BU recruit-class of 2008- Varez Ward

[Da Coach]

Bradley has been recruiting this kid for a long time, but he just now finally shows up on the Rivals recruiting site as being recruited by Bradley.
Varez Ward is a skilled 6'2" shooting guard at the Patterson School, a prep school in Patterson, NC. He is a teammate of Darius Johnson-Odom, who at one time was also a BU recruit, and visited Bradley for a game a few weeks ago. He is originally from Montgomery, Alabama, and is rated 3-stars by Rivals and Scout.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=47320

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3291635

[Da Coach]

Rivals just posted a new article that discusses Varez Ward. He is a key component to the Patterson School (prep school in Patterson, NC) and their perfect season. They are an incredible 30-0 this season.

It is a premium article--

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=777352

In this article, Varez Ward says he is down to 4 schools-
Bradley, Cincinnati, Kentucky and UTEP. However, only Bradley, Cincinnati, and UTEP have offered.
He says he already visited UTEP, and wants to visit the others after the season is over.
He is averaging 16 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds, and mainly plays the 2-guard position! He has been playing more point guard lately, and says that is what he wants to play in college. However, there are 2 other D1 quality point guards on the team, Courtney Fortson (a 4-star recruit who BU recruited and has committed to Arkansas) and Darius Johnson-Odom (who BU had been recruiting and visited a game earlier this season).

Profile--

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=47320

[Da Coach]

Varez Ward had considered Cincinnati his #1 choice, but that may have changed since Cincinnati just got a verbal committment from Chicago high school guard Dion Dixon.
A new premium article on Rivals about Ward reports that he is getting interest from Kentucky--

http://www.chicagosports.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=781623

Kentucky is interested in having Ward visit, though they have not offered the 3-star guard. His top 5 are Cincinnati, Kentucky, UAB, UTEP, and Bradley. The other 4 have offered him. He says he doesn't have a favorite right now. He is averaging a team-high 15.5 ppg for The Patterson School, a prep school in North Carolina. They start play in a national prep school tournament this weekend. He plans to make his visits after his season ends.

Profile--

http://www.chicagosports.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=47320

[BradleyBrave]

I can't see him having much interest in BU after the commitment of another 6'2" guard who looks to be playing right away in Dodie Dunson.

[Da Coach]

Actually, I think they like the style BU plays, and the fact that it is a guard oriented system that employs 4 or 5 guards in the rotation would appeal to him, even with the Dunson signing. The bigger problem might be the fact that he is from the south, and the cold weather might work against BU. Let's hope if he comes for a visit, we get a nice weather weekend.

Unless Kentucky comes through with an offer, I don't see the other offers he has as much superior to Bradley's. So maybe he's still in the picture.

[thefish7]

I'll always welcome any new recruit... But, I guess my hope is that we don't intend to be running all these 4 and 5 guard sets unless we have to, or for the occasional mismatch.

[BradleyBrave]

Actually, I think they style BU plays, and the fact that it is a guard oriented system that employs 4 or 5 guards in the rotation would appeal to him, even with the Dunson signing. The bigger problem might be the fact that he is from the south, and the cold weather might work against BU. Let's hope if he comes for a visit, we get a nice weather weekend.

Unless Kentucky comes through with an offer, I don't see the other offers he has as much superior to Bradley's. So maybe he's still in the picture.

While I agree with you in that viewpoint of what a recruit 'should' see when looking at BU, I am afraid that other schools may use our current guard depth (Maniscalco, Warren, Cole-Scott returning) and our incoming class thus far (McCain, Roberts, Dunson - all guards) against us, even if our style and system are a better fit.

Heck, Marcus Sikes and Roy Bright couldn't see that BU was the better fit, and we had NO ONE standing in their way as far as playing time goes. Sometimes I wonder what kids really look at when assessing a school. I'm sure the answers would amaze us.

[dogsrus]

While I agree with you in that viewpoint of what a recruit 'should' see when looking at BU, I am afraid that other schools may use our current guard depth (Maniscalco, Warren, Cole-Scott returning) and our incoming class thus far (McCain, Roberts, Dunson - all guards) against us, even if our style and system are a better fit.

Heck, Marcus Sikes and Roy Bright couldn't see that BU was the better fit, and we had NO ONE standing in their way as far as playing time goes. Sometimes I wonder what kids really look at when assessing a school. I'm sure the answers would amaze us.

Gave me an idea....

[real fan]

I believe the biggest obstacle BU has in recruiting is we need to get these potential players to Carver for a game as it is hard for them to understand how much better Bradley"s support is then a lot of the other schools when they visit before or after the season as I think the most impressive thing we have going is the amount of fan support at the games.

[Da Coach]

real fan-
The coaches know this and will try to get their recruits in town for a visit. Unfortunately, our season is over (unless we get a home game in the NIT or other tournament), but there are still ways to show a recruit what the Bradley experience is like. They have plenty of recruiting videos and other things they can show them.

Chris Roberts came to Peoria last April with no idea what kind of support BU basketball has. He was blown away with what he saw and committed before he left.

Varez Ward's team is still involved in a postseason prep school tournament. When that's over, he will line up visits, according to the last article about him. I also expect other BU recruits to be on the Hilltop next week or later.

[ER3]

Here's a video of Varez Ward with a steal and a dunk in the state championship game during his junior year in HS...
Not much, but thought I would post it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJD7CwFoeV8

[tornado]

Here's a report today on Varez Ward from the National Prep Championships

"Varez Ward ??“ Patterson School: With Patterson getting very little inside from
Matt Simpkins, it fell on Ward on the rest of the backcourt to pick up their
games. The unsigned senior certainly did that as his quick first step and
powerful frame allowed him to get into the lane and finish against contact."

http://indiana.scout.com/2/735250.html

[buman2011]

Coach, just so you know Chris came in the end of Sept., not April, one of just a few facts you have gotten wrong here....

[Da Coach]

Yes, that's right, thanks for keeping us honest. Chris visited in September and committed while he was here. I met him with a bunch of the other posters at the tailgate party prior to a soccer game.
I was confusing the start of the soccer season, with the start of baseball season.

[Big Mike]

Ward commits today to a big east team....

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=2&c=739283&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fscouthoops.scout.com%2f2%2f739283.html

too bad he wasn't at the game last night he might have changed his mind

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=47320