View Single Post
Old 03-20-2011, 03:12 AM   #24
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Despite getting two 3* players, our recruiting class slides to #248 overall. The plus is that it's the #5 class in the Northeast, continuing the steady climb from conference bottom-feeder to respectable mid-tier team.

Code:
2013 Recruiting Rankings # Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 135. Robert Morris Northeast PG Joseph Kelsey *** 0 0 1 2 2 208. Sacred Heart Northeast PG Kerry Cherry *** 0 0 1 0 2 231. Central Connecticut State Northeast SG Adrian Knight *** 0 0 1 0 1 233. Mount St. Mary's Northeast PG Francis Dionne ** 0 0 0 3 0 248. Bryant University Northeast PF Lance Tully *** 0 0 2 0 0 255. Long Island Northeast C Leon Jaynes ** 0 0 0 1 3 262. St. Francis-NY Northeast C Scott Baker ** 0 0 0 2 1 292. Fairleigh Dickinson Northeast SG Bradly Tiller ** 0 0 0 1 1 307. Wagner Northeast C Ludger Fink * 0 0 0 0 4 324. St. Francis-PA Northeast C Gerald Kohn ** 0 0 0 1 1 344. Quinnipiac Northeast C Kenneth Jones * 0 0 0 0 1 346. Monmouth Northeast SF Andrew Lheureux * 0 0 0 0 1

No offers from other schools and no change in my job security status here. One season of raised school prestige, from 3 to nearly double that at 5, isn't enough. I retain all my assistants after our best season. Besides which, I've gotten to like Cortez, John, and Malcom as people over the last few years, which would make it even harder to fire them.

With no open scholarships, we pass on transfers and of course nobody wants us for preseason tournaments.

Two scholarships available this year. Although we're losing two shooting guards, our biggest hole continues to be in the post, so Cortez, Malcolm, and I draw up a plan of attack around that. Or so we intended until we were wowed by PG Elvis Martin's numbers and his High interest in us. In fact, two 3* point guards have high interest, the first time there's been three star players that intrigued from the get-go. Our other scholarship we held back, waiting to see how our big man scouting went.

A month later, we met and Cortez said, "We're #2 on Martin's list, so let's keep pushing him hard." Then Malcom revealed his big man findings. The choice was clear: Do whatever it took to sign Spanish sensation C Joaquin Bravo. Cortez happily agreed to take our scholarship offer to Spain. I wanted to go with, but we didn't have the money to send us both, and between you, me, and the lamp post, our assistant needed the confidence boost after his French failures. It helped that we were the first school to notice Bravo. I hoped that would be enough to land him.

Bad news arrived at our next monthly meeting. Elvis Martin was getting wooed by Dartmouth, and it again looked as though we would lose to an Ivy League school, like we had so many times before. The good news was, Joaquin Bravo still had no other suitors, and Cortez was confident he could close the deal.

The status quo held for another month and just as we feared, PG Elvis Martin signed with Dartmouth in the early period. We kept working on C Joaqin Bravo, or more accurately, Cortez did, while everyone switched the PG efforts to Craig Smith, as we really did lack a floor general.

No players volunteered to redshirt, so it was all hands on deck for the coming season.

Bryant Bulldogs 2014-15 Starting Lineup
PG Hershel Gaughan (So)
Wins the starting job by virtue of being the team's best passer. Not my ideal floor general, but he's the best we've got. He has big shoes to fill in last year's team leader, Jeffery McCarron.

SG Andrew Hinshaw (Sr)*
Showed glimpses of the talent that originally made him one of the most hyped players on our team when I first arrived, but he just hasn't been able to put it together. Maybe his last year is when it finally clicks?

SF Blair Isley (Jr)*
He had steady improvement from his freshman to his sophomore year, and I'm hoping he can do the same in his third season as a starter. Great ballthief and good handling out of the 3 spot.

PF David Lilly (So)*
The team's best inside shooter, but that's not saying a whole lot. Didn't really light it up last year, and I'm wondering if he ever will. On an even slightly better team, he comes off the bench probably.

C Chris Curtiss* (Jr)
It's emblematic of our post problems that he's still a starter. Then again, you can't teach 7 feet, and he made some pretty big strides last year, racking up a good number of double-doubles.

So four out of five starters return. We still haven't done .500 overall, but we've at least done .500 in conference play. I'm hoping to get at least .500 overall this year and get names on the jerseys, but it's going to be tough without McCarron.

Our signature this year is going to be our reliance on the 3 point shot. That's our best asset.

76-49 rout loss to St. Peter's on the road to open the season. SF Blair Isley is a highlight reel with 21 points and 2 steals, but everybody else stinks.

The offense continues to embarrass in a 63-43 home opener loss to San Francisco. Freshman Napoleon "Flash" Gordon was our best player with 11 bench points. But that's not at all. PF/C Lester Henning sprains his knee and is going to be day to day for a while, but worst of all is Andrew Hinshaw dislocating his knee and going out for a month. My first ever commit, Junior Dillard, takes his place in the lineup, but it's hard to feel happy about my favorite player getting the promotion under those circumstances.

We finally break 50 points, but still lose, 71-54 at Southern. Junior Dillard scores 14 in his starting debut and Napoleon "Flash" Gordon reprises his 11 bench point performance.

Our first win of the year comes in a shocking 83-64 road upset of St. Bonaventure. Blair Isley scores 23 and Junior Dillard 17 to lead us. I'd say Junior's fairly well won the starting spot even when Hinshaw comes back.

