NIT & Projected lineup next season

[tornado]

Jim did a fantastic job at finding some real diamonds in the rough.

I agree completely.
Jim Les' job of rebuilding the BU program and logging back to back 20-win seasons, as well as a Sweet 16 finish,
has all been accomplished with very few TOP LEVEL recruits.
Other than Cellus, I don't know of even ONE of BU's incoming players in Jim Les' first three years were even 2-star recruits.
Most were unheralded and not hotly pursued.
(Patrick O'Bryant was a Zero-Star recruit! So were Jeremy Crouch and Will Franklin.)
As I noted elsewhere, Ruffin, Boogie, Zach, POB, Tony Bennett, DA, Jeremy Crouch, Will Franklin, and others all had fine talent and were great D-I players, but all were generally overlooked by other programs.
Most of those guys had few if any other decent D-I offers, but Jim Les knew they could play.

Now we are looking at an unprecedented batch of 3-Star recruits all coming in at one time.
As many as six Rivals 3-Star recruits (Maniscalco, Buycks, DeAaron, Fears, Anthony Thompson, and Ray Brown) will be on the active roster next season, 2007-2008.

Even Xavier Crawford, possibly due at BU in 2008, is another Rivals 3-Star, and both Daniel West and Will Egolf are 2-Star recruits that border on being 3-Star.

PS-- Rashad Austin is also a Rivals 3-Star, and I think we will be hearing something on him soon.

[BUBraves2006]

T,

You're one of the gurus of information here. I don't know if it's possible to look back a few years, but what were guys like Matt Shaw, Tatum, Funk, etc. rated? I know this would take a little research but it'd be interesting if there is anything comparable in the conference to this many good recruits coming in at once.

With this many good players coming in, do you see any of them as potential all-freshman team players?

There are many different routes to development as a college player. Two great players, Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver had almost zero impact in their freshman year and look where they are now. Two other all-conference performers, Blake Ahearn and Jamaal Tatum were both All-freshman team selections four years ago (Ahearn won FOY).

[georgethedog]

When are we going to get to the point when we don't have to rely so heavily on junior college transfers to help carry the team? I realize that many factors go into this whole thing.

There is usually an adjustment period with these guys. Look at Andews and Salley. They both took quite awhile (5-10 games) to make much of an impact. Others in recent years have had less of an adjustment (Bennett, Wright).

Is it just me or don't you all think that these junior college guys should be generally counted on as second or third options (depending on their respective position)? I really hope that after we can get some experience next year with Egolf, Thompson, etc. This way we can turn to them and not have to HOPE that a scholarship opens up because we have no depth at the position.

It just seems like we're playing the "free agent market" to look for a quick fix a lot, someone who can only help for a bit instead of "developing within." Junior college transfers can be important and I'm not saying there are no use for them. Some of the guys I mentioned were critical to us succeeding the past two seasons. I just hope that Jim Les can keep guessing right with these players because of the small window you have for them on the team.

We would not even be having this discussion if POB stayed until he graduated.

[Chico]

Boy, do I agree with you Georgethedog, when it comes to POB, but, Dick Versace rebuilt the Bradley program by going the Junior College route, nothing wrong with that. If you build it they will come.

[tornado]

T,

You're one of the gurus of information here. I don't know if it's possible to look back a few years, but what were guys like Matt Shaw, Tatum, Funk, etc. rated? I know this would take a little research but it'd be interesting if there is anything comparable in the conference to this many good recruits coming in at once.

With this many good players coming in, do you see any of them as potential all-freshman team players?

There are many different routes to development as a college player. Two great players, Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver had almost zero impact in their freshman year and look where they are now. Two other all-conference performers, Blake Ahearn and Jamaal Tatum were both All-freshman team selections four years ago (Ahearn won FOY).

It's actually easier than you might think, BUB2006

Just go to Rivals and do a search, and they allow you to search ever graduating class back to 2002.

