Monday, November 9, 2009

Monday Thoughts

Its been a while since I have been on my blog. However I have followed what has been happening and even talking to various coaches and families. Well, here are a few thoughts for today.

Lets start with Devon Collier. His Dad was my HS Teammate and a very good player. I guess it is where Devon gets his ability lol. Unfortunately I feel Devon could not have chosen a worst destination for college. After watching him in The Eddie Griffin Challenge a few weeks ago I am even more convinced of this. Let me respectfully say why. This has less to do with basketball than with life after basketball. The NBA is not a guarantee for this kid. Nice player with great upside but hardly NBA at this time. Now if Craig Robinson is a great developer of talent, than maybe its the correct choice. But from what I understand and have seen, Craig has a very small resume when it comes to developing future professional basketball players. Now he might be able to get Devon to Wall Street after basketball. That's a great selling point. But I cannot believe a kid has to go a thousand miles away to gain future Wall Street connections. Heck, Iona College does better than most in regard to this with their great ex player corporate connections which could be the best in the area. Plus, Coach Robinson might just bolt after this season if Jerry Wainwright is let go at DePaul. Red, listen to your old buddy, take a better look at this. Oregon State is a great school, even though it rains most of the time. But do you want your son that far away based on the Coach being our wonderful Presidents brother in law? Honestly I am shocked at the signing. Thought Providence was barely leading Seton Hall for his services. Will this stand? Will he reopen? Is it a great fit there? I honestly thing St. Johns, and Seton Hall would have been great for him. Even Providence. Maybe Red will get a White House Appointment. But what ever Devon does we wish him well because he does have great potential and Oregon State plays in the Pac 10, which is a finesse conference as opposed to a rough and tumble conference.

Had a nice talk with Torrel Harris yesterday while driving through the mountains of Pennsylvania. Seems Tobias Harris really enjoyed his visit to West Virginia. Torrel says Huggins was outstanding during the visit. I asked about facilities, etc. Told me that the facilities were very good. But to me, and this is my opinion, West Virginia has the best coaching staff in the entire big east when you combine coaching and recruiting. I guess Tobias has a difficult choice between West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, Syracuse, and two more visits that are unofficial to Maryland and Georgia Tech. I think I know where he is leaning but it will be all over soon.

Quick thought about Tobias younger brother Tyler. Recruiters better remember the Harris phone number on Long Island. Tyler might just be better than Tobias when he graduates in 2012. From what I have seen and heard, he is a 6 ft 7 pure shooting lefty wing who could grow to 6 ft 11. Watch out!!!

3 comments:

nickfdu22 said...

You mention Oregon State not being a good fit because Coach Robinson, "has a very small resume when it comes to developing future professional basketball players." Then you go on to mention that Seton Hall and St. John's would have been better destinations. I was unaware that those two programs were basketball factories.

I think it's great that this kid went out on a limb and has bought into a potential program on the rise. More kids should think outside of the box when choosing schools.

shelmaxi said...

Any news on the fdu program? Is Greg Vetrone the coach of the future? What do you for predict this upcoming season?

nickfdu22 said...

I think FDU will be improved, if for no other reason than them being healthy this year. Time will tell if Vetrone is the right guy for the job. Difficult to project for a first time head coach at the college level.

I'm sure his future will depend greatly on the outcome of this season.