Austin Kuemper commits

[uostudent]

LINK

Dana Altman and the Oregon men's basketball team has received their first verbal commitment for the 2011 recruiting class in Westview high school forward Austin Kuemper.

"I committed to head coach Dana Altman in person along with my family and the rest of the staff," said the 6'9 230 pound center/power forward from Portland, OR.

The Westview big man decided to make the quick trip down the I-5 highway to Eugene for an unofficial visit at Oregon and walked away a Duck.

"The quick visit was great and the football game I saw was an awesome expereince," stated Kuemper.

The All-League forward averaged 13 points and eight rebounds at the 6A level as a junior and lead the Wildcats to a second place finish in the state playoffs.

This past summer Kuemper returned to playing AAU basketball after taking the 2009 season off and saw his stock soar through the roof after impressive performences in Las vegas and also in the Nike Global Challenge in Portland.

"I felt like Oregon was the best place for me and my parents liked it as well," said Kuemper.

Kuemper picked the Ducks over Iowa State, Gonzaga, Boise State, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, San Diego, and San Diego State.

Kuemper is the first commit for the 2011 class.

I remember reading a post from this board about someone who played against him at a gym and said that he wasn't very good. At the very, he's another big body who will fill out the roster. Both ESPN and Scout have him rated as a 3 star recruit.

Also, Matt's statement about Kuemper choosing Oregon over Gonzaga, Boise, OSU, etc. isn't very accurate. Apparently, Oregon and Iowa State are the only schools that have offered him.

The in state recruit that I'm really hoping for is Landen Lucas.

[justducky0]

yesss we got an in state recruit!!! I am sooo happpy now!!!!!!!

[greenyellow]

LINK

Dana Altman and the Oregon men's basketball team has received their first verbal commitment for the 2011 recruiting class in Westview high school forward Austin Kuemper.

"I committed to head coach Dana Altman in person along with my family and the rest of the staff," said the 6'9 230 pound center/power forward from Portland, OR.

The Westview big man decided to make the quick trip down the I-5 highway to Eugene for an unofficial visit at Oregon and walked away a Duck.

"The quick visit was great and the football game I saw was an awesome expereince," stated Kuemper.

The All-League forward averaged 13 points and eight rebounds at the 6A level as a junior and lead the Wildcats to a second place finish in the state playoffs.

This past summer Kuemper returned to playing AAU basketball after taking the 2009 season off and saw his stock soar through the roof after impressive performences in Las vegas and also in the Nike Global Challenge in Portland.

"I felt like Oregon was the best place for me and my parents liked it as well," said Kuemper.

Kuemper picked the Ducks over Iowa State, Gonzaga, Boise State, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, San Diego, and San Diego State.

Kuemper is the first commit for the 2011 class.

I remember reading a post from this board about someone who played against him at a gym and said that he wasn't very good. At the very, he's another big body who will fill out the roster. Both ESPN and Scout have him rated as a 3 star recruit.

Also, Matt's statement about Kuemper choosing Oregon over Gonzaga, Boise, OSU, etc. isn't very accurate. Apparently, Oregon and Iowa State are the only schools that have offered him.

The in state recruit that I'm really hoping for is Landen Lucas.

Lucas is one that I want too, but he's a 2012 recruit so he's still a ways out there in terms of possibly helping out Oregon.

[oregontrack]

I remember that post about somebody playing a pick-up game against Kuemper, too. Unless things have changes since my high school days (which were... seven years ago), I think it's safe to say Kuemper wasn't exactly treating a meaningless pick-up game like it was the Final Four.

Altman has done well taking clunky, unathletic big men and molding them into producers for Tournament-level teams. That's not to say Kuemper is a clunky, unathletic big man, but rather to say Altman knows how to coach the bigs and put them in a system to exploit their strengths.

[woundedknees]

It has been reported several times that Kuemper had taken a year or so away from AAU ball, but that when he returned this summer, people were very impressed with his performances.

Nobody id comparing his game to Wiltjer, but he could develop into a good player in Altman's program, and might actually be productive for more than 1-2 seasons.

