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Sources: Wisconsin 7-Footer Ben Mills Commits to Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes

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According to the Colorado Daily and scout.com, Tad Boyle has received his third verbal commitment in 7'1" center Ben Mills. Mills, out of Arrowhead High School in Wisconsin, visited Boulder this week and supposedly left campus as a Buff. He originally committed to Boise State but after a coaching change, he asked out of his signed letter of intent to open up his recruitment. At first, Boise State denied Mills his release. 

Mills has an impressive offer list including the likes of Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Northwestern, Utah State and Oregon State. His AAU coach said he had offers from Oregon St., Bradley, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Northwestern, Toledo, Iowa State and Xavier, and eight other schools have made contact, including Iowa, Georgia Tech, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Southern Illinois, St. John's, Virginia, and Washington State. Mills averaged 17.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game as a senior while leading the Warhawks to a 25-3 record.  He was also a first team All-State pick by both the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and the Wisconsin Associated Press. Mills scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots in Arrowhead’s state championship win. Making that performance even more impressive is Mills only attempted nine shots, making eight. As a junior, he averaged 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks a game. At 210 pounds, Mills will need to add weight to be successful in the Big 12 trenches.

Here are is a video of Mills on the court.

First off,  he's grown more than a foot in the last four years.  So he is still growing into his frame.  He has a good mid range shot, and he's developed an effective baby hook.  He needs to learn to set his base on both ends of the floor so he can gain leverage on the blocks.  He has good enough footwork that better positioning will allow him to use a growing arsenal of back to the basket moves.  And he needs to move to the flow on defense to take advantage of his length.

One thing he does very well is pass the ball.  He can kick it out with speed or make the post entry with skill.  And he has a great handle for someone with his height.

At this point, he's a project wherever he goes.  Hey,  he's only been a seven footer for less than a year.  Give the kid a chance to catch up to himself.  He works and hustles hard enough that his development should be faster than most kids.  Give Ben a couple years, and he should be contributing major minutes at a high level.

The Wisconsin Sports Network feels that Mills has made big strides in his game over the last three years but notes he still has some work to do:
Mills is a skilled forward who shot 53 percent from the field and 59 percent from the foul line as a senior. He needs to continue to add weight and strength to his long 7-1 frame, but he has made tremendous strides in all aspects of his game the past three seasons under both Davis and Arrowhead coach Craig Haase. 
The Arrowhead notes Mills has some touch that big guys don't usually have this early in the game:
Mills averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds during the state title run.  He was a force offensively and defensively, blocking shot after shot.  At seven foot one, shooting jump shots is usually a tough task.  Not for Mills.  He shot around 70 percent from the free throw line and would even step back for fifteen footers every now and then.

Here is the press release from Boise State when they signed Mills:
Mills is gearing up to start for Arrowhead for his senior season after leading the Warhawks to a record of 17-5 a year ago. As a junior, he averaged 13.8 points and 9.17 rebounds per game, while sinking 50 percent of his shots from the floor, including 36 percent from 3-point range. His efforts during his junior season earned him a first team all-conference honors in the Classic Eight Conference. In addition, he was named first-team all-county and was an all-state honorable mention.

Ranked No. 9 among Wisconsin state seniors in the class of 2010 by wishoops.net, Mills was one of the hottest prospects in the state and received offers from 19 NCAA Division I programs before narrowing it to Boise State, Hawai'I and Oregon State. With his commitment to Boise State, Mills becomes just the second player in Arrowhead basketball history to receive a Division I basketball scholarship.

"We are really excited to add another big man to our roster and think Ben is a great fit," Graham said. "Ben is an exceptional young man that can run the floor and play multiple positions, which will be a great addition to have in our rotation. He has grown over a foot and gained over 40 pounds in the last three years, so the potential for him to get bigger, stronger and more mature as a player is something we are looking forward to developing."

Certainly, the consensus is Mills needs to add weight and further develop his game as a 7-footer. As the articles stated above, he has grown over a foot in a short time period so coaching him up at the next level will be the key in Mills' career. He is certainly not the answer to the Buffs' center issues from day one but if they can get him in the weight room, get him up to 240 or 250 pounds, he seems to have potential.

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BOYLE!!!!

Nice Get!! Welcome to the family Ben, you wont regret it!

Well it looks like our only concern(Boyle’s ability to recruit at this level) can be silenced for now. Very impressed with the work hes doing this late in the process. Just imagine what he can do with a good year on the court and a whole recruiting cycle!!!

by buffsnbruins on May 8, 2010 10:15 AM MDT reply actions  

Agreed

He has certainly jumped right in hasn’t he? Things are looking up…

The Ralphie Report - University of Colorado Athletics
The Crimson and Cream Machine - University of Oklahoma Athletics

by Jon Woods on May 8, 2010 10:18 AM MDT reply actions  

Great job Tad

This is great

"CarGo had to make some repairs to it. They called it a kitchen accident, but he was performing surgery. On teh lazor."
"I mean come on, you can’t be from Nebraska and go to school at CU, I think they take away your overalls or one of your last remaining teeth for that."
Hollidayrain Music
Parka
Bolder

by Hollidayrain on May 8, 2010 10:35 AM MDT reply actions  

Nice

I like the signing. Is it just me or does the kid looks like he ways about 125 lbs?

by bahama0811 on May 8, 2010 10:36 AM MDT reply actions  

unofficial poll

best dorm food? Libby, sewell, farrand, or chey ho?

