The centerpiece of the incoming recruiting class was Kevin Noreen.
Now he is asking to be released from his letter of intent. If it has reached this point, I assume he will not set foot on campus. Sanders' issues I understood. Heslip was a bit of a head scratcher, but no hard feelings. This situation...I frankly don't get. Where is Noreen going to find a better fit for his skills? In fact, I would say under Donahue, BC is a better fit for him than we were under Skinner. I realize it might not be Noreen's fault either. Maybe Donahue is encouraging it and wants his own players. But that is short sighted too. Where is Donahue going to find a better player at this stage in the process? Long term I am not worried about the program, but now I worry that we will be very, very young and raw after the Jackson-Ravenel-Elmore class graduates.
The opening on the BC staff didn't last long. Donahue hired Niagara assistant coach Akbar Waheed to complete his staff. His experience is all with Niagara. Let's hope he is ready for life in the ACC.
The guy Waheed replaced, John Gallagher only took the Hartford job after getting Donahue's blessing.
A series against Wake might be just what the doctor ordered for BC baseball. With today's win, they now have a winning record and a bit of momentum.
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This is becoming quite concerning. I wasn't too excited about the basketball team's chances for next year as it was. Now, we have a team top-heavy with underachievers and no depth. It looks like NONE of the signed high school seniors will be playing for BC. None. Oh for four. If that's what happens, this team currently has eight - Jackson, Elmore, Ravenel, Raji, Southern, Dunn, Trapani, Paris - scholarship players for next year. That is not a recipe for success in a new coach's first season, especially when none of those players is an established All-ACC star. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
"Gallagher was supposed to be flying to Australia on a recruiting trip for BC Friday."
Did anybody else spot this in the piece on our short-lived recruiter taking the Hartford job?
Has BC ever recruited Down Under? Should we start stocking Vegamite in the Cafeteria?
Are we going to see four or five Aussies come in quickly. This would solve the lack of recruits asap?
Is BC going to become the St. Marys of the East?
Maybe seeing St. Marys roll through Richmond and Villanova with five Aussies got somebody's attention. Of course, the loss to Baylor was a blowout; but some help from beyond the Great Barrier Reef might be just what we need.
What country are the Ivan Brothers from? We need to recruit there. (Ironically, big Ivan played for St. Mary's I believe)
No-no Noreen.
Bring in the Aussies!
I'd settle for Little Ivan and some "chickens in the pen" defense.
The Ivan Brothers have to be from Jersey. Where else would they disappear so easily?
From Boston Globe comments:
tomheslip wrote:
Over the past several days, my family and I have experienceda great deal of turmoil over Brady's future and changes at BC. To be candid, I personally have been angry and have made less than mature statements. I've now been labelled a nut case , wacked. etc. To some degree, these labels aren't entirely unfair given my angry outbursts, but here are the facts. Brady (and others) are transferring because credibility and trust have been lost. BC is not just a great school, it is one of the greatest. However, when dishonesty and manipulation take control, even great schools will pay a price. I honestly do not know the new coaches or Coach Donahue and it is only my opinion that they misunderstood the team they were taking over and the full picture of the potential they had in their hands. It went sour. My son Brady was simply told that he was not good enough for the ACC and perhaps they're right. But would you stay if a coach basically described your game as incompatible with the league you were to play in? What really transpired is that we , as a family, made a decision to allow Brady to leave prep school in December and join BC early (while redshirting). It was to allow him to grow as a person with a first semester of university under his belt, acclimatize and maximize an opportunity. It was a decision we made based on statements Gene Defilippo made about the "family" at BC, the stability of the basketball program, that Al Skinner would be the coach at BC as long as he wanted and it was made based on huge trust and respect for all of the people who echoed these statements at BC. Then 3 months later Gene Defilippo fired the entire staff. From Pat Duquette to Al Skinner we made a decision that our son's future would be bright in their hands, they were fired, unceramoniously and unexpectedly. Brady loved New Hampton School were he was attending and NEVER would have left at Christmas had some indication of the instability of the BC program been known. Gene Defilippo could have discretely managed this in a fair and honest way, but he chose not to. He lied. Our son's future is up in the air. Is it a big deal? It is a to a 19 year old and his family. Basketball will come and go, schools move on as do players but when you pick carefully who to believe and trust (and you do so most judiciously) and still find you were lied to, it lasts a lifetime.
It's still very confusing to imagine the new staff would tell anyone they weren't good enough to play for BC when
- You're about to graduate 6 players and need bodies
- You come from the Ivy League where all players were told they weren't good enough by the power conferences, but work hard to prove otherwise
- You've just arrived and hardly seen the kid play, if at all
But certainly Mr. Heslip's message is their side of the story (put out honestly) and there's some level of truth for sure.
I don't know what's crazier: GDF saying Skinner would coach as long as he wanted to, or having on-campus tryouts for the Plex wannabes.
I'd assume you wouldn't cut bait unless you already have a backup plan in motion.
Can we trade Biko straight-up for Maya Moore?
In Don We(I) Trust
With the amount players graduating next year, I can't imagine he'd let all the recruits go unless he had something up his sleeve... I hope.
The quote from Noreen's Dad kinda confirms what we already know about GDF. As far as takeaways go, I'll just slice out the "BC is the greatest" quote. And maybe email it to that dumb idiot McGrory.
You have to figure if Al had the team look halfway decent in the ACC tourney, he would've kept his job, but they/we looked awful.
You have to wonder what's up with Donahue - is it simply he's challenging the kids in meetings and they don't like it (i.e. you're going to have to bust your butt), or is it Donahue really thinks they won;t cut it in his system, and he'd rather have an awful undermanned year this year to get his own guys in later on?
With two years in a row with no recruits, I can't think of any other way to fill the gaps except international recruiting.
This has not always been BC's strong suit; e.g., "Der Big Man" and/or Lior; but going overseas is a legal way to find players who can participate in the program now.
I hope somebody is on a plane to Australia and, as soon as the volcanic ash clears, to Europe and Israel.
i wish i could trust Donahue- but i dont have time for 4 years of crappy basketball before "his players" are in.
Next year we will struggle to get back to 15 wins and miss out on 96 tourney, and ATL is worried about after Ravenel, Elmore and Jackson graduate, but what about when raji, trapani, dunn, southern and biko go.
I liked the hire, before he dismantled our team. Jared Dudley is not walking through that door.....
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