Recruiting recap: Let’s get finished

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With the move and everything, I have been holding onto this (admittedly incomplete) recruiting recap for a while.

Michael Strickland, Carolina Forest HS, N.C., to Randolph-Macon. He’s the son of former Coastal Carolina coach Pete Strickland.

Princess Anne (Va.) forward Kris Scott, 6-5, will attend Shenandoah and play men’s basketball.

St. Catherine’s (Wis.) point guard Jamie DeMatthew is heading to Lawrence. His high school teammate, Matt Gertenbach, is going to Vassar.

Sam Groseclose, 6-8, 265, will attend Mary Washington. He averaged 15.7 points and 8.7 rebounds for Turner Ashby HS. He told The Daily News Record of Harrisonburg, Va., the following:

“I went down and watched them play, and it didn’t seem like they had a lot of inside presence,” he said. “It seemed like that was the one thing they were lacking, and that’s what their coach told me, he said, ‘We’re lacking a true inside man’ and honestly, through high school, that’s all I played.”

DeMatthew, who joins Waterford graduate Jayce Apelgren on the team, averaged 8.6 points and 2.2 steals with an impressive 5-to-1 assist to turnover ratio (he had 159 assists and 32 turnovers).

Cox’s Emory Wheeler, a 6-3 forward, has committed to play men’s basketball at Southern Vermont.

Scranton coach Carl Danzig has announced that Joseph Alfier (Allentown Central Catholic) and Dan O’Connell (John F. Kennedy Catholic, N.Y.) will join the Royals for the upcoming season.

Alfier, a 5-11 point guard, was a three-year letterman and a two-year starter for the Vikings. He was a member of three Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) District XI Class AAA championship teams that finished with an overall record of 65-22 from 2004 through 2006. He is the younger brother of Nick Alfier, who was a four-year letterman for the Royals from 2002-2006.

“Joe comes to us from a solid basketball tradition at Allentown Central Catholic,” says Danzig. “He is a solid player who is solid fundamentally and has been well coached. His role next year will be as a back-up at the point-guard position. He brings a lot of bounce and energy to the program.”

O’Connell, 6-0, 170, was a three-year starter at point guard for the Gaels. He averaged 15.7 points as the Gaels went 25-2 and won the sectional Class B title for the third consecutive season. He finished his career with 978 points in 80 games.

“Dan will make an immediate impact on the program,” says Danzig. “I’m counting on him as a backup at the point guard position. He was a three-year starter on a championship-caliber program, so I’m sure he’ll make the transition smoothly to the college level.”

Seton Catholic Central is sending point guard Jim Torto to Rochester Tech and Jerome Gosney and D.J. Lane to Marywood.

Johnsburg HS center Kyle Fiedorowicz, a three-year starter, will attend North Central and play basketball, according to Illinois’ Northwest Herald.

Loras is getting Travis Guy from Grayslake (Ill.) HS. His teammate, Elias Washington, is heading to Illinois Wesleyan.

Fredonia State is getting Scott Valenta, who averaged 12 points per game at Binghamton (N.Y.) HS, according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin.

From the Alliance Review, in Ohio, Mount Union‘s recruits: G Steve James, Cuyahoga Falls HS, Ohio; G Travis Larrick, Brunswick HS, Ohio; G Gurpreet Singh, Canfield HS, Ohio; G/F Matt Ricci, Stow, Ohio; G/F Kyle Monceaux, Shenango, Pa.; C Jared Hale, Carlisle. G/F Stu Anglum transfers in as a sophomore from Mercyhurst. He played in all 28 games last year, averaging 3.8 points in 17.9 minutes

La Verne is getting guard Mike Moreno, a transfer from Chaffey College, a two-year school in California.

Post player David Chase will be at Colby next season. He was all-state in Class M in Connecticut for Weston HS.

