BC adds another basketball recruit

Maryland wing Kamari Williams verballed to BC Wednesday. He's 6'8 and the son of NBA veteran Walt Williams. He seems like a bit of a project but there is a lot to like about his future.

Currently the recruiting services do not list any other major offers for Williams. Supposedly he was considered a strong possibility for UMass and had interest from Power 5s. The BC commitment will likely catch someone's attention and bring in another P5 suitor.

I have no problem with another under the radar recruit who has a famous father. Williams' frame is promising and we will need a player with some positional flexibility. What I also like is that he is from one of Scott Spinelli's primary recruiting areas (DC/Maryland). Spinelli knows the area well and probably has a good understanding of how a player from there will fit in under Christian and where he can take his game.

Welcome to BC Kamari. I hope you have a bright future on the Heights.

BC in the market for a transfer

Yesterday when I mentioned Bowman's return, I incorrectly listed BC's open scholarship as his. Based on multiple reports, Bowman's scholarship was still his. The open scholarship is the Robinson one and BC is using that to find a transfer.

BC was in the mix for Mustapha Heron before he committed to St. John's. Multiple reports say that Drexel guard Tramaine Isabell is considering BC.

Since both guys are guards it seems like that is BC direction. But considering Bowman being back and the small window, I hope they just grab the best guy they can get.

Arizona package? and other links

The best type of recruiting is when one elite player brings in another. According to Hoffses, that could be happening at BC if Arizona big man Andre Adams joins Sammy Barnes-Thompkins.  Adams will probably have to decide soon. The added bonus of the package is that it helps the transition for two kids far away from home.

For those who missed it, Chase Rettig signed with the Chargers. This follows a tryout with the Dolphins. I don't know why these teams are showing interest now but didn't really pursue Chase after Green Bay dropped him last season. I wish him well and think he can still be a solid NFL backup.

Rettig's teammate KPL is ready to get back on the field.

BC finished 6th nationally for APR success. 12 Eagle teams qualified for being in the Top 10th percentile of their respective sport in graduating student athletes.

Barnes-Thompkins commits

Jim Christian picked up another recruit with Sammy Barnes-Thompkins. He is a combo guard from Arizona and originally committed to St. John's and reopened his recruiting after Steve Lavin left. This is huge on many fronts. First BC added some major conference talent and depth. Second, like last year, BC took advantage of a coaching change at another school. In an ideal world, BC would have a deep pipeline and relationships that allowed them to lock up their own recruits. But being opportunistic about a shakeup at another program is not a bad thing.

This seems like the end of the 2015 recruits. Now BC can focus on transfers, who can bring roster balances and some experience.

Christian focuses on Shawntrez Davis

247's Zach Spears broke the news of Shawntrez Davis' impending visit to BC later this month. This would be huge coup for Jim Christian and his 2015 recruiting class. Davis is highly ranked, a front court player who would likely start and is from outside the region. BC hasn't pulled in an offensive big man of this caliber in forever.

There are two aspects of this process that I found encouraging. First that we are in on a player like this. (Davis has numerous high profile offers.) Second, I am glad to see the staff be this opportunistic. One of the reasons Davis is available is due to coaching changes at other programs and the natural musical chairs aspect of recruiting. Now they just have to close on him.

247 predicts Davis will be an Eagle, so expect a decision quickly following his visit.

Can BC close on their rumored hoops prospects?

Earlier this week a flood of tweets and articles came out regarding Jim Christian's recruits (here, here and here). BC is in play for four elite 2015 prospects: Terance Mann, Donovan Mitchell, Josh Sharma, and Aaron Falzon. Recruiting a bunch of elite guys is an improvement. Getting mentioned by a bunch of elite prospects is an improvement. But none of it matters if Christian's staff doesn't close on a few of these guys.

In fairness to Donahue's recruiting, he was involved with Mann and Falzon. However, in most cases he was looking for certain types of players and often moved off elite guys if BC was getting ignored. That's not the case with the new staff. By all accounts they are bulldogs and are travelling more than their predecessors.

I think Christian will land at least one of these targets. Hopefully one will lead to another. Right now they are selling playing time and the opportunity to bring BC back. "Putting a ______ on the map" is an old trick of every struggling program, but it works.

Landing elite recruits doesn't guarantee anything. Skinner's most coveted class disappointed. Christian will still have to fill out his roster with a few mid-level guys and he will also have to prove that he can develop the talent once it is on campus. But for now we have hope...at least on Twitter.

Recruiting roundup (football and basketball)

Don Bosco star Daivon Ellison narrowed his list and BC made his final four.

BC was the first to offer 2016 Arizona QB prospect Mason Moran. We offered as a QB but some think he might be a a good defensive prospect.

In basketball news, BC is making a major push for guard Donovan Mitchell. He plays for Brewster and was considered a Providence lean prior to BC's push.

Recruiting challenge reminder

Kentucky combo-guard Darryl Hicks committed to BC Tuesday. He's well-regarded and should provide some nice relief to both Rahon and Hanlan next year. Hicks represents a solid recruiting job by the Donahue staff and would be a nice piece in a stable program. BC's not a stable program and that is where Donahue's challenge comes into play.

We ended the season on a high note. Hanlan exploded and the team proved they could play good defense and hang with some of the best teams in the country. With our core coming back and maturing a year, next year should be a turning point. To break through we probably need one big man. A Center/Power Forward type would give us size when we face bigger teams and provide an insurance policy if Clifford never regains his old form. Hicks and his fellow incoming freshman Garland Owens are nice to haves but still leave us with a hole on the front line. And with two commits and the megaclass becoming Juniors, Donahue now only has two scholarships to work with and no impact big man on the horizon.

