Hoop coaches hit the road to recruit
Local staffs plot strategy for signings
For college basketball coaches across the country, July is the travel-centric month of 14-hour days, red-eye flights and little sleep with the hopes of signing for the fall of 2009 the next Jonny Jump Shot.
“We’re all going to see a lot of basketball players in July,” said Niagara coach Joe Mihalich. “But they have to be the right players.”
Niagara has only one senior on the roster for 2008-09, center Benson Egemonye, but Mihalich and his staff must look to the Class of 2010 as well when he must replace five players.
“We’re trying to find the right balance somehow,” Mihalich said. “We have this available scholarship, do we bring a player in? Do we save one?”
This summer Niagara needs to replace Egemonye while keeping a close eye on next summer when guards Tyrone Lewis, Bilal Benn, Rob Garrison and forwards Kamau Gordon and Demetrius Williamson depart.
Ian Hummer, a 6-foot-6 center from Washington, D. C., is considering Niagara and James Madison. Dominique Langston, a 6-3 swingman from Bridgeport, Conn., is also considering Niagara as well as Rutgers, Penn State, Quinnipiac and Rider among others.
Second-year St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt has one scholarship remaining and could use it on a transfer late this summer, but if he doesn’t he will carry it over to next season when he has to replace forwards Tyler Benson and D’Lancy Carter. One of the scholarships could be used on forward/center Jake Houseknecht, a 6-8 preferred walk-on from Olean.
This summer, Schmidt is recruiting a long, athletic swingman who can score and perhaps a point guard but whether he signs one is going to depend largely on the development of sophomore Malcolm Eleby.
“You never know what you have with the players you have coming in until you go through the season,” Schmidt said. “We need to really find out about the guys coming back. I’m a firm believer in kids making the biggest strides between their freshman and sophomore years. You look at a kid like Malcolm Eleby. Can he make that next step? If he does, we don’t need to bring in a guy at that position.”
Landing a wing player is a priority. Last season, the Bonnies didn’t have anyone to defend swingmen such as Massachusetts’ Gary Forbes, Temple’s Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale and Saint Joseph’s Pat Calathes. So Schmidt signed junior college transfers Lewis Leonard and Jonathan Hall. When they are seniors, Schmidt wants a freshman preparing to step into that spot when they depart. The Bonnies are in pursuit of Brandon Romain, a 6-3 guard from Brooklyn who is reportedly considering attending prep school at Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N. C, in the fall. A rangy, slashing guard with an exceptional wingspan, Romain also lists George Mason, Rhode Island, Penn State and Quinnipiac as schools that are recruiting him.
Canisius coach Tom Parrotta has one scholarship left to give for 2008-09, and could add a transfer or an international frontcourt player this summer.
“If the right thing comes along, we’ll look to pull the trigger,” he said.
He could hold the scholarship until the fall and have two to give, including one to replace senior guard Willie Hassell. Or Parrotta could elect to use one for walk-on Bob Bevilacqua, the Canisius High grad who started 17 games last season and was the team’s fourth-leading scorer.
A source said that Parrotta also lined up verbal commitments from a pair of rising juniors who would replace center Chris Gadley and shooting guard Jovan Robinson, getting him ahead of the game and leaving him one scholarship to give next year to replace point guard Frank Turner.
It’s probably good that Parrotta isn’t as busy on the recruiting trail this summer. He has a young team returning that needs to be nurtured, and a team trip to Italy to prepare for (Aug. 14-24), while assistant coach Lazare Adingono is coaching the Cameroon National Team in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
“We’re not going to take the normal approach where every day in the recruiting period we’re out some place,” Parrotta said. “We don’t have to. We’re really ahead in the recruiting game.”
UB coach Reggie Witherspoon has four scholarships and needs two wings, a point guard and a post player to replace Andy Robinson, Greg Gamble, Vadim Fedotov and Brian Addison. One scholarship will be given to shooting guard Zach Filzen, a transfer from Northern Arizona who is sitting out the 2008-09 season.
Shooting guards Tywon Clarke from Connecticut and Blake Davis from Arizona list UB among their choices. Romain also lists UB as does 6-6 power forward Will Carpenter from Winston Salem, N. C., point guard Cory Joseph from Toronto, power forward Maurice Walker from Toronto and guard Robbie Dreher from South Carolina.
“We’ve honed in on some people, we used the spring to do that, but we have some more players that we’ll look at and evaluate,” Witherspoon said.
Syracuse has to take a different approach to recruiting than the schools in the Big 4. Not only does Jim Boeheim have to fill needs, but he has to take into account players leaving early for the NBA. Boeheim has to replace forwards Kristof Ongenaet and Arinze Onuaku, but perhaps shooting guard Eric Devendorf in the unlikely event he’s not given an additional season because of a knee injury, and the Niagara Falls pair of swingman Paul Harris and Jonny Flynn if they turn pro.
“Paul and Jonny may have that opportunity and you have to do what’s best to protect the program,” said Boeheim, who is also serving this summer as an assistant on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff for the Olympics. “It’s tough, but that’s the reality we face as coaches.”
A host of players are considering Syracuse, including small forwards Jordan Hamilton of Dominguez High in Los Angeles and Mike Goodman from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, shooting guards Brandon Triche (nephew of former SU starter Howard Triche) from Jamesville-Dewitt High, power forward Glenn Bryant from Oak Hill (Va.) Academy and point guard Ramon Galloway of Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) High.
