Recruiting recap/next year

[jmp]

Another recruiting period has gone by and I am sure that some
are disappointed and concerned. I choose to take an optimistic
approach and here's why:
We got the point guard that we needed in Ogo. The staff
knows that Malcolm is not the answer though he did perform
better late in the season. His performance was better from a
scoring/rebounding perspective but not in being the true point
guard that we need to run the show against the elite A10 teams.
Seeing the development of Simmons, Jake and Leonard,
along with the return of Davenport, Hall, Andrew and Matthews,
we have a good nucleus of guys who played major minutes.
Demetrius Conger to me could be the key. Not only on wins
and losses but how Schmidt decides to run the team. We need
some consistent scoring and a guy who concerns the other team
at the 4 spot. Grease was a banger/put back kind of player that
other teams really didnt have to worry about. Plus his defense
quite frankly was awful. Conger needs to make other teams play
him and give Andrew some space.
Getting the type of kids that have come and visited is a huge
step in the right direction. No we didnt get every kid but at least
some are considering Bona and that eventually will lead us to
that big signing. Remember we are only in Mark's 3rd year, he is
a relentless guy who spends countless days/weeks on the road
trying to improve his team. We are trying to get back into
recruiting areas that we have not been in years. The elevation in
talent since he has taken over is enormous. Does this team have
flaws? Absolutely, but we are moving in the right direction.

[GoPadres]

I disagree with your statement that "the staff knows Malcolm is not the answer." I think it is exactly the opposite, the staff knows Malcolm is a huge part of the answer. Schmidt wants a point guard duo that gives the team different looks, just read his answers to the 5 questions posed in an earlier thread.

I would not be so quick to dimiss Eleby because I think he will see at least 50% of the minutes at point guard next season.

[OceanStateBonnie]

I agree Padres.

[Chuck]

May 28, 2009 9:47:44 GMT -5 GoPadres said:

Schmidt wants a point guard duo that gives the team different looks, just read his answers to the 5 questions posed in an earlier thread.

Of course Schmidt is going to be complimentary to his starting PG, he does not want to ruin Malcolm's confidence. If Schmidt was confident in Malcolm he would have signed a freshman PG for development. Instead he signed a JUCO PG who is in the same class as Malcolm.

Rapidly Schmidt is creating a team of athletes at every position. The 3 players we lost from last year (Greese, D'Lancy and Benson) were the least athletic players on the team and they've been replaced by athletes (House, Marquise, Lewis, Conger and Ogo). Even more so than last year this is a team that is built for a fast pace full court game. Team needs an extremely quick and athletic PG for this type of offense. This describes Ogo and does not describe Malcolm.

My early prediction is Ogo will be the most important newcomer on this years team.

[Copenhagen]

and while I hope Malcolm and Cook keep moving forward with their roles, development and improvement, aren't they the last of Sol's players?

[pabonnies01]

Let's just check ourselves on Simmons, Leonard and House. Personally, I'll believe it when I see it during the season. How many times have we gotten caught up in the "he's gonna be the next (insert former bonnie great here) without having played a minute of A-10 time. Or some other unfettered optimisim. Of course I HOPE they are the next great players. And no, I don't think anyone has made any comparisons yet, so don't take my comment literally.

Sorry to poop on the parade. Let's just see how they do before we get ahead of ourselves.

[magnusbu]

You can't run and gun the whole game, so you are going to need a PG that can grind it out a bit also. Tire the opposition out by running and then kick them by a grind it out style. I can't see any PG in the country that would be able to handle a full 40 mins of run and gun offense. A perfect scenario is to run the opposition to death for 5 to 10 mins and insert fresh legs to either continue to run or pound them while they are tired. This generally leads to a pile of fouls. Plus if the opposition is not as fresh then they will not be able to apply to much pressure on the ball (One of Eleby's weaknesses). So, like Schmidt was trying to say, two PG's that compliment each other. Ogo was not brought in to replace Eleby, but rather to compliment the PG position.
If there was a good 4 yr PG recruit available to us, I think Schmidt would have taken him and Ogo. We really needed both a PG to develop and a PG to compliment. Who knows maybe we will still get that PG to develop.

