One of the recruits that has been starting to receive a lot of attention has been Darius Austin. Austin comes out of Illinois and is certainly one of the better shooting guards in the state. His game is certainly not perfected yet, but with his raw ability, he could be one of the players fans see shoot up in the rankings as his recruitment process continues, especially once more of the big name programs start seriously offering him.As I said, Austin plays shooting guard, but I think it will be interesting to see where he actually plays once he reaches college. In reviewing some of his tape, it quickly becomes clear that his major attribute is his ability to get to and attack the basket. He isn't a bad shooter, but most of his impact comes in the lane and on the free throw line, where he's a pretty consistent shooter I will add. If we were going on Scout's numbers (6'5"and 170 lbs), I would say that he probably needs to bulk up. However, MaxPreps has him at 195 lbs and in a recent interview with UMHoops, he said he weighs 204 lbs. He might need to improve a little more on strength, but size shouldn't be an issue since Tim Hardaway has been pretty good at Michigan and he has nearly identical body size listings. He is also pretty active in transition and has the ability to get other players involved with his passing, especially when going to the basket. He's a decent rebounder, but I didn't think he was quite effective enough to call him "great". The big things I think he needs to improve on are becoming a more consistent shooter, whether creating more space for himself with his impressive speed or while being defended, and I think he could get a little bit stronger.
