Thursday, March 12, 2015

Recruit locally and regionally (at least somewhat) or suffer?

So what is up with the three non-Pac-12 basketball programs in the Bay Area, meaning USF, Santa Clara and San Jose State University (for the record, two private college and a state school)? Being specific, why the absence of northern California players on these rosters?

San Francisco features junior Mark Tollefsen and freshman Frankie Ferrari. The Broncos have Denzel Johnson out of Clovis High (near Fresno) and that's even a bit of a reach. SJSU has nobody from northern California currently on scholarship.

For next season, Coach Rex Walters has an LOI from a Florida prepster, Coach Kerry Keating possesses verbals from two Texas high schoolers and Coach Dave Wojcik has two out-of-state signees plus an out-of-state commit. (thank you Verbal Commits)

So the trends are continuing.

Why?

Is it because of a series of down years in the Nor Cal prep and junior college ranks?

Or a series of high school seasons featuring a few high level talents, some lower level players and very little in the middle?

Or could it be because of particular elements pertaining to each basketball program?

Or a combination of the above and more?

Whatever the reasons, it's a strange phenomenon.

It's impossible to quantify either way but can any of these programs ultimately be successful with a dearth of local and regional roster members? Financially, it effects SJSU the most as out-of-state scholarships are much more costly (and the Spartans also lack any talents from southern California).

Then we have Pacific, Sacramento State and UC Davis.

The Tigers (West Coast Conference members like USF and Santa Clara) can boast of three scholarshipped transfers from City College of San Francisco, one from Santa Rosa Junior College and a pair out of Modesto Christian High. Coach Ron Verlin also has a frontcourter coming up from Modesto Christian,

As for the Hornets, five roster members hail from northern California: Mikh McKinney, Cody Demps, Jiday Ugbaja, plus Mason and Eric Stuteville. Plus, Alex Tiffin transferred over from nearby UC Davis. Coach Brian Katz possesses two November LOIs, one from a Modesto Christian prospect and the other a Sierra High talent.

UC Davis features Darius Graham, Josh Ritchart, J.T. Adenrele plus Josh Fox out of City College of San Francisco and Avery Johnson, a transfer from USF. Coach Jim Les has two guards coming in so far, one a signee from southern California and the other a commit out of the Midwest.

Now call it coincidental -- correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation -- but the Aggies and Hornets are in the midst of their most successful seasons in a long time. Pacific has but one senior and a number of solid underclassmen. USF, Santa Clara and SJSU are plainly struggling.

2 comments:

  1. Uhh...you've strangely left Saint Mary's College out of your statistical findings?? Ever heard of the Aussie pipeline or one of a men's hoops program that has more wins than most California programs (including the Pac-12) in the last decade? You may consider adding them to your next analysis.

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  2. I will do a separate one for the Gaels (and I should have mentioned that). While obviously not a Pac-12 member, St. Mary's deserves such. The program in Moraga stands way above the six mentioned in this piece but seems to also be at a critical juncture right now. Thanks for the feedback.

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