Webster announced more recruits: Drew Horn (St. Pius X HS, Mo.), John Ortwerth (DeSmet HS, Mo.), Colin Regan (Bishop DuBourg HS, Mo.), Troy Rhodes (Hazelwood West HS, Mo.), Jason Terranova (Lyons HS, Colo.), Josue Whitcomb (Blue Valley West HS, Kan.).

Oswego (Ill.) High School’s Brad Harmon is heading to St. John’s.

Neuqua Valley forward Eric Moore will attend Carthage.

Women
Ashley Reed, Robinson HS, Va., to Mary Washington
Katie Rechnitzer, Robinson HS, Va., to Randolph-Macon

Jamestown HS, Va., Tonia Jones to Virginia Wesleyan

Leah Rubega (Norwich Free Academy, Conn.) completes the Bowdoin incoming class, two of whom were profiled in a previous blog posting.

Jessica Schwartz will attend Franklin after playing at Maconaquah HS in Indiana.

Northwest Herald female athlete of the year Jen Nichols will play basketball at Dubuque. She’s the all-time leading scorer at Woodstock HS and shot 43% from three-point range as a senior.

Wartburg is getting Amanda Mulholland from Poplar Grove North Boone HS, according to the Rockford Register Star.

Tomeka Pride will play at Methodist, says the Goldsboro News-Argus. She’s a 5-11 power forward from Spring Creek HS in North Carolina.

Blackburn has released its incoming class. From Lanphier HS in Springfield, Mo., guard/forward Gina Nudo, center Jennifer Young, and guard Tamikka Brents. “We’re thrilled to have all three of them,” said Fritch. “They all meant so much to the Lanphier program, and they will be a huge part of our program as well.” Others: Bloomington (Ill.) HS guard Lovie McClom, Tolono-Unity’s Meghan Schultz, East Alton Wood River High School’s Jessica Hewitt, Bethalto Civic Memorial’s Kayla Broadway and Jerseyville’s Michelle Woelfel.

Monterey Peninsula College, a two-year school in California, is sending three players to Baruch: Dominique McClendon, Myleka Garnett and Karlee Whipple. According to the Monterey County Herald, McClendon scored 19.4 points per game and Garnett scored 14.5 points and had 11 rebounds per game.

Maine Maritime welcomes 5 new players to the 2006-2007 squad. Michelle Ferry (Woodland HS), Laura Blanchard (Valdez HS, Alaska), Kelsi Eianne (Mt. Ararat HS), Amanda Laney (Mt. Blue HS), and Katie Quimby (Brewer HS) will join the Lady Mariner program that has competed in back to back NCAA Tournaments.

Ferry, a 5-10 post player, joins MMA after winning a state championship for the Woodland Dragons. A McDonalds All-Star, Ferry will provide depth at the 4 and the 5 spots in the Lady Mariner front court. Ferry was also the Gatorade Player of the Year in Maine for Volleyball.

Blanchard, a 6-0 All-State selection in Alaska, returns to the state of Maine after playing at McCauley HS in Portland Maine before moving out of state. Blanchard will add athleticism and size to MMA’s front line.

Eianne, a 5-7 shooting guard, led her team in scoring on her way to an all-conference selection at Mt. Ararat. Kelsi will be an instant scoring threat from the perimeter and is capable of handling the ball in transition. Eianne will also play soccer at MMA.

Laney, a 5-5 guard, will play the 1 and 2 spots for MMA. Laney captained the Mt. Blue team to the state playoffs and was also selected to the Academic All-Conference team. Laney was the teams point guard and best 3pt shooter.

Quimby, a 5-9 athletic guard, rounds out the Lady Mariner recruiting class. Quimby can play multiple spots on the floor and will add depth to the MMA backcourt. She was the captain of the basketball team and is leading the Brewer softball team to another outstanding season.

SCAC chooses up sides

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The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference voted yesterday to split into two divisions following the addition of Colorado College and Birmingham-Southern.

