Recruiting - 2005/06

[cheeseman]

A number of you have said we have to follow up this year with another good recruiting class like last year. I am not sure how that might happen - there are no potential incoming freshmen incoming players unsigned, nor are there any big name JUCCO's being tossed around on the board. I am not sure how we are suppose to follow up last year's class given what is available to us this spring. I think maybe the best we can hope for is a couple of serviceable JUCCO players that give us 10-15min. each next year to go along with whatever we get from DM. Now the fall recruiting session is a different story.

[billiken_roy]

you are right. save walls coming in and being bonner instead of johnson, or a total unknown showing up last minute, i dont see anything happening that gives us that next level lift. i.e. we will tread water with this next set of recruits imo.

that said, the junior class with o'rear, powell, etc is much better and we are in position to score on that class in the fall as you describe.

[BradFan]

Need to keep realistic. The program has only been on a BIG upswing for about three weeks now. Last year's recruiting class was huge (remember though, TL would have come in the previous year had he qualified). This year's, with Dustin, will include at least one JUCO for the 4 spot, I'm sure. Maybe another nice pickup beyond that (Brad's scouring of the potentially disgruntled, ala Grimes). Next year, with a better field to play from, will be the bigger test. Fortunately, the team is laying wonderful groundwork right now.

Remember, at this level (meaning not Duke, UConn, etc.), you can't except a class full of gems every year. Every 2 or 3 years is quite good by most standards. No reason to panic about where we stand going into 06-07 season.

[Box and Won]

I don't know if you were referring to my post, but I was saying that the 2007 class and beyond are the real keys. I'm not counting on getting any real difference makers from the 06 class.

[ACE]

Charlie had a recruiting class that had Jeff Harris, David Robinson, Donnie Campbell and Carl Turner. While none of those guys were stars, they added immediate depth and fit in well with the core players - Clag, Highmark, Dobbs, H. That team made the Tourney. Once again, the future is now. We don't need to add stars this spring and realistically we won't. We do need to add players who will fit in well with the nucleus, contribute right away and help us make the Big Dance for Ian's senior season.

[billiken_roy]

ace, imo this team will make the ncaa tourney next year regardless of who comes in. the real vision is to not only make the tourney, but win a couple or three or four games. with continued ian improvement and continued natural maturation of our current freshmen and sophomores that might happen, but to really make it happen, the achilles heal power forward spot has to be more than adequately filled imo.

i think we are thinking the same way, but too many people are settling for options that might not make that happen imo. we need a stud at pf. imo, the closest thing we have (either signed or rumored to be possibly coming) is still obi.

[SLUNATE]

Does Bryce have what it takes to follow Ian?

[Box and Won]

Unfortunately, by the time Harris was a senior, he didn't really have much of a supporting cast around him.

[ACE]

I doubt we will land the prototypical 6-8, 240lbs power forward. What might be more realistic is to land an active, undersized jumping jack like David Robinson was as a stop gap. Even without a true 4, the rebounding has been pretty good this year (not counting the URI game). Tommie has been a rebounding machine. Who knows, we may see a little more of the twin towers next year.

[Billiken Rich]

that was a tragedy.

[Taj79]

If you look at it from the standpoint of who we lose ... that's Drejaj. I think it will tougher to replace his leadership than it will be to replace his contributions. His contributions will be missed, don't get me wrong, but the floor leadership will come from two sophomores, three juniors and a senior.

His shooting ability I'd like to see replaced by more DP, a ready-to-go LM, a more consistent DB, and then we add in Maguire and maybe Stemler. I don't think Stemler is the true four but more of a shooting three from what I can gather. I don't know that Obi is a four either so if we can grab a reboundimg JUCO I'd b eahppy with that.

You can't have all-stars at every positon. Players having a defined role and knowing what it is will go a long way. So too will a year or more under some belts. If JJ gets his religion, great. Another option. If that measn Obi can roam as a three, great again. If it means the twin towers look at time, great. I think this year has shown that the spare parts are what is needed for next year with the exception of a real four.

We didn't have a "real" four in the Claggs years. It can work. I think if we add two guys like Maguire and Stemler who can shoot, it makes less pressure for Lisch and the others as well. It makes the defense play their man honest which allows the middle to open up for Ian. I don't think we will get an "aircraft carrier" as Al McGuire used to say ... but I don't think we really need it.

[cheeseman]

I hear what all of you are saying but I still get a hint of "Brad can find a gem out there" - I just don't see it happening this year. If Brad can find a PF that will at least rebound and can give us 10-15 minutes a game I will be happy. With JJ and Obi we can make that work - sort of PF by committee. I guess, Brad could play Luke, DP and DB in AD's place and make that work somehow. The only point I am trying to make is for this team to get better next year, Brad has to find one and maybe two more serviceable players from the JUCCO ranks to bridge us until the following year if we are going to be dancing. You can forget about a transfer helping because they won't be eligible to play until 2007-08.

[BradFan]

Seems like we are on the radar screen with both Stemler and Walls. If they both came, and add in the presence of Obi, I think we can say that the 4 is settled. None will be all stars next year, but as a group, would be more than we have now.

