The JUCO Files Part 26
It's simple: JUCO is college basketball's backbone. There's a world of talent to discover, of which many belong in Division I. Here in-depth analysis on four must-follow prospects for D1 coaches:
Why JUCO?
It’s not only the Diego Pavia case that’ll potentially lead to NJCAA athletes maintaining their four years when they transition to the NCAA. Fringe D1 prospects must go play JUCO basketball to maintain their valuable minutes while developing must-have skills and going through adversity. The result after two years is a associate’s degree and valuable experience today’s average D1 program seeks.
Instead of paying average players a lot of money in the portal, they’ll gladly shift to JUCO prospects who’ll come in fresh, and are in most cases even better prepared than their D1 peers. It’s a situation where everyone wins, while programs can save on their NIL resources compared to when they’ll work the transfer portal.
All previous articles, totalling to over 125 players, can be found here.
This article will solely focus on prospects playing in the CCCAA, also known as the “California JUCO”, and will contain four in-depth reports, where the first one is open to the public and the other three behind a paywall.
At $6 per month, you’re getting a lot of value for your money compared to what other services charge. I’ve built a track record that’s starting to speak for itself, where multiple prospects have reached out telling how my articles led to them getting in touch with various college coaches!
Prospects
1. Jase Stewart — West LA College
Small Forward — 6’7” — Sophomore — Houston, TX
Link to Bio and Stats — Link to X Profile
Stewart is one of my favorite JUCO wings of this entire season. I’ve been keeping track of his development, and the more I watch his film, the more I am confident in saying he’s a clear starter for the mid-major Division I level. The reason is a variety of ways of winning without the three-point shot. We’ve seen West LA as a good destination for development in the California JUCO scene, whereas Stewart’s went through two years of improvement at that program.
He has great positional size, burst and ahtleticism to make a difference as a slasher and ball handler. Stewart’s an automatic paint touch, using his speed and length to create angles on offense while he’s generating deflections and steals on the defensive side of the ball. He’s improving his footwork where he’ll defend two positions at the college level. The potential on that end is the main buy. Stewart has to add to his frame and improve his upper body strength. However, the hip fluidity is good while he’s showing good mobility as well. At close to 8 board per game, he’s mainly active in the interior with his positioning. He’s not the strongest, but the natural toughness is a part of his game that’ll translate well.
It’s worth noting that Stewart’s primary value is to get downhill. He’s not a volume shooter by any means, as his good touch around the rim and angle-creation are the main values. Teams maximizing their number of threes aren’t the best fit, but his value as a slasher, play-finisher and verticality put him in a different archetype. The best part is how he’s absorbing contact despite being at 195 pounds. Despite the lack of a three-point shot at 8 attempts this season, the defensive role versatility and downhill slashing are the main values. Stewart will make a difference on the defensive end of the ball.
Coaches can continue to gather their intel by contacting Coach Taylor.
All JUCO Prospects
I’ve written 25 other articles like this one in which I covered a total of over 125 JUCO prospects, which all can be found here.
Paid subscribers get full access to this article which will cover four more in-depth scouting reports.