In basketball, Birmingham-Southern, Centre, DePauw, Oglethorpe, Rhodes and Sewanee are in the East. Austin, Colorado College, Hendrix, Millsaps, Southwestern and Trinity (Texas) are in the West.

That’s for basketball and baseball. If you’re following volleyball and softball, Millsaps is in the East and Rhodes is in the West. (No idea why, sorry.)

For football, the nine football teams will play a full round-robin, with each team meeting the other eight. Believe it or not, this was not a given — there was some discussion about splitting into divisions or playing a partial round-robin like the NCAC does. But can you imagine a year in which DePauw and Trinity tied for first and did not play each other?

Wait, never mind, already happened last year. 🙂

This alignment takes effect in 2007-08.

We’re on the move

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After nearly 16 years in the Washington, D.C., metro area, I’m moving to Connecticut.

This move has been a long time coming. I’ve worked at USA Today for a dozen years now, mostly with Baseball Weekly/Sports Weekly, but starting later this month I’ll be taking a job at NBCSports.com.

Although I don’t fully yet know what days and nights of the week I’ll be working, you can assume that I’ll be showing up at games in and around the area.

What else does this mean for D3hoops.com? The site is not going away — shoot, D3hoops.com/D3football.com experience helped me get this job. But we’ll be relying on other people within the organization to do a little more on game nights, when I’m at work, in terms of doing the first updates on the front page, stuff like that. Our recently announced partnership with D3Scoreboard.com will help out as well, since it will improve our collection of scores as well as server performance.

The transition period might be a little rough, and there will be entire days where I am away from the computer, most likely. The job search also has contributed to the somewhat quiet nature of the blog this summer. We ask your patience. But yes, I do have a full-time job, and D3sports.com is not it. We have to pay the bills and feed the three kids, after all.

One shining dream

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Alright, basketball withdrawal is painful, apparently. It’s now even invading my dreams.

The other night, amazing detail. I’m sitting courtside in Salem with Rick Seidel, broadcasting the national semifinals. Pretty good crowd on hand. NYU is playing UW-Platteville and Platteville has just taken a three to go up by two with seconds left. NYU pushes the ball up the floor and has it knocked out of bounds with 0.1 seconds left.

So NYU has to go for the tip-in. But their inbounds pass misses everyone and actually hits me in the face. Ouch.

Platteville needs to inbound the ball to advance to the finals. But they throw deep into their frontcourt to avoid the tip-in and they, too, miss everyone. So it’s still 0.1 seconds left, NYU inbounding underneath its own basket again with a chance to tip-in and tie, but Platteville deflects the inbounds pass and time expires.

And there’s still nearly four months to tipoff.

The legend of Jeff Gibbs grows

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Roster inflation is a wonderful thing, seriously. I’ve seen some doozy heights in my time, to be sure.

Jeff Gibbs was one of the biggest recipients of inflated height that I’ve ever seen. The Otterbein center dominated Division III from the low post with his leaping ability and rebounding. But oddly enough, he had different heights on Otterbein’s football and basketball rosters, magically gaining two inches every fall and losing them every winter. (Perhaps the football team measured him in his cleats.)

You see, I know Gibbs was not his listed 6-3. I stood next to him at the Final Four in Salem and he is 6-1 at best. That’s because I’m 6-0 (though I would be listed at 6-2, no doubt).

But apparently Gibbs has grown since graduation. A local newspaper referred to his performance with the Columbus Cyclones and said he was 6-5. Yeah, 6-5. Then later in the piece, the writer says:

He went to some football team camps with the goal of latching on as a tight end in the NFL. But once again, he was told he was too small.

“I got the same thing I’ve heard my whole life,” said Gibbs, whose scored 15 points against Cuyahoga Falls on June 3 in his first game with the Cyclones. “I was told I was too short.”

Thankfully this guy isn’t an NFL scout, because a true 6-5 isn’t too short for an NFL tight end. But it’s too tall for Jeff Gibbs.

Then again, when it comes to Gibbs’ game, size doesn’t matter.