Welcome to the twenty-second installment of The War Room for the 2005-2006. As always, I'll begin this session with the ground rules for those that may be new. Everything that is reported in The War Room must stay in The War Room. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply doesn't need to be passed on beyond the doors of this message board thread.
This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation. Here it is, the twenty-second edition of The War Room for the 2005-2006 Recruiting Season:
State of the Flyers
We're less than a week away from Flyer Madness, and still two scholarships are left open for the class of 2006. As someone had mentioned on the Red and Blue Forum sometime this week, the list begins to narrow as players commit elsewhere. Are these kids the Flyers are targeting hard right now? There gets to a certain point where you can't wait on a recruit any longer, as you have a limited number of scholarships with multiple players vying for it. While the recruit has multiple offers with one to choose from. If it gets to this stage of the season with practice just a week away, which for some reason is true this year with the 06 class, you start to put pressure back on the kids so you can turn your focus elsewhere. That's why I think I have a tough time dealing with what went down with Jerome Randle the more and more I think about it.
No Mo J-Ro
First let me state.. Jerome Randle is a good kid and I don't think he meant to give the Flyers the run-around as some of the fans viewed it. Over the final couple of seasons for a high school kid, there's a lot of things that goes through a kid's head when it comes to recruiting. I just think the kid and his mother might have been overwelmed a bit trying to go to three way different parts of the country in such a little time, that it really messed with them both. There's too much preparation by coaches and players that goes into hosting a recruit and when a kid bails on his visit two consecutive weekends, what kind of message does that send? If he and his mother really wanted Dayton to be a part of his list, there's probably some way they could have made their way to UD's campus. With that being said, BG has to start thinking about his own players that he currently has. He has a special group of players and if a recruit isn't dedicated to trying to see if he wants to be a Flyer, then it's time to move on. Earlier in the week, Jerome said he would make his decision between Cal, Dayton, and Tulsa. Later in the week, he stated to another source that it would just between Tulsa and Cal. Sources close to the situation told me that the Flyers had let Jerome know earlier this week that they would be moving in a different directon, similar to what happened to Luis Guzman and Marcus Green, who you'll remember committed to Purdue a year ago just after Dayton had said something along the same lines to him. Brian Gregory has a reason for everything he does and I don't think he's done anything so far in his tenure to have fans lose faith in his plans and decisions.
London Bridge
Like I wrote yesterday on the Red and Blue Forum, I had heard that they tried to get London Warren in for a visit sometime towards the end of August, but schedules didn't work out. The fact that both London and his AAU coach said that the Flyers started recruiting him at the end of the summer shows what kind of feelings they have about his skills if they were trying to get him on campus that quickly. To finish the quote from my article that Coach Jones said to me about Jacksonville and Dayton "Both staffs have been tremendous in recruiting him," Jones added. "They both have shown they want him and both schools are in need of a point guard... They both have shown they want him badly." His coach said that he would like choose soon and that it would be between those two schools and that Dayton is his leader. Coach Jones said that he asked London why and he stated that he just wanted to get away.
Injuries...
After his wrist injury during the school season, Coach Jones said he noticed a lot more determination on the part of London. He said the player's work ethic increased, and it's helped him develop into a better player because of it. He got hurt again during AAU ball and the coach admitted he was a little nervous about how it would be on London, but "that's when he just EXPLODED!" He went off for 43 points against the Spiece Indy Heat in one of his best games of the season. He needs to get stronger, but the first injury only allowed him to do 200 pushups a day because he couldn't lift a weight. Coach J said that he thinks he plays pretty good defense, but it will get even better as he gets stronger.
On Leadership...
Warren is a very cerebral players which translates well to point guards with skills. "He's very vocal on and off the court and he's a winner," David Jones said. "He doesn't like losing and doesn't accept defeat." In a previous article on the Rivals network, that same coach said that Warren knows every play that every team in Jacksonville runs because he is so heady. He also went on to say that he thinks London will be a coach someday.
