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Atlantic 10 basketball recruitment

Actually, '06, the site is very good. Thank you for posting. We aren't given much attention by the site because we're irrelevant and trending downward.
 
Travis Ford just landed Dion Wiley, a grad transfer, from Maryland. Was ranked a 4 star recruit and 52nd best player in his class (class of 2014).



Ford has consistently shown he can recruit top talent to the A10. Jordan Goodwin and Hasahn French are both top 100 players in the class of 2017. Cart’are Gordon coming in next year is top 100 class of 2018 recruit. He also landed Tramaine Isabel, a transfer from Drexel who was sought after by Xavier and Boston College. All this on a St Louis team that really hasn’t been that good the last several years. But ya, it’s impossible for Mooney to recruit top talent to Richmond...
 
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Travis Ford just landed Dion Wiley, a grad transfer, from Maryland. Was ranked a 4 star recruit and 52nd best player in his class (class of 2014).



Ford has consistently shown he can recruit top talent to the A10. Jordan Goodwin and Hasahn French are both top 100 players in the class of 2017. Cart’are Gordon coming in next year is top 100 class of 2018 recruit. He also landed Tramaine Isabel, a transfer from Drexel who was sought after by Xavier and Boston College. All this on a St Louis team that really hasn’t been that good the last several years. But ya, it’s impossible for Mooney to recruit top talent to Richmond...

SLU and Richmond are very different schools. Extremely different. About the only similarity is that they are in the A10. Mooney is not a good recruiter, but using SLU as a counterexample is not a great comparison either.
 
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SLU and Richmond are very different schools. Extremely different. About the only similarity is that they are in the A10. Mooney is not a good recruiter, but using SLU as a counterexample is not a great comparison either.

Yeah, well Duke and Wake Forest are not all that similar to Clemson and Florida State. But, you know what they all play in the ACC for sports. And I don't see Duke and Wake crying that they can't compete with bigger state schools who play in the same conference.

Our A-10 conference schools are our peer schools athletically because that is who we compete against. So, yes, we should be comparing ourselves to them from an athletic standpoint.

If we can't than we are probably in the wrong athletic conference.
 
SLU and Richmond are very different schools. Extremely different. About the only similarity is that they are in the A10. Mooney is not a good recruiter, but using SLU as a counterexample is not a great comparison either.

As mentioned by 97, they are our peer school athletically. We are in the same conference and St Louis, like us, has been average to below average the past few years. The only difference is academics. And the way I see it, is if a kid of Goodwin, French, or Gordon’s caliber want to come to our school, we will find a way to let them in. If for whatever reason admissions is the only thing holding Mooney back from landing these players (which is not the case) then Hardt needs to fix that immediately. However, I’m willing to bet Mooney’s inability to recruit these level of players is 90%. We have better resources and (will have) nicer facilities than St. Louis. Ford used to coach at Ok State and knows how to recruit, plain and simple
 
SLU is a good school.

I know some of you want a coach to be able to talk a kid into anything, but some kids do want and others don't want a school like ours. many just don't want a really small liberal arts private university. some love the size. many want bigger. there aren't many 3,000 student schools competing at the A10 level and above.
 
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SLU is a good school.

I know some of you want a coach to be able to talk a kid into anything, but some kids do want and others don't want a school like ours. many just don't want a really small liberal arts private university. some love the size. many want bigger. there aren't many 3,000 student schools competing at the A10 level and above.
I think if you tease apart the factors for why a kid picks a school, recent success is going to be high on the list, followed by likelihood of future success. There are probably a host of mid-tier reasons that get consideration, such as proximity to home (close or far), connection to the coaching staff, and future prospects (pro career, non-playing career, etc.). I expect that the size of the university is actually a tier 3 consideration.

I would agree though, at least anecdotally, not many schools our size are competitive annually in D1 basketball. In the SLU case, it's not because of recent success, or even future success, so it's more likely it's because they like what Ford is selling. So having a guy who can sell well is not to be underappreciated.
 
As mentioned by 97, they are our peer school athletically. We are in the same conference and St Louis, like us, has been average to below average the past few years. The only difference is academics. And the way I see it, is if a kid of Goodwin, French, or Gordon’s caliber want to come to our school, we will find a way to let them in. If for whatever reason admissions is the only thing holding Mooney back from landing these players (which is not the case) then Hardt needs to fix that immediately. However, I’m willing to bet Mooney’s inability to recruit these level of players is 90%. We have better resources and (will have) nicer facilities than St. Louis. Ford used to coach at Ok State and knows how to recruit, plain and simple
Don't forget that Ford played for and briefly coached at Kentucky. The contacts and the ability to open doors is substantial.
 
How about selling the fact that UR is a unique school in D1. Football does a great job selling UR as the best of both worlds (athletically and academically). Don’t give me this nonsense that just because we are a small school we can’t recruit talent to win big in the A10. It’s an excuse, nothing more.
 
I get it. it's an excuse. I've been told that many times here.
but Beilein didn't land superstar recruits either. slightly lower level conference but still. Wainwright had to hire a kid's coach to get him, and clearly pushed the envelope with admissions on others.

so maybe there's more to it than just a coach not winning recruiting battles you think he should win.
 
From what I’ve read about Wiley, he doesn’t sound that impressive anyway. Probably better than Yates, our grad transfer, but (admittedly, without watching) he seems like a bench guy from Maryland who didn’t make much of an impact there. We’ll see how he does at SLU
 
From what I’ve read about Wiley, he doesn’t sound that impressive anyway. Probably better than Yates, our grad transfer, but (admittedly, without watching) he seems like a bench guy from Maryland who didn’t make much of an impact there. We’ll see how he does at SLU
read he was hurt a lot. and transferring because he wants to show hs full game. MD used him as a 3 point specialist.
sounds like a good get for SLU.
 
