keeps the ball high when going to the hoop, on putbacks and entry passes.

I don't think he is anything like Plaisted though. Trent was a world class athlete for his height (although with very short arms), a weak motor, and average hoops IQ. Trent has been given chance after chance each summer to show he's an NBA player because of his athleticism.

I expect that by the time Worthington is a senior, we're going to say he is a solid enforcer, with a high motor, great hoops IQ, doesn't cost us possessions (ie he doesn't allow offensive rebounds and he doesn't turn over the ball), but with a limited offensive game. Luke does not have the hops of Plaisted... course when did Plaisteds hops really help us?

With the scoring we're bringing in, we will not need our 4-5 to score much other than the put back and layup; however Eric Mika and Isaac Nielson will be able to fill it up in the future.... with Harward and Austin, we don't need Worthington for more than backup minutes for the 1st half of his career anyhow.

Now we need to turn our attention on Payton Dastrup, Brekkot Chapman (though I think academics/honor code might be a deal breaker there), maybe Ryan Andrus, and of course hold out hope for Parker..... if only Jordan Loveridge had seen the light, this team could truly talk about perrenial top 10 real estate,

[craigoscarson]

I guess we also shouldn't minimze Worthingtons academic potential. As an Ivy League qualifier, he's not going to have major trouble at BYU academically. BYU academics are hardly easy and we don't have the benefit of an army of professors cutting a ton of corners for athletes, like many schools.

Guys like Worthington can't hurt us, that's for sure, however BYU hoops has been fairly strong. (Football has not)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... 55713412/1

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... emming-apr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Progress_Rate

The following is a list of the eight NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs to receive public recognition from the NCAA for a top 10 percent APR score for the last six seasons.
• Belmont
• BYU
• Brown
• Columbia
• Davidson
• Holy Cross
• Princeton
• Navy

[Cougs_Rule]

Can't weigh in for the kid, but wow, sure would be a good idea to serve a mission and then come back. I really don't think he will get much pt his first few years. And if he is driven academically, good for him, AND, doesn't sound like he'd want to redshirt. Wants to get on with life and maybe grad school?
Oh well each to his own. Maybe he can put on 20 more pounds and become a real enforcer. But Craig is right. The only thing that resembles Plaisted is the out of control hook shot on e hit wonder. He is not remotely as fast as Trent let alone Chris C. Bt then again maybe that is why byu went after him, CC with all his injuries may not be able to make a comeback.
But good for him a lot of Commitment by him and his parents over the years. congrats!

[craigoscarson]

wisconsin recruiting blog post--
He's now a 3 star recruit also

Luke Worthington is being recruited the strongest by Harvard, Boston College, Richmond, Cal, Maryland, Stanford, Rice, Davidson, Virginia Tech, BYU, and Vanderbilt. Other offers are from Butler, Dayton, St. Louis, DePaul, George Washington, Tulane, Lehigh, Citadel, UNC Greensboro, Holy Cross, Weber St., UW Green Bay, UW-Milwaukee, Bucknell, and Toledo. He also is getting recruited to play football by Wisconsin, Stanford, and Northwestern. A testament to his strength and footwork. He finishes well around the rim and has a great mid range jumper. Most of his points happen in transition because he runs the floor so hard. At the end of the day he is a bruiser that loves to bang in the post, play defense, and get rebounds. Every espn top 100 recruit that he has matched up against has been held to 6 or less points. With the return of Philip Nolan to the state I would say Worthington is the second best big man in the state of Wisconsin. His athleticism puts him ahead of Luke Fischer and Toby Hegner.

[hawkwing]

Good to see that one of his strengths is running the floor hard. I love the BYU transition game, but it can be hard to get recruits who can move like that for a whole game.