Recruitment...
While I listed Alabama-Birmingham, College of Charleston, Dayton, Jacksonville, Richmond, Rhode Island, and Stetson as schools showing the most interest, I've heard that he has a slew of schools trying to get involved. Schools like Florida and Auburn have called to inquire about him lately, according to someone close in the recruiting process. So for those worried about him having schools like Jacksonville and Stetson on his list, again, have faith, he is from Florida so those two Flordian schools for sure would notice him.
Flyer Madness visitors
There should be a few local 2007 recruits in the stands for this event if you'll recall James Dews was in attendance for last year's event. Chris Wright will definitely be invited down for Flyer Madness, whether or not he is able to come remains to be seen. He's been to a few open gyms and as one person said to me at the one I went to, "There's Jesus Shuttlesworth," a reference to Ray Allen's recruit character in He Got Game. Dayton is in good position for him so I wouldn't be alarmed either way if he is able to be there or not.
Kurt Huelsman perhaps might be there as he tracks down the short drive from St. Henry. The other 2006 recruit that will be on campus is Sante Fe Community College's Andres Sandoval. He'll be taking his official visit that weekend, but I don't quite know his timetable yet on making a decision. He's shown that he will be able to compete in this conference so BG and staff already know what they will be getting after facing him a couple times last season with the University of Richmond. I thought out of Daon Merritt, Sandoval, and Courtney Nelson from Richmond's backcourt, that Sandoval had the most upside of the three. He can be an excellent player in this league and I think with Wainwright and possibly Brian Gregory next year as his coaches, he's had and will continue to have excellent teaching and developing.
Then of course, the following week, the Flyers will host the previously discussed London Warren. It should be an interesting couple of weeks to see what transpires in the recruiting world as the Flyers prepare for the upcoming season. Practice is just a week and a day away for the 05-06 season so I know everyone's getting excited. Media Day has not been set yet for UD, but as soon as it is, I'll let you know so I can start gearing my focus toward the current players. That does it for this edition of the War Room, thanks to all, as always, for making FlyerHoops the best place to talk about UD basketball!
This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation. Here it is, the twenty-second edition of The War Room for the 2005-2006 Recruiting Season:
State of the Flyers
We're less than a week away from Flyer Madness, and still two scholarships are left open for the class of 2006. As someone had mentioned on the Red and Blue Forum sometime this week, the list begins to narrow as players commit elsewhere. Are these kids the Flyers are targeting hard right now? There gets to a certain point where you can't wait on a recruit any longer, as you have a limited number of scholarships with multiple players vying for it. While the recruit has multiple offers with one to choose from. If it gets to this stage of the season with practice just a week away, which for some reason is true this year with the 06 class, you start to put pressure back on the kids so you can turn your focus elsewhere. That's why I think I have a tough time dealing with what went down with Jerome Randle the more and more I think about it.
No Mo J-Ro
First let me state.. Jerome Randle is a good kid and I don't think he meant to give the Flyers the run-around as some of the fans viewed it. Over the final couple of seasons for a high school kid, there's a lot of things that goes through a kid's head when it comes to recruiting. I just think the kid and his mother might have been overwelmed a bit trying to go to three way different parts of the country in such a little time, that it really messed with them both. There's too much preparation by coaches and players that goes into hosting a recruit and when a kid bails on his visit two consecutive weekends, what kind of message does that send? If he and his mother really wanted Dayton to be a part of his list, there's probably some way they could have made their way to UD's campus. With that being said, BG has to start thinking about his own players that he currently has. He has a special group of players and if a recruit isn't dedicated to trying to see if he wants to be a Flyer, then it's time to move on. Earlier in the week, Jerome said he would make his decision between Cal, Dayton, and Tulsa. Later in the week, he stated to another source that it would just between Tulsa and Cal. Sources close to the situation told me that the Flyers had let Jerome know earlier this week that they would be moving in a different directon, similar to what happened to Luis Guzman and Marcus Green, who you'll remember committed to Purdue a year ago just after Dayton had said something along the same lines to him. Brian Gregory has a reason for everything he does and I don't think he's done anything so far in his tenure to have fans lose faith in his plans and decisions.