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maybe. but I haven't seen many 4 star kids choosing any 3,000 student schools. maybe size matters.
Gonzaga and Wake are both around 5,000 students and both pull down some pretty good recruits. Gonzaga regularly gets 4 star kids and plays in a lesser conference than us. I must assume that the reason they get 4 star kids though has nothing to do with Mark Few and their long track record of success. It's probably all of those 4 stars just want to go in Spokane Washington and play for a school with about 5000 students.
 
maybe. but I haven't seen many 4 star kids choosing any 3,000 student schools. maybe size matters.
nor have I but I wonder if you are mistaking correlation with causality.

It stands to reason that not many small schools experience much basketball success for a rash of reasons, including lower tier conference affiliation, poor program financials/support, or a general absence of prior success. I don't think we have those problems, so my guess is we need to look beyond the small school excuse to understand if we can programmatically shift what we're doing to be more attractive.

We haven't really figured that out in 30+ years of basketball relevance, so the answer isn't obvious.
 
I get it. it's an excuse. I've been told that many times here.
but Beilein didn't land superstar recruits either. slightly lower level conference but still. Wainwright had to hire a kid's coach to get him, and clearly pushed the envelope with admissions on others.

so maybe there's more to it than just a coach not winning recruiting battles you think he should win.
Beilein has always tended to recruit system guys over top tier athletes. Maybe his system isn't that attractive to those guys. Not sure.

You are correct that it's definitely not just about a coach being good in the family room. But it's also not just about size/location/academics/etc.
 
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nor have I but I wonder if you are mistaking correlation with causality.

It stands to reason that not many small schools experience much basketball success for a rash of reasons, including lower tier conference affiliation, poor program financials/support, or a general absence of prior success. I don't think we have those problems, so my guess is we need to look beyond the small school excuse to understand if we can programmatically shift what we're doing to be more attractive.

We haven't really figured that out in 30+ years of basketball relevance, so the answer isn't obvious.
Well in fairness, about half of those 30 years, we've been under the reign of the Moon dog. Tarrant and JB didn't seem to have a problem recruiting and winning. JW pushed the envelop a little too much recruiting wise (and was a terrible offensive coach) and I think a few posters relate JW's excess with CM's ineptness when it comes to recruiting.

Maybe there is happy medium. A coach who is both a nice guy and can recruit. Maybe we will find that some day. Obviously, what we've been doing the past 7 years hasn't worked very well, so no use in trying something (or someone) new. Let's just keep doing the exact same thing with the exact same people. That should get us some better results.
 
Well in fairness, about half of those 30 years, we've been under the reign of the Moon dog. Tarrant and JB didn't seem to have a problem recruiting and winning. JW pushed the envelop a little too much recruiting wise (and was a terrible offensive coach) and I think a few posters relate JW's excess with CM's ineptness when it comes to recruiting.

Maybe there is happy medium. A coach who is both a nice guy and can recruit. Maybe we will find that some day. Obviously, what we've been doing the past 7 years hasn't worked very well, so no use in trying something (or someone) new. Let's just keep doing the exact same thing with the exact same people. That should get us some better results.
I don't know how well Tarrant recruited. I can't find rankings from back then. different world. he certainly won.

I think Beilein was a much better coach than recruiter. like Mooney (imo), his players needed time to develop. he won with seniors. Mooney is having a hard time lately keeping guys around to become seniors.

Jerry brought in some guys ranked decently, but only won with Beilein guys. not sure I give him credit for out-recruiting his school level.
 
Gonzaga and Wake are both around 5,000 students and both pull down some pretty good recruits. Gonzaga regularly gets 4 star kids and plays in a lesser conference than us. I must assume that the reason they get 4 star kids though has nothing to do with Mark Few and their long track record of success. It's probably all of those 4 stars just want to go in Spokane Washington and play for a school with about 5000 students.
Wake is obviously a product of conference affiliation.
I can't explain Gonzaga. they're an aberration. they came out of nowhere as soon as Few started. the cynic in me questions that, but Few seems above board.

side note ... a 2,000 student difference is nothing at big state schools, but 5,000 is a lot bigger than 3,000. we're like a big, really nice high school.
 
Wake is obviously a product of conference affiliation.
I can't explain Gonzaga. they're an aberration. they came out of nowhere as soon as Few started. the cynic in me questions that, but Few seems above board.

side note ... a 2,000 student difference is nothing at big state schools, but 5,000 is a lot bigger than 3,000. we're like a big, really nice high school.

Gonzaga had NBA talent on the roster before Few was the head coach, i.e. Richie Frahm. Not sure the exact history before Few. They certainly weren't close to where they are now, but they weren't too bad either.
 
Gonzaga had NBA talent on the roster before Few was the head coach, i.e. Richie Frahm. Not sure the exact history before Few. They certainly weren't close to where they are now, but they weren't too bad either.
Dan Monson was pretty good too.
 
Gonzaga had NBA talent on the roster before Few was the head coach, i.e. Richie Frahm. Not sure the exact history before Few. They certainly weren't close to where they are now, but they weren't too bad either.
As did we, J. Newman. Just nothing since Moon Dog has been here. Harp has been had a couple cups of tea with a variety of NBA teams but mainly is a really good NBA-D player.
 
amazing Harp couldn't catch on with his size and shooting ability.
so tough to make the NBA.
 
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