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The November
Pay Off
The Return
of Recruiting as an Art
November
20, 2003
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It's funny how things shake out.....
Year in and year out, the ACC has repeatedly proven itself to be the
elite conference of college basketball, but the mass exodus of the big
man in college basketball has made each player added to an elite Division
I program all the more valuable.
During the last few November signing periods, talk centered upon how
Carolina was getting destroyed on the recruiting trail in the hunt for
a big man. The talk that prevailed around the country suggested that Carolina
had lost it's funk, and Chapel Hill wasn't the best team atmosphere to
develop your skills as a big man.
From DeSagana Diop to Damion Grant to Darryl Watkins, Carolina's search
for a big man became a futile desperate hunt that made Carolina another
cliche, a program who would sign anyone to fill a hole in a line-up. Yes,
the recruiting game had changed. Big men were suddenly going pro, and
elite players started looking to use programs as a bus-stop to get to
the next level, but the bottom line is that Carolina had lost it's flavor
with regards to recruiting.
So when you look at what Coach Williams and his staff have achieved from
April to the signing period of this month, you have to be highly impressed
with what they've accomplished so far this year. The staff took some heavy
risks. They paid off this November, and the same strategy could pay off
huge in the future.
A case in point is Brian Johnson. Johnson was at the top of every Carolina
fan's wish list during April of this year. Johnson was the main target
last year at the time. His name was often mentioned in articles that wondered
if the hiring drama last April would affect his choice to Carolina. After
a lackluster summer, and a supposed penchant for wanting to play on the
perimeter, Johnson was "softly" let go off Carolina's wish list.
Here's a great article from Thad Mumau that tells a little more about
what went down...A couple of weeks old, but enjoy...
After the first few weeks of evaluation at the summer camps and tournaments,
Coach Williams took a pretty good risk by passing on Johnson. There is
no secret that the spot is now lined up for everyone's top power forward
target next year, Tyler Hansborough out of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, who
is a player that likes to play down low.
Considering Coach Williams had Johnson in the bag, his decision to bypass
Johnson was a teeth grinding move that played out over the summer. Those
are types of moves that you have to make get to the next level. Don't
feel any slight for Johnson. He'll be alright, and he's now at Oak Hill,
who is ranked #1 in the USA Today rankings. Johnson is headed to Louisville,
which is really a great destination for a Laurinburg boy.
It goes to show you that any big man is not going to be the right fit
for a particular system. The physical and mental aspects of a big man's
development can be very touchy. Just look here for an update on one of
last year's UNC targets, big man, Brian Butch.
Yeah, I bet you remember him...Butch chose Wisconsin over UNC in a desperate
battle, which was just brutal to watch for any Carolina insider last November.
UNC's futile efforts to land any big man, especially with the rail-thin
Butch, really drove home the fact that Carolina had lost a lot of flavor
on the recruiting trail last year.
A lot of the Carolina fans took the snub as a major loss. However, many
Carolina insiders didn't understand Butch and his family realized that
with the lack of a big man in this year's lineup, he was going to be thrown
into the ACC jungle immediately this year. Can you imagine the pressure
that would have been pushed onto Butch not only physically, but mentally
as well, throughout the upcoming 2003-04 season?
With Butch's and Johnson's case at hand, you have to look at what the
value is to taking a player into your program, which is really what makes
recruiting an art form for college coaches. That's also why a recruiting
addict has to appreciate the work that Williams did this past summer,
in choosing to go for risk over a sure thing.
The fact that Coach Williams decided to back away from Brian Johnson
in the hope of landing a big power forward that could be a better player
in the future is pretty gutsy. It also shows Williams to be a recruiting
veteran who knows how to build a program right.
Moves that choose pieces such as a "sleeper" prospect like
Quentin Thomas over a potential "one and done" prospect like
Shaun Livingston, who after his Duke decision still talked about the NBA,
make it very clear to Carolina insiders that Coach Williams is choosing
the weapons for his arsenal very carefully.
What a difference a year makes...
Deep from 25 Feet,
BD
Bret Dougherty is a UNC-Chapel Hill alum and current graduate
student at UNC-Chapel Hill. Bret is a co-host of WXYC SportsRap (9 PM
Sundays on FM 89.3 & www.wxyc.org). He also has a SoulGroove music
show on Wednesday mornings from 6-8 AM on WXYC. His area of study is "The
Revitalization of Public Spaces".
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