Here are some results from Rivals:
Jamaal Tatum (2003) was a Zero-Star recruit, only a few mid-majors offered him

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=10767

Nate Funk (2002) was a Zero-Star recruit that apparently only Creighton was much interested in

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=10260

Anthony Tolliver (2003) was a GOOD 3-STAR recruit

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=12424

Matt Shaw came from a smaller school and was not that highly regarded, and was a Zero-Star recruit in 2004.

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=22034

Here are some other guys and their Rivals rankings:
For Drake, Chaun Brooks (2003) was 3-Star, Nick Grant (2003) was 2-Star, Klayton Korver was zero-Star.

For Evansville Kyle Anslinger, Matt Webster, and Brad Strickland (all 2003) were all zero-Star. Evansville did have two 3-Star recruits in 2003 & 2004 but they had problems and didn't play.

For Indiana State David Moss (2002)was Zero-Star

For Illinois State Chris Burras (2002) was 3-Star but left ISU and was never very good, Khalif Ford (2004) was 3-Star, Nedu Onyeuku (2004) was 3-Star, and Marcus Arnold (2002) was Zero-Star.
All Of ISU's other recruits, Dilligard, Carlwell, Plank, were Zero-Star.

For Missouri State Blake Ahearn (2002) was 3-Star
Deven Mitchell, Sky Frazier, and Tyler Chaney were all 2003 and were ALL 3-Star...that was a pretty good recruiting class by Barry!

For UNI Ben Jacobson was Zero-Star, John Little was Zero-Star (both 2002), Josten, McKowen, Viet, Stout, and Crawford (all 2003) and Eric Coleman (2003) were all Zero-Star.

For Wichita State Matt Braeuer (2004) was Zero-Star,
Ogirri and Kyle Wilson (2004) were both 3-Star.

For Creighton Johnnie Mathies (2003) was 2-Star, Dane Watts (2004) was Zero-Star

For SIU Tony Young (2002) was Zero-Star, Falker (2003) was Zero-Star, Clemmons and Shaw (2004) were Zero-Star.

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/prosearch.asp?sport=2&sid=910

Scout has a similar search tool and they do have some rankings different generally giving 1 or 2 stars to anyone who goes D-I, such as Dilligard being 2-Star and Crouch and POB being 2-Star, and Boogie being 1-Star.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=10&cfg=bb&yr=2004

Just adjust the year and search by school in the advanced search below...try it it's fun!

One interesting thing, tho is that scout DOES NOT even list Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver in their data bases as if they didn't think much of either one when they were in high school!

[Da Coach]

OK, since I spent the time looking this up, I'll post it anyway, but I should have known tornado would beat me to it--

I don't know if it's possible to look back a few years, but what were guys like Matt Shaw, Tatum, Funk, etc. rated? I know this would take a little research but it'd be interesting if there is anything comparable in the conference to this many good recruits coming in at once.

With this many good players coming in, do you see any of them as potential all-freshman team players?

There are many different routes to development as a college player. Two great players, Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver had almost zero impact in their freshman year and look where they are now. Two other all-conference performers, Blake Ahearn and Jamaal Tatum were both All-freshman team selections four years ago (Ahearn won FOY).

Recruiting is not an exact science, and I believe most college coaches know as much or more about kids and recruiting that these so-called recruiting experts know. But here are some of the answers to your question.

Jamal Tatum- he was not very highly recruited out of high school--
2-stars by Scout-

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=327427

Zero stars by Rivals-

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=10767

Randall Falker- also not very highly recruited--
2-stars by Scout-

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=366061

Zero stars by Rivals-

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=15902

Tony Young- got very little Division I interest--
Not listed in Scout database
Zero-star recruit by Rivals-

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=10008

Matt Shaw- he was a little higher recruit--
3-stars by Scout-

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=447738

Zero stars by Rivals-

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=22034

Nick Porter- recruited out of junior college to Creighton with 3 years of eligibility--
2-star recruit by Scout-

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1235282

Nate Funk- not very highly regarded and highly recruited out of high school-
He was not even listed in the Scout database.
Zero stars by Rivals-

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=10260

Anthony Tolliver-
Not listed in Scout database, either.
Zero-star recruit by Rivals--

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=12424

So all these outstanding MVC players developed into the players they are, and were not so highly regarded players coming out of high school, or JC.