Recruiting Stories

[DaytonBuck]

The fall of once-mighty St. John's


QUEENS, N.Y. -- Now this is what college should look like.


It's a spectacular fall day, with nary a cloud in the sky, and undergraduates are blissfully milling about campus. They're sprawled on blankets across a vast lawn, chatting around tables while ignoring opened textbooks, ambling in and out of picturesque brick buildings. You'd expect this to be the scene at most colleges in America, but probably not this one. That's because this is St. John's University, the urban Catholic school located in the heart of Queens.



Though St. John's is still commonly referred to as a "commuter school," this year more than 3,000 of the 15,000-plus undergraduates are living on campus. The new housing has enabled the university to attract students from all over the world, yet many aficionados of St. John's basketball will tell you that the construction of these dorms has damaged the hoops program in a fundamental way.

Here's why: NCAA rules permit schools to give their scholarship athletes a cash stipend to cover living expenses. If a school doesn't have dormitories, the amount of the stipend is calculated according to the cost of living in that school's neighborhood. Best of all, the NCAA allows schools to dispense the full amount regardless of what an athlete's actual living expenses are. That means a local player attending St. John's could either live at home and pocket the entire amount of the stipend, or he could bunk up with several of his teammates, pay well under the stipend amount in rent, and pocket the difference. For decades, this was St. Johns's dirty little secret -- only it wasn't really dirty because it was fully sanctioned by the NCAA.

Certainly there were many, many reasons for local kids to play for St. John's -- the chance to stay near home, play in Madison Square Garden and be taught by Hall of Fame-bound coaches like Joe Lapchick and Lou Carnesecca, for starters. But the promise of extra spending money was a very nice little plum. However, once St. John's built dormitories, those rooms became the standard of living, dropping the amount of the stipend so much that it was no longer worth it for players to live off campus. This season, all but two members of the Red Storm are living either in the dorms or in university-owned apartments

CNNSI

Long article but an interesting read. Never knew that about theJohnnies but I'm sure a stipend with NYC cost of living would be a nice bonus.

 

[DaytonBuck]

Gray scale: Recruiters struggle with perfectly legal yet ethically questionable

Nearly 20 years ago, Eddie Sutton resigned as Kentucky coach after a package sent from assistant Dwane Casey to the father of recruit Chris Mills opened in transit, spilling $1,000 for all to see.

Pardon some coaches if they wax nostalgic for the days gone by, when rule breaking was clear-cut and obvious.

Like the evolution from Chuck Taylors to Air Jordans, the art of cheating has been refined and streamlined.

Here's some ways cheating is made in the shade these days:


Carefully choreographed elite camps; travel team coaches suddenly ending up on college benches with their super-stud players conveniently going along for the ride; speaking fees for those same coaches at colleges that just happen to be recruiting their players. It's all ethically questionable yet mostly on the up-and-up.


Why break a rule and buy a kid a hamburger when you can obey a rule and buy his coach?


"People are always going to work the gray areas," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "Most people if they've had any success in life have learned how to work the gray areas."

ESPN

Good article and worth the whole read in light of some recent events involving high school/AAU coaches

 

[Basebuck]

ESPN

Good article and worth the whole read in light of some recent events involving high school/AAU coaches

This is the most blatant example that I've seen.

K-State released Hill?s contract in May. The school paid him $400,000 in 2007-08, and it will pay him $420,000 a year ? $150,000 in base salary and $270,000 in ?additional compensation,? defined as ?television, radio, internet, promotional and other services? ? for the next four years.

SLAM ONLINE | ? Did Michael Beasley Net His Former Assistant Coach a Fat Contract?

 

[DaytonBuck]

Dalonte Hill job was to secure Mike Beasley. Hill was the old head coach of the ever successful D.C. Assault AAU program. He was lured away from Charlotte where he was coaching and Beasley was committed by Huggy Bear. The guy job is pretty much running a pipeline to the D.C. Assault AAU team K-State. They've got a top 25 guy out of the D.C. area by the name of Wally Judge coming in next year and another Assault alum in Rodney McGruder joining as well. In the I believe 3 years Hill as been at K-State they've gotten 5 or 6 D.C. Assault guys out to Manhattan.

 

[DaytonBuck]

The Air Is His Parent

Marcus Jordan wants a scholarship and to feel like a normal recruit. Too bad college coaches have to call the parents first.

