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Matt Grace - 2018 Commit

SFspidur

SFspidur

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May 5, 2003
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Canadian big guy. Not sure if we’ve offered yet, but I imagine an offer will come this week if we haven’t already.

Only other offer on Verbal Commits is IUPUI.

Same AAU team as Jahbril Price-Noel, who we offered a long time ago but haven’t been mentioned with in ages.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/matt-grace

 
That's not an attack, it's just pointing out the reality of the situation. Odds are against this kid becoming a dynamic contributor at our level. Is it possible? Of course. Is it likely? Not at all.

We need to be recruiting kids who have offers from similar programs or the type of programs we aspire to be. If we can't consistently land those kids, we will not consistently compete at the level most of us here expect us to.
 
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Meanwhile, yesterday another A-10 school, secured the commitment of Frankie Policelli. Policelli had 19 offers, including offers from Maryland, Cinci, UW, Illinois, Texas Tech, and numerous A-10 schools (GW, VCU, Umass, Rhody, St. Bonnie). While other A-10 programs are out landing signature recruits, Mooney has us fishing in the minnow pool here with guys who are basically not even being recruited by other programs.

Mooney is making Hardt's closing case to the Board easier with each passing day.
 
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Generally, I like to see highlight videos of a 6-9 guy that includes at least one dunk. I am not feeling this one, at all.
 
Eight Legger said:
That's not an attack, it's just pointing out the reality of the situation. Odds are against this kid becoming a dynamic contributor at our level. Is it possible? Of course. Is it likely? Not at all.

We need to be recruiting kids who have offers from similar programs or the type of programs we aspire to be. If we can't consistently land those kids, we will not consistently compete at the level most of us here expect us to.
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How many people have we recruited over the past 8 years who are not with us because they were not up to par? Maybe a late bloomer, being Canadian may have him less recruited as well. But, we sure have ended up with a lot of guys who never should have stepped on a D-I court to begin with. I can understand why some of us may be a bit gunshy on some of these guys.
 
We have lost at least 4 who fit the “lightly recruited profile: Diekvoss, Singleton, Smithen, Dominaus

You could also probably throw in piotrowski and pistokache who had heavier interest but never really contributed.

We lost josh jones who never flourished as well, so that’s 7 guys there.

You could also throw in a couple of totally unproductive grad transfers and someone like big Paul who couldn’t get on the floor.

So 10 guys since 2011-12. I don’t know that it’s massively different than the transfer rate elsewhere, but the lack of even bench production is problematic.
 
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Usually I view recruiting in the Spring as a waste of time and effort, since we usually fail terribly at Spring recruiting, especially when competing for US-based players.

If we were going to be making a late pitch for a guy who is 6-9 and who has not received offers from many other programs I feel a lot better about that offer if it is to a recruit in a lightly fished pond, like Canada or internationally (our latest commit). If this kid were from the US, then I would have serious reservations about his likely skills and about his likely success.

I have not watched the video yet, and may change my mind, but I REALLY LIKE that we are fishing in new ponds (Canada and Europe) that are less commonly fished by our competition!!! Davidson has obviously caught on to this trick, and it is working fairly well for them. This is a big change, and change can be good when we are hurting, and we just may now be officially "hurting." Congrats to our coaches for trying to fish in new ponds. Sometimes this results in no strikes at all, but sometimes it results in catching a really good BIG fish, and we could use that right about now...
 
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The problem too with watching a highlight tape is that you're seeing the best of the best. They're not going to show him getting burned on defense or his turnovers.
 
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I have now watched the video. There is good news and maybe (??) bad news.

The good news is that this video is not going to "Wow" any power-5 conference coaches. There are no thunderous dunks here, and no amazingly athletic displays. No alley-oops. So, the video alone will limit the competition. The other good news could be that he is a genuinely good player who is more like a Dan Geriot than like a Shak O'Neil. Dan did quite well here, as some of us may recall. And, I am confident that Dan's video was not fantastic either.

So, I say he is definitely worth a visit, and a look. If he manages to play some pick-up with the guys, and he shows some promise, then we will have more intel than the video. So, there is really no bad news here, except that we won't know how good he is until we meet and see him in-person... Fingers-crossed that he is a good one and that we are the only ones who figure this out. If there is bad news it is that the odds of us being the only ones to spot a "rare talent" are not high.
 
It’s painfully obvious to anyone that follows this program that something is missing in terms of recruiting. There are always exceptions, but you cannot be successful in the A10 recruiting lower level talent. Something has to give. Our roster is a mess.
 
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Nice to have things wrapped up. My gut tells me Grace and Gustavson are redshirt candidates, we currently have a 7 man freshmen class.
 
Pretty crazy we're going into next year with only five scholarship guys that have ever seen the court in an NCAA game. And Oddo.
 
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He does remind me of Dan Geroit. Hopefully, he can produce a career at UR that even vaguely resemble's Dan's.

As noted above, I like that we are fishing in new ponds, and both Canada and Europe have been known to produce "diamonds in the rough," that are not heavily scouted by other US (and A-10) teams. It has worked for Davidson, and could work for us too.