London Bridge
Like I wrote yesterday on the Red and Blue Forum, I had heard that they tried to get London Warren in for a visit sometime towards the end of August, but schedules didn't work out. The fact that both London and his AAU coach said that the Flyers started recruiting him at the end of the summer shows what kind of feelings they have about his skills if they were trying to get him on campus that quickly. To finish the quote from my article that Coach Jones said to me about Jacksonville and Dayton "Both staffs have been tremendous in recruiting him," Jones added. "They both have shown they want him and both schools are in need of a point guard... They both have shown they want him badly." His coach said that he would like choose soon and that it would be between those two schools and that Dayton is his leader. Coach Jones said that he asked London why and he stated that he just wanted to get away.
Injuries...
After his wrist injury during the school season, Coach Jones said he noticed a lot more determination on the part of London. He said the player's work ethic increased, and it's helped him develop into a better player because of it. He got hurt again during AAU ball and the coach admitted he was a little nervous about how it would be on London, but "that's when he just EXPLODED!" He went off for 43 points against the Spiece Indy Heat in one of his best games of the season. He needs to get stronger, but the first injury only allowed him to do 200 pushups a day because he couldn't lift a weight. Coach J said that he thinks he plays pretty good defense, but it will get even better as he gets stronger.
On Leadership...
Warren is a very cerebral players which translates well to point guards with skills. "He's very vocal on and off the court and he's a winner," David Jones said. "He doesn't like losing and doesn't accept defeat." In a previous article on the Rivals network, that same coach said that Warren knows every play that every team in Jacksonville runs because he is so heady. He also went on to say that he thinks London will be a coach someday.
Recruitment...
While I listed Alabama-Birmingham, College of Charleston, Dayton, Jacksonville, Richmond, Rhode Island, and Stetson as schools showing the most interest, I've heard that he has a slew of schools trying to get involved. Schools like Florida and Auburn have called to inquire about him lately, according to someone close in the recruiting process. So for those worried about him having schools like Jacksonville and Stetson on his list, again, have faith, he is from Florida so those two Flordian schools for sure would notice him.
Flyer Madness visitors
There should be a few local 2007 recruits in the stands for this event if you'll recall James Dews was in attendance for last year's event. Chris Wright will definitely be invited down for Flyer Madness, whether or not he is able to come remains to be seen. He's been to a few open gyms and as one person said to me at the one I went to, "There's Jesus Shuttlesworth," a reference to Ray Allen's recruit character in He Got Game. Dayton is in good position for him so I wouldn't be alarmed either way if he is able to be there or not.
Kurt Huelsman perhaps might be there as he tracks down the short drive from St. Henry. The other 2006 recruit that will be on campus is Sante Fe Community College's Andres Sandoval. He'll be taking his official visit that weekend, but I don't quite know his timetable yet on making a decision. He's shown that he will be able to compete in this conference so BG and staff already know what they will be getting after facing him a couple times last season with the University of Richmond. I thought out of Daon Merritt, Sandoval, and Courtney Nelson from Richmond's backcourt, that Sandoval had the most upside of the three. He can be an excellent player in this league and I think with Wainwright and possibly Brian Gregory next year as his coaches, he's had and will continue to have excellent teaching and developing.
Then of course, the following week, the Flyers will host the previously discussed London Warren. It should be an interesting couple of weeks to see what transpires in the recruiting world as the Flyers prepare for the upcoming season. Practice is just a week and a day away for the 05-06 season so I know everyone's getting excited. Media Day has not been set yet for UD, but as soon as it is, I'll let you know so I can start gearing my focus toward the current players. That does it for this edition of the War Room, thanks to all, as always, for making FlyerHoops the best place to talk about UD basketball!
