New Jersey Big Men Come Off the Board
Words. HShoop
Words. Marlon Guild
The Garden State saw a pair of coveted big men come off the college board over the past week as Lance Goulbourne and Bilal Dixon committed to Vanderbilt and Providence, respectively.
At 6-7, Goulbourne is a monster in the middle for The Hun School in Princeton, N.J. Last season he had to share the spotlight with St. Joseph’s commit, Idris Hillard, but Goulbourne still managed to average a double-double – numbers that will undoubtedly increase this year for the Raiders.
Goulbourne is a player who blew up over the summer locally, playing with the New Heights AAU team in the Bronx and nationally with Tyreke Evans and the Team Final AAU squad. With New Heights, Lance’s roll was to beast everything around the basket. We had a chance to see him first-hand at I.S. 8 in the spring where he showed rebounding, passing and inside skills. When he took the court with Team Final at the Nike Super Showcase, Lance’s roll was a little different as Tyreke was the main focus on the offensive end, but Goulbourne still got his, rebounding and getting plenty of easy put backs.
With his commitment to Vanderbilt, Goulbourne can focus on his final year with the Raiders, a season where he has a chance to win state player of the year honors. Last season he had to defer to Idris Hillard. Now it’s all him.
We featured the 6-8 Bilal Dixon as a “What’s My Name?�? in Dime #36. Dixon does it all for his Queen of Peace school in North Arlington, N.J., where he averaged a double-double last year. Prior to his arrival at Queen of Peace, Dixon played at famed St.Anthony’s in Jersey City, N.J.
Like Goulbourne, Dixon split time this past summer on the AAU circuit with two teams. He played nationally with Juice All-Stars and locally with the United Brooklyn AAU team. When watching Dixon you get a little bit of everything – he has the ability to post up and finish with either hand around the basket and he can occasionally knock down the 15-footer.
Before committing to Tim Welsh and the Friars, Dixon had been receiving interest from a other Big East schools.
Both Bilal and Lance have bloomed this year. Lance down at the Hun School has a great wingspan with some quickness.
He hustles and gives his team second effort shots. When he runs the floor and gets in transition he’s effective. His upside
is good becomes he shows good form on his jumper. Bilal has a tremendous upside because he is growing into his body. He
needs to obtains weight room strength to gain explosion. With that added explosion he will be able to finish even stronger than
he already is demonstrating. He has good hands and a soft touch around the rim.
Bilal is nice but nobody ever talks about him. I don’t think he’s a pro but he’ll be solid for Providence.