My vote goes to libby

by buffsnbruins on May 8, 2010 11:47 AM MDT reply actions  

Speaking of,

I’ve seen some other site’s do some pretty cool “visitors guides” to their cities, where they take a few categories, best bar, best pizza, etc and then take nominations and vote on the best. You guys interested in doing something like that for Boulder? I think it would be pretty fun and could help us pass the next few very boring months…

The Ralphie Report - University of Colorado Athletics
The Crimson and Cream Machine - University of Oklahoma Athletics

by Jon Woods on May 8, 2010 3:41 PM MDT reply actions  

Nice Get

He sounds like a great shooter. Reminds me of Jason Smith out of Kersey, CO who went to CSU and is now with the 76ers. Tall, long, good jumper and a team leader.

Hopefully he is all we expect and comes in ready to play.

Anyone know how many scholarships are left?

"No Rebounds, No Rings"

by ksballa11 on May 8, 2010 4:08 PM MDT reply actions  

Keaton

According to buffzone.com, they have one more scholarship to offer.

http://www.buffzone.com/basketball/ci_15044431

Also, I can’t believe you actually wanted Steve McClain to be the coach.

by FMBuff on May 8, 2010 5:07 PM MDT up reply actions  

Good job by Boyle

nice recruiting in a short period of time. Gotta say though, as of yet it really doesn’t look like we’ve signed any contributors for next season. Obviously Brown won’t be playing and these other two guys look like stick figures. I really doubt they will be giving us that “inside presence” we’ll need next year in conference play. I mean Mills averaged 1.4 blocks a game as a 7-foot-1 dude playing Wisconsin high school basketball! No offense, but that isn’t very impressive.

Now, I’m not hating on these kids, I had a very similar physique in high school :-) I’m sure both of the freshman recruits will be good players in a couple of years, but it would sure be nice to bring in some strong JC forward or center. That’s looking less and less likely as time goes on though… We’re just gonna have to hope that guys like Harris-Tunks and Dufault have been hitting the weights hard and will be super-focused on rebounding next year.

Did you guys see this article:
http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_15043250
SUE HIS ASS OFF BOHN!!

by nebraskasux on May 9, 2010 5:15 AM MDT reply actions  

Man, I hope Bohn does sue his ass

Would love to see Bz pay for the oppurtunity to coach in the ACC

"Me fail english, that unpossible" - Ralph Wiggum
"Duffman is thrusting in the direction of the problem" - Duffman
"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun" - Ash from Army of Darkness
"H.I., you're young and you got your health, what you want with a job?" - Evelle from Raising Arizona
"It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes." - Agent Rogersz from Repoman

by Broncoman on May 10, 2010 12:19 PM MDT up reply actions  

he won't

Being that aggressive towards an ex-coach puts CU in a negative light to possible future coaching prospects. I know its ridiculous but its true. Would really like Bz to man up and do the right thing. Given his actions though I find it pretty unlikely.

by NYCskibum on May 10, 2010 12:24 PM MDT up reply actions  

you don't think so?

We better go after that money. I can understand letting it go if it was like 25k or something but that’s a huge amount of money for our athletic department. WVU sued Rich Rod and got everything they were owed plus lawyers fees and stuff didn’t they?

by nebraskasux on May 10, 2010 2:00 PM MDT up reply actions  

and now they are stuck with Bill Stewart......

Maybe they settle and the University gets 50K. I just don’t see Bohn taking this all the way to the courts and getting the full 500k. My guess is he wants this to go away as soon as possible.

by NYCskibum on May 10, 2010 3:19 PM MDT up reply actions  

I'm just getting around to responding to this a week later...

but man… I just don’t see it that way. why do we want it to “go away as soon as possible?” We didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t see how it hurts our reputation to go after money we’re owed. CU doesn’t have a bad reputation of not paying money we owe. We paid Air Force to get Bzdelik, we paid (or at least we will pay) UNC to get Boyle. When we fired Barnett we paid him a huge settlement, I’m sure we’re paying off McConnel-Miller, if we fired Hawkins last year we would most definitely be paying him off.

But now the tables are turned, someone actually owes us money and we’re supposed to just forget about it? That’s just preposterous in my opinion! As far as Wake Forest “having a policy of not buying out contracts”, screw your policy Wake Forest, that’s almost criminal in my opinion! I guess the responsibility ultimately falls on Bzdelik but that’s pretty irresponsible on Wake Forest’s part too…

by nebraskasux on May 16, 2010 1:43 PM MDT up reply actions  

Man, that dude is one skinny kid

Hopefully he does grow into his frame, but looks like a good prospect at Center.

"Me fail english, that unpossible" - Ralph Wiggum
"Duffman is thrusting in the direction of the problem" - Duffman
"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun" - Ash from Army of Darkness
"H.I., you're young and you got your health, what you want with a job?" - Evelle from Raising Arizona
"It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes." - Agent Rogersz from Repoman

by Broncoman on May 10, 2010 12:16 PM MDT reply actions  

he seems more like a hybrid

boyles offense sounds like a suns type i.e run the opponent to death and have someone like stoudimeier clean up in the inside. I dont think we would want a big brusier for an o like that

by fluffybuff on May 13, 2010 11:39 AM MDT reply actions  

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