Marcus Jordan has a bit of Michael Jordan in him. But most sons take something from their fathers. Marcus took a love for a basketball from his pops. It just so happens his pops is considered the greatest to ever play the game. And now the high school senior wonders whether college coaches will see him, his father or something in-between.

"I think that is a concern for him," says mom, Juanita. "I think he feels he doesn't want to be treated any different because of his name. He wants to be treated like any recruit."

"I don't want to be MJ junior," Marcus says. "I want to be Marcus Jordan. I never tried to go out and copy a move my dad did."

So how good is Marcus Jordan?

Over the last year, the answer has changed. As a junior, he was an above-average high school player. He was strong to the rim and knew how to finish. He seemed like a great fit for most mid-major programs, but probably not good enough to crack the top tier. This summer perceptions changed. He developed a consistent jumper, better handles and showed during a few key events he could compete with the elite recruits. Recruiting monitors began referring to him as a high-major prospect. With his confidence soaring and plenty of rave reviews, he and those around him thought it was only a matter of time before his phone began to blow up.

It never did.

Two possible reasons: He's a 6-foot-2 combo guard and his last name is Jordan.

"With Marcus, the biggest question is where he will play at the next level," says Rising Stars coach Brian Davis, who has coached Marcus in AAU since seventh grade. "Is he a true point guard or a two guard? The next problem is he's Michael Jordan's son. I hate to say that's a problem, but it seems like a lot of college coaches are intimidated because of that. But he's a regular kid looking to play college basketball and he can play. It's not like he can't play.

"I just think college coaches are missing the boat on not recruiting because of his name. To be honest with you, you think it would be the opposite. You have the greatest player who ever played in the league in my eyes, and this is his son. Michael was a winner in college, a winner at the next level. This kid's a winner. He's going to work his butt off."

But there are reasons college coaches can feel weird about that phone call. Recruiting a Jordan isn't the same as recruiting most players. It starts with contacting Davis or Whitney Young coach Tyrone Slaughter. From there, the coach is contacted by Juanita Jordan, Marcus' mother, or Michael. Finally, if it's worth pursing, Marcus will contact the coach.

"This is what makes Marcus a difficult recruit for everybody," says recruiting analyst Roy Schmidt of Illinois Prep Bulls-eye. "Every program out there is aware that the process is going through so many different filters than Marcus himself. It reminds me of a little bit when Mike Bibby was recruited to Arizona with it relating to a family name and dealing with a father who not only played in the NBA, but is extremely high profile and easily recognizable."

So where does he stand now? Miami (Fla.) was high on him, and Marcus was preparing to commit to the Hurricanes last month, but when they picked up another commitment from a guard, it took his recruitment back to square one. Right now, he lists a bunch of schools as possibilities.

ESPN the Mag

 

[DaytonBuck]

Kent State takes a chance on Evans


PHILADELPHIA -- The last thing Tyree Evans wants to do is be late for class.


No, scratch that.
The last thing Tyree Evans wants to do is anything that even borders the edges of the gray area of wrong.


One little mistake -- it could be jaywalking for goodness' sake -- will dredge it all up again. His past, the one that he cannot escape, the one that always follows the comma after his name -- Tyree Evans, who once was charged with statutory rape and later with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute -- is like a volcano simmering below the surface, always threatening to blow if Evans doesn't walk the straight and narrow.



Kent State, at least, is giving Evans an opportunity to pen a new chapter in his biography. The Mid-American Conference school decided to do what Cincinnati, Kansas State and Maryland all passed on. Kent State administrators agreed to throw out a life preserver and see whether Evans was willing to hang on.

ESPN

 

[DaytonBuck]

The April recruiting period is history.

An override on Friday afternoon failed and college coaches will no longer be allowed to go out and recruit a couple of weeks in April.

The results were 54 percent (188 total) voted against the April period while 45 percent (144 total) voted for it.

The NCAA swung and missed on this one. They needed to talk to more than just athletic directors and even college coaches. If the kids are the ones that are affected the most, shouldn't they get some say?

I actually organized a conference call a few months back to get a wide variety of opinions on the matter. Here are the 13 people that were on the call - and each of them was in favor of keeping the April period.

The NCAA?s primary reasons for eliminating the April recruiting period, which consists of two weekends and four total days in which college coaches are allowed to evaluate recruits in an AAU setting, is two-fold: To try and put the power back in the hands of high school coaches and also limit the amount of class time that high school players miss.

Jeff Goodman