But that's not the best news.

Cortez comes back from Girona, Spain, beaming as he hands me C Joaqin Bravo's signed letter of intent. Going to the homeland of his ancestors every month has done wonders for my recruiting director's mental and physical health. He told me Joaqin was swayed by having a Spanish-language fluent coach in Cortez and a survival Spanish coach in me. Our newest Bulldog also liked that I'd studied abroad in his country. Little things like that can go a long way to winning a young, probably nervous and excited, kid going to another country for his education.

We beat out Pittsburgh for his services, the Panthers coming in too late just like Marquette did last year with Napoleon "Flash" Gordon.

As always with our 3* recruits, the profile:

Code:
#13 C Joaquin Bravo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-8 Weight: 234 High School: Hometown: Girona, Spain GPA: 2.55 Test Score: 1110 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 62 49 23 18 23 52 53 30 32 15 24 35 39 76 70 73 Potential: A A C F D C A D B F D B Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21.2 4.5 12.0 2.7 1.9 1.46 0.2 2.6 2.7 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.3 16.1 .578 2.6 6.3 .416 0.0 0.0 .000 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Bryant University Rankings: Foreign #20 Overall, Foreign #3 C High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Bryant University, Pittsburgh

Also, at #435 overall, he officially becomes the highest rank recruit we've ever landed, Lance Tully at #483 the previous high. I should note that Napoleon Gordon was a spot behind Tully in the class at #484.

The fact that we've offered a scholarship pushes us to the top of PG Craig Smith's list, and we schedule a campus visit for the North Carolina native in hopes of locking him up.

December begins with a 73-63 road loss to Kansas State. No shame in losing to a Big 12 team by just 10 points. Junior Dillard continues his hot form with 16 points and 8 rebounds as our only star.

Harvard beats us 71-56 on our turf despite 12 and 11 points from Blair Isley and Hershel Gaughan. As if that wasn't enough Junior Dillard sprains his ankle badly enough that he's going to miss a few games. Napoleon "Flash" Gordon takes over as the starter at SG, our third this season.

We got New York and lose a close, 72-68 game to Columbia, making us 0-2 against the Ivy League this year on the court. Blair Isley just misses a double-double with 18 points and 9 rebounds and David Lilly isn't far behind with 18 points, 8 rebounds. Napoleon "Flash" Gordon shot a horrible 2 of 10 and showed bad nerves in his first start.

Fortunately for all involved, Andrew Hinshaw is back for our next game, and we rout Albany 93-73 in our best outing of the year. Hinshaw erupts for 24 points and Chris Curtiss has his top game in a long time with 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Junior Dillard returns the game after, but I keep riding Andrew Hinshaw's hot hand, and the latter's 14 points and 8 rebounds, and Chris Curtiss's 15 points get us the 70-55 road win over Coppin State.

A rare home victory comes with an ugly 64-46 beatdown of Wofford. The only pleasurable viewing on the court was Blair Isley's 15 points. Bad basketball on display for sure.

New Year's Eve is also our first conference game of the season, a trek to play Robert Morris. The Colonials beat us 85-75 to snap our three game winning streak. Blair Isley played great for 21 points and Junior Dillard didn't miss a shot all night, going 4/4 and 6 of 6 from the free throw line for 16 bench points.

Although I'm disappointed with the loss, our December showing gave me hope this season isn't going to be a trainwreck after all. Furthmore, much like the end of November, the end of December brought good news.

PG Craig Smith of Charles D. Owen High in Black Mountain, NC, committed. In doing so, we beat out his wishlist of Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, and Creighton, the powerhouses who just weren't all that into him.

He, too, is 3*, and would have beaten Lance Tully's recruit ranking record.

Code:
#5 PG Craig Smith -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-3 Weight: 193 High School: Charles D. Owen High School Hometown: Black Mountain, NC GPA: 2.36 Test Score: 960 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 35 9 50 60 34 64 26 21 33 44 7 23 91 24 48 69 Potential: D D B B C B D D C C D C Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13.1 2.0 7.5 7.7 2.3 3.33 0.9 0.9 2.1 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 12.1 .450 1.0 1.3 .800 1.2 4.7 .255 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Bryant University Rankings: None High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Bryant University, Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, Creighton

I'll just note that he would already be our best passer, which is the reason why we were so hot to get him.

And finally, the conference standings after the first game:

Code:
2014 Northeast Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sacred Heart 1 0 1.000 6 6 .500 196 22 St. Francis-NY 1 0 1.000 5 6 .455 223 17 Monmouth 1 0 1.000 4 7 .364 148 22 Robert Morris 1 0 1.000 4 8 .333 313 33 Quinnipiac 1 0 1.000 3 7 .300 163 31 St. Francis-PA 1 0 1.000 3 9 .250 240 10 Bryant University 0 1 .000 4 7 .364 93 5 Fairleigh Dickinson 0 1 .000 4 7 .364 242 20 Wagner 0 1 .000 3 8 .273 272 27 Mount St. Mary's 0 1 .000 3 8 .273 326 24 Long Island 0 1 .000 2 10 .167 285 13 Central Connecticut State 0 1 .000 1 11 .083 319 23

Notice we're slowly starting to close the gap between us and St. Francis (PA). We'll also pass up Long Island if their decline of the past few seasons keeps going.
__________________
2006 Golden Scribe Nominee
2006 Golden Scribe Winner
Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)

Rookie Writer of the Year
Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)
Izulde is offline   Reply With Quote