Julius Gizzi
- Thread starter uncleter
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He's not B10 level, in my opinion. Very, very good scorer at the high school level because of his physicality, and craftiness. Lots of spins, up and under moves, etc...
But against good D1 level wings and bigs, most of that will be taken away. He's still a decent shooter, but I don't think he'd be nearly as effective without his game going to the basket.
10 years ago, he would have went on to a Taylor like school and averaged 20 a game for his career. Nowadays, I'm not even sure his style will be effective at that level even. Too much size and athleticism at all levels of college any more. And when I say "effective", I mean elite scoring effective. He can/could still ad a ton of value to any small college.
6-3 ish, I'd say. Obviously the calculus changes if he grows a decent amount. 6-6+ and he probably starts to become a lot more capable of doing what he's currently very good at, against higher D1 level wings and bigs.
Ironically, my son's team just played them on Saturday at the IWU shootout. Props to Julius for playing in that event with his high school team. Our boys played against Valpo, Crispus Attucks, and New Pal...they were pumped to go up against 3 of the better players in the state. Jack Smiley was out with an injury, Desmond Briscoe didn't play (did he play in J/S All star on Sunday?)...but Gizzi did play. So they were bummed Smiley and Briscoe didn't play, but it was fun to see Gizzi.
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
Size is relative isn't it? I am 5'8" and used to be 5'9". It is weird to me to think that a guy who is 6'3" is too short, but he is.
do you have sand floors in your house? where did you lose the inch
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
Back to Gizzi. My nephew is the A.D. at Scottsburg where the game was played yesterday. He says that Gizzi is not as good as the top five in that class but definitely Mid Major talent. Perhaps a portal in a few years. 6-3 is a stretch but very strong physically. And he knows how to score.
You'd have to see him to understand it...but I think its a pretty long shot that he ends up as an IU level player...or even really an effective D1 player anywhere.
But he's just so strong with the ball, and uses that and his body control to get pretty much anywhere he wants. And when he gets there, he is incredible at spins, pump fakes, step throughs, up and unders...its just very hard for a typical Indiana high school player to guard him.
If he was playing against a guy like Galloway though, I think he'd struggle to do all those things I mentioned effectively. He'd probably have to change his game a little bit, and become more of a distributor out of all those moves he has. I'm not sure he's fast enough to be an effective D1 guard though.
In the end, hes a really, really damn good basketball player. So the flip side to my argument is that. And that he might be the type of kid that would figure out how to thrive in any situation.
imo, this is the type of thing that just won't happen much anymore. His "redshirt" year can now be spent at that smaller school and the P5 types will scoop him up if he pans out.
I was sort of chuckling to myself though, because I thought IUNorth's description sort of matched the reviews I'd heard of Braden Smith. Maybe Painter or a few other coaches might still take a flyer on a kid like this, but I think it will become rare. Painter's class this year is interesting with 6 freshmen. I think even classes like that will become a rarity.
Nooooo... Smith is a lot quicker, faster. Uses his speed and his own type of craftiness to get to the basket. Gizzi is more of a power guard.
This isn't a perfect comp, but the Penn State guard a couple years ago that was 1st team all conference that backed people down all game, was crafty with up and unders and stuff, could hit outside shots too. That's more like how Gizzi plays. And I question if he'll be able to do that against high major defenders consistently.
But in the Smith category, maybe he's so good at it, that he'd thrive at the high major level too?
Having watched some clips of Gizzi, he kinda reminds me of Scott Skiles.
I typically don't like wasting scholarships if you don't feel a player is ready for the big ten.. but I also think Indiana could benefit from adding a player or two with the idea of developing into an asset a year or two later. Not sure if Gizzi fits that or not, but it was definitely an impressive performance on Sunday. 10-11 from the field.
Here's another thing about Gizzi, he's been coached up to the max to this point. His Dad and Mom were both great players and coaches. His uncle led the state in scoring Damon's senior year and his grandpa was a very well respected coach and is a big influence with the kid. Just an all around great bb family. My only point is, you're probably not going to gain a ton with by just coaching him up right....that part has been done. I certainly THINK he could make some contributions along the way, but I'm just not certain he could make that happen. Really like the kid though and wish him nothing but the best....will be interesting to see how it all works out.
BINGO precisely! He should be in a discussion as an asset as a 3rd,4th or 5th year contributor because of his strength and maturity. Now speaking out the other side of my mouth we are still to early in the portal era to gamble very much considering IU can get good looks by transfers with proven history fairly easily.
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Yet this looks like another year with an open scholarship.
Maybe but if he is a IU fan maybe he would reconsider. But yea alot kids are doing exactly what your talking about.
I don't think it's the kid who would have to be persuaded. I think the decision is does the school want to burn a scholarship for multiple years on a project, vs getting immediate help where needed and an experienced portal player. Let's say we'd used that last slot on another shooter. Who would you then purge off that roster to take a flyer on this kid?And, yes, I know we have an open scholly, but that also might be more valuable should someone come available or to use for next year, where again we could bring in an experienced proven player.
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wasn't saying it as a comp, just that it was similar adjectives: crafty, heady, uses his body well.... Trying to play devils advocate on that sometimes a kid like this might pan out.
He for sure could. Just tough for kids like them to get the chance any more right out of high school.
Additional note.... his brother has played us the last two years. He's on Marion. Max Gizzi.
He's not much of an athlete but he can put the ball in the basket. He reminds me of the guy at the YMCA that nobody can stop and you can't figure out why.
One of the things I love about basketball: you just never know who the good players are. Some guys, like Giannis look to be carved from stone, but then there are guys like Luka, who aren't and guys like Khalid El Amin, Antoine Joubert, or Skiles who don't look at all like players. We had a bad men's HS team back in the early 80s at Southport, but 2 of the best ballers in our school were burnouts. They'd have really helped our team had they played and probably would have both been starters. They were good in pickup games and intramurals.
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Sounds a little bit like a guy we had a few years ago that got pretty famous with a big time blocked shot.
6-3 Guard
Better overall scorer/shooter than AJ, but also a decent comp...no way of knowing if he has AJ's Ferrari motor. If so, I wouldn't count him out of playing for anyone, at any level. Its just tough any more for kids like this to get chances at schools like IU. He's gonna have to prove it at lower levels I'm guessing.
This is the type of guy that you recruit to build a relationship with, but don't offer a scholarship. Right now he's not a B10 player, but neither were Cam Spencer or Dalton Knecht in high school. Certainly not saying he's an NBA lottery pick like those guys, but you can't ignore a guy that puts up numbers like that.
