Saturday, April 23, 2011

Recruiting News

Below, some recruiting updates from around the Ivy League. Above, incoming Cornell recruit, Devin Cherry (Meridian HS) Meridian, MS, 6-3, G.

For a list of committed players to attend Ivy League schools, including profiles of incoming Cornell recruits, and a listing of Cornell's prospective recruiting targets, click here. For a list of general Ivy League prospective recruiting targets, click here. Please note that we update these lists daily.

Class of 2011 News

The Zanesville (OH) Times Recorder reports that Tanner Gibson (Zanesville HS) Zanesville, OH, 6-2, G, committed to the University of Albany after originally committing to Columbia. The Columbia staff reportedly requested that Gibson attend a year of prep school after he was declined admission to the University. Rather than go to prep school, Gibson decided not to pursue the Ivy League and instead committed to Albany which happened to have an extra scholarship available.

Montrael Scott (James Madison HS) Dallas, TX, 6-3, G, told TexasHoops.com that he selected Prarie View A&M over pursuit from Penn and Texas Pan American.

Class of 2012 News

Maurice Watson (Latin HS) 5-7, G, told Scout.com that he has interest from Cornell, Penn, Princeton, George Washinton and UMass. He holds and offer from Rice.

Amadi Udenyi (De La Salle HS) Concord, CA, 5-10, G, has a list of Bucknell, Fresno State, Penn, Princeton, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Francisco, TCU, and Yale and told NorCalPreps.com that he has offers from Penn and Princeton.

Jordan Chatman (Union HS) Union, WA, 6-4, G, has interest from Harvard, BYU, Utah St., and Portland St. among others and recently worked out for a member of Harvard's staff.

Parker Uu (Jesuit HS) Carmichael, CA, 6-4, G, told NorCalPreps.com he is considering Columbia, Penn, Princeton, and Yale among his college choices (but holds no offers). "The Ivy League is a very underrated basketball conference. The conference consists of some of the top academic universities in the country, and the basketball is just as tough. Princeton did a great job in this year's tournament and was really fun to watch. Their system has proven to be effective against anyone in the nation. I didn't get to watch many other Ivy League games out here, but I know that it is a solid basketball conference."

David Andoh (St. Mary's HS) Berkley, CA, 6-6, F also told NorCalPreps.com he is evaluating Ivy League options in Columbia and Penn. He holds offers to Colorado and Santa Clara. ""No league or school can compare to the Ivy League academically, well maybe my brother's Bucknell, but that's a different story. In addition to the Ivy League becoming more and more competitive, I would be set for life once my playing days are over after acquiring a degree from such a prestigious league."

Zena Edosomwan (Harvard-Westlake HS) North Hollywood, CA, 6-8, F, has offers from Colorado, USC, Harvard, Cal Poly and San Francisco. He’s also hearing from Texas, Vanderbilt and Gonzaga.

Tyrone Wallace (Bakersfield HS) Bakersfield, CA, 6-4 G, has offers from Gonzaga, Colorado, San Diego State, Arizona State, UNLV and Nevada. He is also hearing from UCLA, Penn, Harvard and Stanford.

From ScoutHoops.com, Rondae Jefferson (Chester HS) Chester, PA, 6-5, F, has an early, but expanding list of LaSalle, St. Joe’s, Penn, Villanova, Temple, Rutgers, Pittsburgh.

Roster Report: Offseason Ivy League Transactions

Below is an updated look at the projected roster sizes for the Ivy League teams for the 2011-2012 season. Roster figures include incoming freshman and account for players graduating or departing the program for other reasons.

A listing of recruited players verbally committed to attend Ivy League programs next year may be found by clicking here. Below is also list of players who were on Ivy League rosters, but left their respective programs since the 2008-2009 season due to reasons other than health/medical, graduation and/or exhaustion of NCAA eligibility. This list could be considered as an indicator of Ivy League players' satisfaction with their respective programs or evidence of coaching staffs that force out and cut players from the program.
Ivy League Roster Departures

BROWN
Hakeem Harris (left during '10-'11)
Colin Aldridge (left during '09-'10)
Sean Kane (left during '09-'10)
Stefan Kaluz (left during '09-'10)
Jean Herbert Harris (left during '09-'10)
Noel Hollingsworth (left during '08-'09)
Morgan Kelly (left during '08-'09)

COLUMBIA
Dyami Starks (left during '11-'12)
Dan Feldmann (left during '11-'12)
Sandeep Dhaliwal (left during '10-'11)
Tom Piscina (left during '10-'11)
Issa Masse (left during '10-'11)

CORNELL
Alex Hill (left during '09-'10)
Marc Van Burck (left during '09-'10)

DARTMOUTH
David Eads (left during '10-'11)
Josh Riddle (left during '10-'11)
Herve Kouna (left during '10-'11)
Josef Brown (left during '10-'11)
Garrett Brown (left during '09-'10)
Marlon Sanders (left during '09-'10)
Brandon Ware (left during '09-'10)
Elgin Fitzgerald (left during '09-'10)
Jarrett Mathis (left during '09-'10)

