READY FOR PRIME TIME?

[PointGuard]

Rather itchy in this case.

[Wayne23]

Just the way you like it!

[PointGuard]

Rather itchy in this case.

[PointGuard]

PointGuard NOTE:

OK, I burned the way, way, way-past-midnight oil to get beyond my self-created SNAFU and completed the summer/autumn recruiting. I’m going to break up the results into 3 separate posts, one post would just be too long and more than anyone really wants to go through.

Warning on the side of the DDSCB2021 Box: Doing the recruiting on your own for a whole bunch of teams in a Universe Mode association is NOT for the faint of heart. If you have a family and/or a job and/or a life, it’s ill-advised.

[PointGuard]

Dipak Suresh (part 1 of 3)

I'm kind of a basketball junkie. I played high school basketball...well I played, but not exactly played well. I was on the Freshman team, then the JV team and finally made the varsity team as a bench warmer mostly. But my love for the game remains.

I went to graduate school with Ramon Montez and Mike McMillan and the three of us were (and still are) very good friends. Lots of good times together. When the two of them became head coaches of Division I teams I was ecstatic. I later learned that they forged a little “new coaches club” together with Ken Yamoto, Dontell Spencer and Terry Morillo. The more I found out about that from Ramon and Mike, the more interested I became in keeping track of the five with the aim of eventually writing a best-selling book that will chronicle their development and coaching careers. I finally was able to contact all five to let them know what I wanted to do. It took a while to gain all their trust, but now I’m able to talk with each of them and they’ve been very open with what they’re doing and experiencing.

This past summer I’ve touched base with each of the five coaches to find out about their recruiting efforts. A common concern of all of them at one point or another was that even though some recruits were showing initial interest, they were having an extremely tough time building the level of interest to the point where the coaches thought they had a chance to get any of the recruits they were pursuing to commit to their schools.

It’s now early September. The “contact” period of recruiting is just around the corner…four weeks when the coaches can do home visits to recruits. This is the time when the coaches can talk face-to-face with key recruits and their parents with the goal of “making the sale” on themselves, their basketball programs, and their universities. The coaches can they extend scholarship offers to those recruits they want and feel they have a chance of getting verbal commitments from.

Here’s the “inside info” that I’ve gathered from the coaches on the types of recruits they are zeroing in on…they wouldn’t divulge names of the recruits, just some generalities on who they will be visiting the first week:

Coach Ramon Montez, Alcorn State: With 4 scholarships to offer, his primary focus is upon SF’s and SG’s. The first week he’s visiting 4 recruits, the first 3 are from MS and the 4th is from FL…the first is a SF who was in the top 25 at the Memphis Hoop Summit but whose work ethic is a little suspect; the second is a SF who is not highly rated but is a hard worker and really likes Alcorn St.; the third is another SF who is a good shooter and passer but whose interest level in Alcorn St. hasn’t been particularly strong since he wasn’t impressed with the school’s facilities, so he’s a long-shot; the fourth is a SG who also is probably a long-shot but is a great outside shooter and very good passer and ball handler.

Coach Terry Morillo, Western Illinois: Has 3 scholarships and would like to fill them with a PG, SG and a big man. The four he’s visiting are: a C from Illinois who is great defensively and a good inside scorer but wants good facilities which Western Illinois doesn’t have; a SG from Illinois who’s a great outside shooter and a pretty good defender but who wants good facilities and discipline which aren’t strengths for Terry but he’ll focus on location; an athletic PG from Indiana who is a strong passer and ball handler with a good outside shot; a C from Illinois who is a good defender and scorer.

Coach Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego: Has just one scholarship to offer and wants a PG. He’s visiting: a SG from Alaska with good passing and ball handling skills who’s scores well from outside and is a strong rebounder; a PG from CA who’s a good scorer, defender, and rebounder and is a hard worker; another PG from CA who is an exceptionally hard worker with a nice outside shot and good passing and ball handling skills; a PG from AZ who is an excellent passer, good ball handler, very good defender, and is a good scorer from outside.

Coach Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore: 2 scholarships and prefers to get a SF and a big man. He will be visiting: a C from Maryland who is a good rebounder and shot blocker with good inside shooting skills; a SF from Maryland who shoots well from outside and is a good rebounder and passer with a great work ethic; a JC C from Virginia who’s a hard worker and good scorer from inside and strong defensively; a JC C from Pennsylvania with good shooting skills from both inside and outside who is a strong rebounder and shot blocker.

Coach Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Has 5 scholarships to fill and wants 3 big men, a SF and a PG. He’s visiting 4 recruits from Arkansas: an athletic PG with good passing and ball handling skills who is also a good outside scorer; a SF who is a great leader and is a good scorer with an outstanding outside shot and has strong defensive skills; a C who’s a very good inside scorer but also can hit from outside; a C with excellent defensive skills and strong inside scoring abilities.

[JoFleecy]

I don't envy the task of recruiting for these five. I can see myself going cross-eyed. I also don't envy Yamoto leaving sunny San Diego for Alaska on a recruiting trip in September. But I am rooting for that SG.

[PointGuard]

Dipak Suresh (part 2 of 3)

2nd Week:

Alcorn State: Got verbal from 6’8” SF Garrick Grace and has another SF who seems close. Returning to visit one of the SF and the SG plus visiting two different SF’s.

