A Look At Northern Arizona's Recruiting Class

Coach Mike Adras lost arguably his two best players last year in Cameron Jones and Shane Johannsen, who both graduated. Thus, it brings importance to this year's recruiting class.

The best seems to be Danny Cheek, a 6'4'' SG out of California. Cheek is a great athlete that has the ability to attack the rim off the dribble. He averaged 15.3 PPG last year. He also has solid defensive potential. He could be the best freshman recruit entering the Big Sky this season.

Another guard that was signed is James Douglas, a 6'0'' PG. He averaged 17.3 PPG and 4.8 APG as a senior last year, and could have a nice future as a scoring guard. He is not super quick, but will find a role in the Big Sky. He probably won't get a ton of time this year, but he will be a nice player for Mike Adras.

The third guard signed is Colin Gruber, a 6'3'' guard that is a proficient scorer. Last season he averaged an impressive 26.6 PPG and 11.6 RPG, and set records at his school for points and steals. He is the son of a coach, and has at least Nor-Cal Basektball thinking he will have a nice career:

Gruber will need to add strength -- as do most freshman entering college basketball -- but Coach Mike Adras run a guard-oriented style and a number of other D-1 coaches are going to rue the day they passed on Gruber.

Northern Arizona also added a JUCO guard in Jywrell Wison (pronounced Ja-rell), who is a 6'3'' combo guard. Last season he averaged 24 PPG, 6.9 RPG, and 4.5 APG. He will be a nice fit in Mike Adras' guard-oriented offense with his versatility.

Two JUCO big men were signed. The first was Max Jacobsen. At 6'8'' he averaged 22 PPG and 8 RPG. He is a threat to score in the low post, but can also come out and hit the 15 footer. He will definitely get a look in a frontcourt that is full of question marks. Also important to note that though Jacobsen is a JUCO guy, he will still have three years of eligibility remaining. He originally committed to Portland State out of high school.

More depth will be provided by Ephraim Ekanem. He averaged about 8/6 last season, and will give Adras some minutes, though his ceiling is a bit lower than Jacoben.

Mike Adras lost a lot of talent after last season, so this was an important recruiting class for him. NAU signed 6 players - 4 guards, 2 forwards - 3 high school players, 3 JUCO. There is a lot of talent there to be sure, so it will be interesting to see who plays this year, and how everyone comes together. Adras has proven himself to be a solid program builder, so it is not hard to envision these guys bringing success to Northern Arizona.

How Will Northern Arizona Replace Cameron Jones?

Since we have already looked at the departing stars at Montana, Northern Colorado, and Idaho St., let's move on to Northern Arizona. Northern Arizona was on the cusp of things last year, winning 19 games (respectable) and finishing 9-7 in the Big Sky.

But it could be tougher to replicate that mark this year, as their top player and First Team All Big Sky performer Cameron Jones has exhausted his eligibility after a stellar career in Flagstaff. Jones will be difficult to replace not only because he was an excellent Big Sky player, but because he was such a massive part of the offense.

Jones used 31.5% of the team's possessions (18th in the nation) and took 37.6% of the team's shots a season, 2nd in the NCAA (behind some guy named Jimmer). The good thing is that he was pretty efficient with those possessions. He got to the line 133 times and shot 80%, was 47% from 2s, and shot an impressive 41% from downtown (albeit on a relatively small 91 shots). He also shined as a distributor, as he had a solid 22.0 ARate and a 12.8 TO Rate, which any coach will take from their shooting guard. Add it up, and he will be sorely missed by Coach Mike Adras.

So how will they replace him? More of the ballhandling duties will fall to Gabe Rogers, who was pretty impressive in his own right as a sophomore. Rogers was second on the team with 13 PPG, but he was a different scorer than Jones. Rogers shot only 40% from 2s, and didn't get to the line too often, but he was dynamite from downtown, shooting 46.8% from beyond the arc (helping make NAU the 2nd best 3-point shooting team in the country. However, they will need him to diversify his scoring some if he is going to take the next step and become their star.

After Rogers, there are some questions about who will get the minutes to replace Jones. One holdover from last year is Durrell Norman, who had a moderately limited role in his junior year. Curiously, as 6'4'' he had an OR% of 11.7, which was 4th in the Big Sky conference. He will get some run as a senior.

Another guy who should factor for minutes is freshman Danny Cheek, who could be the best incoming recruit in the Big Sky. He is a great athlete, attacks the rim offensively, and has solid potential on the defensive end. Don't forget his name if you are a Big Sky fan, you will be hearing it a lot over the next 4 years. Very excited to see what he can do.

Another contender are transfer Jywrell Wilson, who should have a role after coming over from Seattle via a smaller conference school. He is a very solid all-around talent that comes in seasoned.

So the Lumberjacks do lose Jones, one of the most potent players in the Big Sky, but they should have the talent level to replace much of his production. How far they come might depend on the development of Danny Cheek. It will be an interesting transition year for Mike Adras, who should have a pretty young team after losing 4 key contributors from last season.

How do you all see them replacing Cameron Jones?