HARVARD
Max Kenyi (left during '11-'12)
Pete Edelson (left during '10-'11)
Spencer de Mars (left during '10-'11)

Hugh Martin (left during '09-'10)
Peter Boehm (left during '09-'10)
Peter Swiatek (left during '09-'10)
Eric Groszyk (left during '08-'09)
T.J. Carey (left during '08-'09)
Kyle Fitzgerald (left during '08-'09)
Adam Demuyakor (left during '08-'09)
Ndu Okereke (left during '08-'09)
Darryl Finkton (left during '08-'09)
Cem Dinc (left during '08-'09)
Alex Blankenau (left during '08-'09)

PENN
Casey James (left during '11-'12)
Tommy Eggleston (left during '10-'11)

Sean Mullan (left during '10-'11)
Malcom Washington (left during '10-'11)
Carson Sullivan (left during '09-'10)
Brian Fitzpatrick (left during '09-'10)
Tommy McMahon (left during '08-'09)
Harrison Gaines (left during '08-'09)
Remy Cofield (left during '08-'09)
Garvin Hunt (left during '08-'09)

PRINCETON
Zane Ma (left during '09-'10)
Max Huc (left during '09-'10)
Gus Gabel (left during '09-'10)

YALE
Michael Sands (left during '10-'11)
Garrett Fiddler (left during '09-'10)


(updated 5.16.11)

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Friday, April 22, 2011

Update on the assistant coaches

Photo by John Powell
While the search begins for next head coach in Fairfax I've learned that the George Mason assistant coaches all have interviewed for other coaching jobs.  

-Chris Caputo interviewed for assistant coach jobs with Kentucky and Florida

-Mike Huger interviewed with Villanova

-Eric Konkol interviewed at a Division III school

All three coaches were asked by Jim Larranaga to join him in Miami. It doesn't seem like any are being considered for a promotion to head coach at George Mason.

Also regarding the 2011 incoming freshmen it seems that both Corey Edwards and Vaughn Gray are undecided about if they will still be coming to George Mason.  They both are waiting to see who the new head coach is before making a final decision.

[Source: Steven Goff]

Coach Courtney on the Twittersphere

Above, a sample of some of the chatter from the Twittersphere about George Mason University's potential pursuit of Cornell's Bill Courtney as a head coach. As a word of caution, all of the above "tweets" are mere speculation. George Mason has not publicly identified a list of candidates, nor are there any reports that Cornell has been contacted for permission to speak to Courtney. On the same topic, the Daily Pennsylvanian writes, "First-year Cornell coach Bill Courtney may not be long for Ithaca. This one's very preliminary, but here's the theory, as per the Washington Post: George Mason coach Jim Larranaga is bound for Miami to take over the Canes' opening (You know, the one that Harvard coach Tommy Amaker was in talks for, but turned down). That leaves the Mason job open — and the Post's Matt Bonesteel (awesome last name...) lists the Big Red's Courtney as a possible replacement. Courtney was an assistant to Larranaga at Mason for eight years, and was key in recruiting the Patriots' 2006 Final Four team. I wouldn't take much from his one season at Cornell (seeing as there is a major vaccum of talent after last year's senior class left), but as the head coach there, he compiled a 10-18, 6-8 Ivy record. For what it's worth, he was able to beat Penn both times around this year."

George Mason University to Target Bill Courtney?

The Washington Post is reporting that Cornell's Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Men's Basketball, Bill Courtney is a potential target replacement for George Mason University after its coach, Jim Larranaga left his head coaching position at George Mason today for the University of Miami. The Washington Post writes, "One candidate to replace Larranaga could be Cornell Coach Bill Courtney, who was an assistant to Larranaga at George Mason for eight seasons from 1997 to 2005. He helped recruit a number of the players who led George Mason to the Final Four in 2006. Courtney also has been an assistant at Virginia, Virginia Tech and Providence."

The Blog, GMU Hoops, endorses Courtney's hire by George Mason. GMU Hoops writes:

With Jim Larranaga now officially leaving for Miami who will be the next George Mason head coach? One name your going to hear a lot about is former Larranaga assistant Bill Courtney. Courtney practically built the 2006 Final Four team and still has ties to the school. Boosters have told me he paid money out of his own pocket to travel to Cleveland to watch this year's team in the NCAA tournament. Courtney left the program right before the 2005-2006 season to go to Providence and watched the team he had a large hand in recruiting reach the Final Four. The university paid for him to be there during that year at the NCAA tournament. He then moved on to be an assistant at Virginia, Virginia Tech and brief stint at VCU before becoming head coach at Cornell where he is at currently.
Courtney would be a great hire as he is already familar with the program and the university. There could be a few more sexy candidates out there, such as Harvard's Tommy Amaker, a Fairfax native. Wouldn't that be ironic if the guy who turned down the Miami replaces the guy who took it? Also current Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan could be a candidate. I would love to see Chris Caputo get the job but I heard rumors he's got something else in the works, we'll have to wait and see.
Mason AD Tom O'Connor, who I'm sure most fans aren't happy with right now, says he wants to replace Larranaga quickly but as thoroughly as possible.

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