Given the less than amazing video, I expect that we must have seen some good things from this recruit when he was on campus. This was certainly a really quick turn-around on the offer and acceptance. Fingers-crossed that our new recruiting approach will generate a higher talent level than we had seen before coach Jenkins' arrival. I like most of the recruits we have brought in starting 2 years ago (Nick, Buck, Grant), and last year (Jake and Nate) and hopefully we keep that momentum going.

It will be interesting to check out the many newcomers in the RC later this summer, and see what we have.... I was able to predict that Jake and Grant would be "Day-1 starters," after only three practices, so am hoping we have now added at least 2-3 more recruits of comparable ability once again.

Am hoping that the 6-4, 250 pound power forward (a 2019 recruit) visits and commits soon, so that we can focus all our attention on developing these guys and teaching our "systems."
 
Oldie, not to pick apart your post but Canada is definitely not a "new pond" for us. I feel like we almost always have a Canadian on our roster.
 
Seems like we have been fishing in Canada for a while now, but in my estimation only Bucknor and Martel have really panned out. Smithen certainly didn't work out for us. Cayo has shown some promise, but has yet to prove he is an A10 level talent.

Although our recruit from Finland seems like yet another project player, I'm happy to see us casting our nets overseas for a change.
 
It's time to join the recruiting world of 2018 guys...Canada is not a lightly fished pond or teeming with unheralded/unknown guys. Everyone in the US recruits Canada heavily and knows exactly the guys available and the skill levels.
 
Getting 'project players' wouldn't bother me, it's part of our situation, BUT not really developing project players is a big problem.
 
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I project his career arch falling somewhere between Kovien Dominanus and Friendshuh. 6'9 guys with only 1 college scholarship offer have only 1 scholarship offer for a reason.

So, glad we fixed our recruiting problem. We signed 3 guys this Spring who had a combined 2 other scholarship offers between them. #Iseemore"winning"onthehorizon
 
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a more recent video posted last month.


I think the whole point of a Matt Grace is to have him compete for backup minutes at the 5 with Cayo and Ford who are both forwards and non-shooters. so I don't think we plan to redshirt him. if he earns time, great. if not, oh well.

Grace lacks elite athleticism, but he's skilled. good looking shooter. he can stretch the floor which our other options behind Grant cannot do. he also has excellent footwork around the rim.
 
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I hope I'm wrong, but I see another PF story in the making. Recall that we ended up with PF because we were all in with 6'11" György Golomán out of FL (same school as Joe Kirby), but he blew up his senior year of HS and got a late offer from UCLA.

He was a regular in UCLA's rotation and starter his last two seasons. Another recruiting miss who could have been a program changer for us.
 
I will give the guy a chance and hope he excels, but this has the smell of another recruit signed in desperation by CM to fill out the roster. There are exceptions, but it’s tough to compete for A10 championships and at large bids with a bunch of project recruits.
 
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Spider B said:
I will give the guy a chance and hope he excels, but this has the smell of another recruit signed in desperation by CM to fill out the roster. There are exceptions, but it’s tough to compete for A10 championships and at large bids with a bunch of project recruits.
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Yep, I am pulling for this guy, like I was pulling for PF. As you can see I am very pro student athlete.
I do wonder how it is that Mooney can almost never, ever, ever pull a guy with offers from above the A10, or even multiple A10 offers. Always at his best beating out either A) NOBODY, or B) CAA level schools.
Ground hog day again.
 
spiderman said:
a more recent video posted last month.
View embedded media


I think the whole point of a Matt Grace is to have him compete for backup minutes at the 5 with Cayo and Ford who are both forwards and non-shooters. so I don't think we plan to redshirt him. if he earns time, great. if not, oh well.

Grace lacks elite athleticism, but he's skilled. good looking shooter. he can stretch the floor which our other options behind Grant cannot do. he also has excellent footwork around the rim.
Click to expand...
Impressive!
 
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More impressed than I expected from the highlight video. Seemed to have good footwork offensively, quick release, solid shooting from 3, decent vision and accuracy on passing. Defensively, he moved better than I expected, though admittedly hard to tell how the competition was he was facing.

We need bigs who can pass and shoot away from the basket, and he looked like he can finish around the rim. I like the pick up. Ford should be worried about his playing time if he can’t improve his outside shooting.
 
Big project, but as they say you can't teach height. He is going to have to come a long way to be a solid contributor in he A-10. Maybe he will, though the odds are against him.
 
Not-A-Homer said:
Big project, but as they say you can't teach height. He is going to have to come a long way to be a solid contributor in he A-10. Maybe he will, though the odds are against him.
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Nathan Davis is going to have a lot of roster to clear next year.
 
Remember guys, those videos are highlights. Anyone looks like a 5 start player in a highlight video. Sounds to me like ulla and some of the other pro Mooney people watch too many highlights. That would explain why they always think all of our guys are gonna be so good. Same goes for shootarounds in an empty gym. Ya I'm talking to you Ulla! Anyone looks good shooting around in an empty gym. Don't put too much stock into those kinds of things.
 
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