More from Matt at DT:

"He blew up at the Oregon camp as he played really really well. I was watching one of his games and at the camp and the entire staff was watching him play. In Vegas he again played really well and held his own against higher ranked players. Than he got a chance to play in the Nike Global Challenge which was the nation's best players regardless of class against other countries best players. He was an alternate at first but got in and he did very well."

[gofightingducks]

He is obviously not a great talent but he will probably fit well with Altman's style of play and should be good enough to win some games. We have several scholarships to offer and we are not going to get many.... if any 4-5* guys right off so at this point we need to get the best kids we can. If Altman can put together a decent season with the limited talent and small number of players he has to work with he should be able to slowly but surely begin landing some good guys.

[oregontrack]

Speaking of Wiltjer, Kuemper was a mixed bag in last year's 6A title game when he went head to head with Wiltjer. He had 17 & 10 in 27 minutes, which is extremely comparable to Wiltjer's 19 & 10 in 30 minutes. Wiltjer shot better from the field (8/14) than Kuemper did (6/16), but both faired all right going head-to-head with one another. Kuemper was the only player from Westview who showed up, as USC recruit Garrett Jackson had a horrible night. Wiltjer ended up with 6 blocks to Kuemper's 1, and to Kuemper's discredit, he had an unbelievable 9 turnovers.

[buckmarkduck]

I also remember people claiming they had played Ej Singler in pickup games and in HS, and he was overrated and would not contribute much at UO. These kids have haters, and I don't trust the word of "Jr Uncle Rico's" from the YMCA. I'll trust the coaches .

Welcome to the UO Austin happy to have you. Go hard every day and go after every rebound like it's your last and the fans will love you regardless of stats.

I would expect to see Kingma be the next commit, he seems to love UO and has now made two trips to Eugene. He just has to convince his parents, who are both UW alum that this is the best place for him.

[odux]

yesss we got an in state recruit!!! I am sooo happpy now!!!!!!!

Glad to see Altman do something Kent never could do!

[Boom]

yesss we got an in state recruit!!! I am sooo happpy now!!!!!!!

Glad to see Altman do something Kent never could do!

Kent recruited plenty of in state kids.

[dthomas=ddixon]

Nice pick-up. We need some big guys. Really looking forward to see what Altman can do with AK.

[greenyellow]

He is obviously not a great talent but he will probably fit well with Altman's style of play and should be good enough to win some games. We have several scholarships to offer and we are not going to get many.... if any 4-5* guys right off so at this point we need to get the best kids we can. If Altman can put together a decent season with the limited talent and small number of players he has to work with he should be able to slowly but surely begin landing some good guys.

I don't think Altman needs flashy, 4-5* players to win here. WSU, with Tony Bennett, proved a team can win with lightly recruited players as long as they play fundamentally sound and intense basketball. I think we'll get that with Altman.

[oregontrack]

Agreed. I'll take mildly recruited basketball players over the highly regarded athletes Kent had been bringing in any day. Give me a good with a 6'10 post with a quality back to the basket game over a 6'9 McDonalds All American who hasn't developed an inside game but can jump through the roof and looks neat on put backs.

[bellsduck]

This is a great pickup for multitude of reasons. Glad to have an Oregon guy stay in State.

[Duck07]

I also remember people claiming they had played Ej Singler in pickup games and in HS, and he was overrated and would not contribute much at UO. These kids have haters, and I don't trust the word of "Jr Uncle Rico's" from the YMCA. I'll trust the coaches .

Welcome to the UO Austin happy to have you. Go hard every day and go after every rebound like it's your last and the fans will love you regardless of stats.

I would expect to see Kingma be the next commit, he seems to love UO and has now made two trips to Eugene. He just has to convince his parents, who are both UW alum that this is the best place for him.

I bested Oguchi in a pick-up game at the Rec one afternoon. He went 2-5 from outside, I was 4-5. He could have taken me to the basket every time but I must say I sealed off the baseline well. Does that count?

I imagine Altman can coach big men better than Ernie so hopefully the days of seeing Mitch Platt, Adam Zahn, Crosswhite, Dunigan and other 6'10" bigs getting out rebounded and pushed around will be over.