Good point about losing ADs leadership next year. But I think Luke, TL and KL will all be stepping up as leaders next year. And for that matter, DP too. At the core of this team are really good kids who are ready to step up when needed.

[kappy96]

Charlie had a recruiting class that had Jeff Harris, David Robinson, Donnie Campbell and Carl Turner. While none of those guys were stars, they added immediate depth and fit in well with the core players - Clag, Highmark, Dobbs, H. That team made the Tourney. Once again, the future is now. We don't need to add stars this spring and realistically we won't. We do need to add players who will fit in well with the nucleus, contribute right away and help us make the Big Dance for Ian's senior season.

I agree with your point, but Brad must and I emphasize must land his most talented class to date in the fall. The momentum is there and their will be plenty of buzz surrounding next season due to the increased expectations, the arena construction. If he can't bring in the goods, Kevin and Tommie may not have the compliments they need to help us become a true national player. It is paramount we get a great class in here to play with KL and TL when they are juniors to keep the mojo rising. If not, we may end up in a situation similar to when Clag and Scottie left and the cubbard was bare. Maybe a bit extreme, but a legit concern.

[BradFan]

Your point is well taken about how critical next year will be. As things shape up here at the end of the season and the forecast looks bright for next year (Bills will certainly be one of the top picks in the preseason next year for the A-10), Brad should be in a good position. Given his track record (at Wisconsin and here), he'll make it happen.

[billiken_roy]

taj said,

"We didn't have a "real" four in the Claggs years. It can work. I think if we add two guys like Maguire and Stemler who can shoot, it makes less pressure for Lisch and the others as well. It makes the defense play their man honest which allows the middle to open up for Ian. I don't think we will get an "aircraft carrier" as Al McGuire used to say ... but I don't think we really need it."

taj, imo it depends on your vision and memory. my memory of the claggett/highmark/h/turner guard squad was all they needed was a true center or a more effective scoring inside player and that was likely at least a sweet 16 team. instead we made the tourney both years and won one out of 3 games in the tourney. that guard group was that good.

imo, we have a similar guard group lining up. it is a shame we dont have the power forward to go with ian next year already, but then the next two years you would have the experience and possibly the talent level that claggett/highmark/h/turner provided with the same frontcourtlike presense. i would hate to have history repeat itself.

[Taj79]

.. my memory is fine .... I recall those years as the possibility of going farther might have been there but that's pure speculation. Six of one, half dozen of the other ... you might believe a center/four makes them go farther than they did. There is also the other way which could have been that a four might have thrown the exterior rotation out of kilter. In either case, we just don't know so off we go.

My point was that it could work as it did with that group. With the drought we had had away from the NCAA up until that time, just showing up was good enough in year one. In year two, we won a game. that was even better and it would have been nice to continue on but it didn't. That's why I believe Hughes' one year was great in the immediate gratification sense, but a harmful one in the overall sense. We still haven't recovered form those expectations because ours is not a program that can recover from one-and-dones like a Duke, a Cincy, a Maryland or whatever.

The vision is there, I'm just getting too tired and too old to reup from anew as much as we seem to do. I would like consistency. I think in the past I defined that as going to the Dance more times than not ... say seven out of every ten or eleven years.

Someone above said this is Brad's key year for recruiting. I am not so sure I am on that page. There isn't much out there. You're above average to good kids don't wait until the Spring to sign that much. Usually, you are sifting through the sands for someone that is servicable. Having said that, I don't think there is someone out there waiting for us to come along. I get the feeling that we get used more for leverage agaisnt other schools and end up losing out on more than our fair share. A consistent winning trend will stop all that.

I still believe ours is a program that needs four year players to be successful. I think that is the way you see success in the Valley teams ... teams that have kids stick around for four years and develop as time goes on. You graduate your three to four seniors every year, but they're roles are assumed by kids already coming through the system and knowledgable of what's expected. We don't have that right now. Our studs, sans Ian, are frosh and sophs. I'll be the first to admit that I'm for our seniors heading into the sunset. I will gladly sacrifice AD's leadership for some better, more dependable ball and court skills. That is all we're losing in my book but I am not naieve enough to think it is easily replacable. Replacing the intangibles is very, very hard and a somewhat unknown science.

With what we have in Lisch, Liddell, Ian, Meyer, Brown and Husak, I think a few compiemntary parts will do the trick for next year. We still have a huge unknown in Obi. I am willing to let the JJ saga play out another year. DP has got to get better. I expect it and if it ain't there by New Year's next year, maybe its time to move on. DP plays a role, albeit a limited one if he can't shoot. Maguire is brought in slowly ... not thrust into a necessary limelight as Lisch and Liddell had to be.

I owuld be happy right now with Maguire, Stemler, Knollmeyer and the JUCO power forward. Who knows what's a-coming and who knows how it will all fit. If all we add is Maguire, well, that's not enough in my book unless Obi is fantastic and JJ finds roundball religion.

[3star_recruit]

I'd argue that a class of Maguire, Stemler and

Knollmeyer would be the most 2nd most college ready

group since Brad has been here. A distant second,

but a second nonetheless.