[wgt]

Malcolm is a hard worker who plays with lots of heart. He improved his handle from his frosh season and did improve his offensive game toward the end of last season when Blackburn was out of the picture. That said I agree with jmp & Chuck that he is not the answer at PG. An outside shot is not a requirement of a PG & we all know that is the weakest aspect of his game (4-24 treys, .167%). However the ability to create for others is a requirement. At this point in his career he is lacking. Hall had more assists & Matthews matched him in assists but had a slightly better A/TO ratio. Malcolm’s 1.14 ratio is not even on the radar of A10 PGs and doesn’t get Andrew the opportunities to make him even better.

The PG position requires the most time to master and I expect that Malcolm will show improved play making skills next season. However I see Ogo playing the majority of mins at PG 7 or 8 games into the season. Malcolm is a great kid who I hope excels but will be pushed by Ogo.

[az63]

I spent over an hour on the phone yesterday with a Bona HOF member. During our conversation he mentioned, for the second time, that he & others from NYC have a standing offer that would give Coach Schmidt introductions to HS players from NYC.
These players are in good academic standing, have good SAT scores and play at Rucker Park which means they are able to step in and play at SBU right now.
The guys making the introductions are all former SBU greats, know NCAA rules and are only interested in getting good kids to SBU.
So far, and it's been two years now, Coach Schmidt has not followed up on the offer!!!!!!!
Why go to Lamar, CO (as good as this kid may be) when you can go to meet players at the best basketball yard in the country??

[bartmitchell]

az - as a NYC guy, I am always anxious for Bonas to tap in to the recruiting pipeline here. I have especially high regard for our point guards. I know you have raised this issue in the past.
I don't know what the explanation is for the 'failure' of this staff to follow up on this lead. I do know that coach Schmidt and his staff and the AD, Watson, have apparently worked very hard and have made great strides reconnecting with former Bonnie players and other recruiting resources. Former players who, by and large, apparently felt forgotten or snubbed by some of our recent coaches and Athletic Dept. personnel. We have also focused attention again on NYC players, as evidenced by our recent interest in several Boys and Girls players and, most recently, Sean Johnson.

Perhaps there is a reason for the the seeming failure to follow-up with the HOF member you mention. Maybe even one that cannot be openly discussed. (nothing negative to do personally with the HOF member for sure. he's a good man.) Remember, recruiting for us is a matter of judiciously applying very limited resources in a manner that is calculated to maximize return. Most top level NYC kids have been under the influence of various AAU coaches, h.s. coaches, street recruiters and 'advisors' for years by the time they are juniors. These kids are pressured in 10 different directions and recruiting them is fraught with even more craziness than recruiting top kids who aren't from NYC. Hopefully, in the future, that HOF member can play a part in helping us recruit successfully in the City.

On some level, it comes down to trusting that the staff is making good decisions in their approach to recruiting, and working their assets off. I believe that they are. I was disappointed we didn't get 4-year studs at the 1 and 4 this year. I think some things broke bad for us, and that's how it goes when you are dealing with 17-20 year-olds. I think we could have signed some "o.k." kids this spring, but the staff has raised the bar regarding the quality of players they will spend a scholarship on. Coach Schmidt brought a good track record for recruiting from Xavier and Rob't Morris. I think the pressure is on to have a very good fall signing period.

[LumsdnA10Academc98]

1) jmp: Conger is more of a 3 than a 4. He'll probably see minutes at the 2 before he plays the 4, just to be clear.

2) GoPadres: Do you really believe that Schmidt wants a PG platoon? Are you sure he wouldn't rather have one guy he can count on for 30 minutes a game, like most teams have and like he has at three other positions? I agree with Chuck and anyone else in regard to Eleby's role. Did you forget how quick Schmidt was to hand the keys over to Blackburn just days into his career last year? What about Chris Matthews, who had never previously played point guard, during A-10 play?

Like Chuck said, of course Schmidt is going to make the best of the situation and be complementary of Eleby (whose confidence we all know is shot) in his quotes. I don't buy it for a second.