Western Illinois: Got verbal from 6’8” C Craig Grant and returning to the other 2 C’s previously visited. Also visiting another SG and PG.

UC-San Diego: Decided to drop the SG who was visited the first week due to concerns about his grades and potential for meeting the school’s high SAT standards. Revisting a PG plus visiting 3 different PG’s.

MD-Eastern Shore: Revisited the same four recruits.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Got verbals from 6’4” SF Dan Jefferson and 6’1” JC PG Darrin Randolph. Revisiting a C visited last week plus a new SF, C, and PF.

3rd Week:

Alcorn State: Got verbals from 6’2” SG Craig Brown and 6’8” SF Harold Hein. Revisited a SF and visited 2 new SF’s and a SG.

Western Illinois: Revisted PG and SG plus a new PF and C.

UC-San Diego: Received Verbal from 6’5” PG Kevin White. No other scholarships to offer.

MD-Eastern Shore: Revisited PF and C plus new PF and SF.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Revisited 2 C’s and a new SF.

4th Week:

Alcorn State: Revisited 2 SF’s and SG plus a new C.

Western Illinois: Revisited the same 4.

UC-San Diego: No more scholarships to offer.

MD-Eastern Shore: Revisted 2 SF’s and C plus a new SF.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Got verbals from 6’7” C Travis Vines and 6’9” C Chris Betts. Revisited SF.]

[Wayne23]

This is more work than I'd want to do. I think I tried it once and I didn't last long.

[PointGuard]

This is more work than I'd want to do. I think I tried it once and I didn't last long.

Wayne, actually it isn't all that much work when I go back to how I originally set this up. If I SIM recruiting (SIM Summer) and SIM all the games (now when using Universe Mode that Gary created for CB21) it goes pretty quick. I sim everything when having multiple teams not only to be able to get through seasons more quickly but also so I don't favor one coach/team over another. Universe Mode makes moving thru seasons for multiple teams so much easier than it was previously.

Of course, the more I write up the association, the more time it takes.

When I went contrary to my original plan for this association and did the recruiting this past summer for each team, I didn't have to worry about favoring one team over another because each of the 5 teams was in a different state and even different regions..since they are all low prestige programs with not much of a budget, none of them would be looking outside their region and recruits from outside the region aren't interested in them. But yeah, doing recruiting each week for 5 teams isn't my idea of a lark in the park.

[PointGuard]

Dipak Suresh (part 3 of 3)

October 16th:

Each of the five coaches have filled all their scholarships and have completed recruiting unless any of the recruits have SAT scores that do not meet their school’s minimum. They all seem to be pretty satisfied with the recruits who have committed and feel that these recruits will fill upcoming needs for their teams.

Alcorn State: All 4 scholarships filled.

*SG Craig Brown, JC Soph from Pensacola, FL. Rated #873. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Ball handling.
*SF Harold Hein, HS Sr from Collinsville, MS. Rated #371. Strengths: Inside shooting, Stealing, Passing, Athleticism. Top 25 at Memphis Hoops Summit.
*SF David Pryce, HS Sr from Shannon, MS. Rated #471. Strengths: Defense, Scoring, Outside and Inside Shooting, Athleticism.
*SF Darrick Grace, HS Sr from Bruce, MS. Rated #1338. Strengths: Outside and inside shooting, Ball handling, Hard worker.

Western Illinois: All 3 available scholarships filled.

*C Craig Grant, HS Sr from Concord, IL. Rated #695. Strengths: Inside shooting, Defense, Scoring.
*SG Mike Noyola, HS Sr from Glen Ellyn, IL. Rated #562. Strengths: Outside shooting, Scoring, Defense.
*C William Byams, HS Sr from Chicago, IL. Rated #387. Strengths: Inside shooting, Rebounding, Passing, Scoring.

UC-San Diego: Filled the single available scholarship.

*PG Kevin White, HS Sr from Scottsdale, AZ. Rated #446. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Defense, Ball handling.

MD-Eastern Shore: Filled all 2 scholarships

*SF Jair Jupiter, HS Sr from Washington, MD. Rated # 470. Strengths: Outside Shooting, Passing, Rebounding, Stealing. Tremendous work ethic.
*SF Frank Reed, JC Soph from Naples, ME. Rated #611. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Rebounding.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff: All 5 scholarships filled.

*PG Darrin Randolph, JC Soph from Lake Village, AR. Rated #1482. Strengths: Athleticism, Outside shooting, Passing, Ball Handing. Tremendous work ethic.
*SF Dan Jefferson, HS Sr from Mansfield, AR. Rated #370. Strengths: Outside and inside shooting, Scoring, Defense, Athleticism. Great leader.
*C Travis Vines, HS Sr from Greenbrier, AR. Rated #1752. Strengths: Inside and outside shooting, Defense, Scoring.
*C Chris Betts, HS Sr from Mountain Pine, AR. Rated #945. Strengths: Inside and outside shooting, Scoring, Defense.
*SF Jamar Brown, JC Soph from West Palm Beach, FL. Rated #632. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Rebounding, Athleticism.

PointGuard NOTE:

Hah! No extra walk-ons for the 5 coaches this time! All scholarships have been filled.
But now the association has been returned to the AI to sim for remainder of this association and the future.