October 1, 2018
Here's an update on the players we're recruiting, and it's not pretty at all.
James Zimmer: The Virginia big man is still considering American and Lafayette. The Eagles are still listed at #1, but James' interest has been upgraded to High. I'm going to see this fight through to the finish, sending our coaches to visit him again.
Jonathan Baldwin: The situation looks just like it did last month. We're still the only program who has offered him a scholarship, and we're still in the pole position. Perhaps one more month's worth of recruiting will get it done.
Horace Lucas: We're not in quite as good a position with this talented wing. St. Joseph's, always one of his favorite schools, has offered him now. We're running third, behind St. Joe's and George Mason, and Horace expresses Average interest in playing for us.
Eddie Dahlberg: See above. We're battling Providence and Villanova, both of whom have offered Eddie, and his interest level is Average.
Harold Kucera: Suddenly, we're third on Horace's list, too! Out of nowhere, offers from Fairleigh Dickinson and Quinnipiac have turned his head, and he's downgraded his interest to High. Their Prestige scores combined are still lower than Lafayette's.
Now I'm stumped. I really don't want to screw this recruiting season up. There are two players in the nation who have Very High interest in playing for us. One of them is Baldwin. The other is a one-star guard whose national ranking is in the 1400s. Our walk-ons are better than he is.
The last time we had five scholarships to offer, we signed
Richard Leak(*),
Raleigh McGinty (**),
Johnathan Blouin (***),
Samuel Davis (**), and
Otis Hall (*). The highest-rated player, Blouin, has been useful, but he hasn't been a star. Leak is our starting point guard. Hall has been a first team All-Patriot League player. Davis has been a TWO-TIME first team All-Patriot League player. Am I becoming so drawn to players with lots of stars that I've stopped looking for players with the right attributes for our program?
I revoke our offers to Lucas and Dahlberg. Too many things have to change in our favor for us to sign them. I'll stick with Kucera and Zimmer for one more month. I think they'll sign with someone by then, and hopefully it will be Lafayette.
I decide to see if there are any good players who haven't received any offers yet. I manage to find a handful who look promising, whose stats indicate they might be our kind of player.
Matt Robles is a center from Michigan whose stats indicate he's a high-percentage shooter and a very good rebounder and shot blocker.
John Gillard, a wing from South Carolina, averages 28 points and 6 rebounds a game. Both are three-star players. Both Matt and John have bigger programs on their lists, but so far their love is unrequited. I decide to offer them right away, before someone else can pounce, and spend as much recruiting capital on them as I can.
I'll wait to tell you more about Robles and Gillard for now. If they sign with us, they'll get the full measure of love.
Recruiting in FBCB is maddeningly enjoyable!