What type of PG did Schmidt sign the last two off-seasons? Small, quick penetrators who can create for others and also score on their own. That's clearly the type of PG that best suits his system, and that's what he'd rather have. Eleby is just kind of around, playing the last two years when our other options were either hurt or weren't that good.

3) As intriguing as going into Rucker Park with a Bona legend and hand-picking talent sounds, it's not so easy. Ask Bob Hill how that worked out for the Rams 10 years back. He might tell you there's more to it, and you could wind up getting more than you bargained for.

That said, even if it meant going there for one day for one specific kid, I don't see how it would hurt to at least entertain the offer. However, signing multiple players and thinking "they are able to step in and play at SBU right now," probably isn't the best way to continue building our program.

[sony]

Please know that you just can't walk into the Rucker and kids will fall over you. By the time the top "x" percent of the school yard (read High School) players either PSAL or CHSAA end up there. bigger fish with huge recruiting resources have been all over them. An intro from Freddie or anybody else would of course be a good start but does SBU have the resources to finish, to focus and really mine that talent pool? You can't underestimate the level of influence that the AAu systems have and from whence it comes. Riverside Church, the Gauchos, etc. all have enormous influence and they inturn are all under extreme influence from major sources.

[az63]

Lums -
I'm not talking about multiple players, just a select one/two who are a slight level below the BCS type kid and who are not involved with "street agents."
Don't know what happened to Bob Hill but these former SBU guys are very involved in running the Rucker tourney each summer and are willing to help as alums and who know that SBU is a different place.

Bart -
On the trip to Boys and Girls the staff never bothered to call the former Bona HOF guys to arrange other recruiting sit downs. It may have been a timing thing but at least make a phone call - the absence of calls is what has these guys shaking their heads.
There may be more to it than meets the eye, but why chase all over the country for JC PG's when there seems to be an overabundance of them in NYC coming out of HS each year.

Sony-
The former SBU guys are not just walking into Rucker - see my comment to Lums above - they are very involved.
They also know who has his hand out and who is a fit for SBU.
At least pick up the phone!!!!

[adolphlottin]

Here is my humble opinion on the PGs:

Like Lums said, Schmidt doesn't want a PG platoon. Certainly, he didn't want one last year, either. But since Ray wasn't good enough to take the minutes away from Malcolm, there was a lot of shared time. Who says Ogo is going to be good enough to steal minutes? Even Mark isn't ready to answer that question and probably won't be until November. So this is Malcolm's job until taken away. At this point, who's to say Ogo will fair any better than Ray?

[GoPadres]

May 29, 2009 11:48:07 GMT -5 LumsdnA10Academc98 said:

1) jmp: Conger is more of a 3 than a 4. He'll probably see minutes at the 2 before he plays the 4, just to be clear.

2) GoPadres: Do you really believe that Schmidt wants a PG platoon? Are you sure he wouldn't rather have one guy he can count on for 30 minutes a game, like most teams have and like he has at three other positions? I agree with Chuck and anyone else in regard to Eleby's role. Did you forget how quick Schmidt was to hand the keys over to Blackburn just days into his career last year? What about Chris Matthews, who had never previously played point guard, during A-10 play?

Like Chuck said, of course Schmidt is going to make the best of the situation and be complementary of Eleby (whose confidence we all know is shot) in his quotes. I don't buy it for a second.

What type of PG did Schmidt sign the last two off-seasons? Small, quick penetrators who can create for others and also score on their own. That's clearly the type of PG that best suits his system, and that's what he'd rather have. Eleby is just kind of around, playing the last two years when our other options were either hurt or weren't that good.

When exactly did Schmidt turn the keys over to Ray last season? Eleby started 30 our of 30 games (100% for those counting at home) and averaged the 3rd most minutes on the team behind Hall and Matthews.

Nothing against Ogo, but I seem to remember a lot of these same arguments when we signed Blackburn last spring. Ray was the answer at point guard. Ray was the most important signing. Ray was going to start from day one and be the leader of the team. Despite the fact that Ray dominated at the JUCO level, it did not translate into the same type of success when it came to D-1 ball.

Do I think Schmidt would prefer to have Jason Kidd running his team for 40 minutes a night? Absolutely. Is Ogo going to come to Bonnies and be that much better than Eleby? I highly doubt it.