Donahue has to win next year. But at the same time he has to plan for life after the Anderson/Clifford/Odio class. Taking Hicks is a move to solidify the program.

Donahue has a few options. With two scholarships open he can still add more pieces to his current recruiting class. While that might create more imbalance, a betting man would guess we will have more attrition (Caudill?) freeing up other scholarships for next year's class. Or he can look for another 5th year like Van Nest who gives him size for one season. Or he can wait for an elite big man to come along and make the most of the guys he has now.

My hope is that he finds a big man for next year. Whether it is a 5th year, a Juco (highly unlikely) or a freshman. While scholarship balance is a good thing, I don't think we should take this year's finish for granted. We have a window next year. Win now and figure the rest out later.

Hanlan named ACC Freshman of the Year

The ACC media voted Olivier Hanlan Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. This is quite an honor and our first major piece of basketball hardware in the Donahue era. I know during the second Duke game there was talk of a two-man race with Duke's Rasheed Sulaimon, but the vote wasn't even close.

In the past people have taken me to task over using conferences awards as an indicator of greatness. I realize that awards are not completely objective nor a guarantee of any future success. But they are a benchmark of accomplishment and winning them is never a bad sign. Congrats also need to go to Steve Donahue. While we are still waiting for all the pieces to fall into place, Hanlan is validation that he can recruit ACC-level talent.

Congrats are also owed to Ryan Anderson who also earned conference honors.

Kickoff time for Wake and other links

The ACC announced that BC's game at Wake Forest will be a 3:30 kickoff and carried on regional networks (probably the same ones that carried the Georgia Tech game). While I would prefer the ESPN channels, I am encouraged that even during a terrible season our games are getting broadcasts. It speaks to the lasting power of our BC's brand. Imagine what things would be like with aggressive Marketing?

Over the weekend Steve Donahue picked up a recruit for the 2013 class. Garland Owens is a wing player but does bring more of a slashing style of play to Donahue's offense. The idea of becoming a better shooter was one of BC's appeals.

 Hockey East voted Johnny Gaudreau its player of the week.

As everyone noted, the point spread for BC-Maryland has already had some funny shifts.

Hoops transfer and other links

Former Harvard forward Andrew Van Nest transferred to BC Friday. A fifth-year senior and Harvard grad, Van Nest is eligible to play next season. The question is how much will he actually play. Van Nest was highly regarded (for a Harvard recruit) out of high school, but saw his freshman season and subsequent career derailed by injury. Because he is only around for one season, this is a low risk flyer for Donahue. If Van Nest stays healthy, he gives us some additional depth on the front line. If not, he doesn't tie up a scholarship beyond 2013.

New Jersey guard Kelly Hughes committed to BC.

In this article from earlier in the week, Andre Williams explains how the offense less complex this year. It sounds like Martin will be using various formations -- instead of plays -- to keep the other team off balance.

This isn't BC specific, but Rivals published an interesting survey of elite recruits. Position coaches are far more important to the process than most realize. It also was refreshing to see so many recruits say academics  were important. Of course they rarely follow through with that come signing day.

Catching up on basketball recruiting with Eric Hoffses

In addition to his work on the BC beat, Eric Hoffses also covers college basketball recruiting in New England for Rivals.com. With Donahue and his staff in the middle of the important and competitive summer recruiting circuit, I thought I would check in with Eric and get a feel for BC's recruiting plans.

Q: The summer recruiting season is in full swing. Who are the most realistic names on Steve Donahue's short list? 

Eric Hoffses: Samuel Dingba from the Salisbury School is a guy I could see being a fit in the class 2013. He’s a 6’6” power forward that’s a good defender and rebounder and plays bigger than his size. BC offered him in May. There is a real need for a power forward and he seems like the most likely guy to fill the void. If you are a believer that the current core of freshmen are the real deal then you will think Dingba is a great fit. He would fill a void that is missing on the current roster.

Q: Who is the biggest reach/elite recruit that you could see BC landing? 

Eric Hoffses:  Noah Vonleh is tops on the list, and I’ll talk about him more in a bit. If you are looking for a player that’s going to be a top 100 guy and has a good chance to come to BC I’d pay attention to 2014 player Kaleb Joseph. He is a PG from Nashua, NH that plays for Cushing Academy. He can do it all from scoring, to passing, to being a leader. Joseph is a real good kid too and it’s not lost on him that BC was the first big name school to offer him. This is a big weekend coming up for BC. A lot of the top New England prospects in the class of 2014-2015 are coming in for their Elite Camp. It gives the staff a good opportunity to evaluate players in their offense, and it gets big name players on campus.

Q: Do you expect anyone to commit over the summer? 

Eric Hoffses: Probably not unless it’s a fringe/under the radar prospect and I don’t think the staff is going to push for any of those right now. With a low amount of available scholorships the staff has to be selective. There isn’t a need to panic yet with so much time left. The players can’t sign until November in the early signing period, so they probably won't start committing until late August/September.

Q: Do you think Donahue will over recruit given the number of scholarships available? Can he risk it on the chance that a current player will leave? 

Eric Hoffses: No I don’t. It’s believed that they have 3 scholoroships to give out between the 2013 and 2014 classes right now. They are going to keep at least one open for superstar Noah Vonleh. For those who haven’t heard of Vonleh, he’s one of the highest ranked players in the class of 2014 and he’s from Haverhill, MA. He plays at New Hampton prep, one of the local prep schools that BC has had a very good relationship with (2012 recruit Olivier Hanlan played there). Unlike some other superstars who have came through New England, there’s at least a small chance BC could land him. He still mentions BC in interviews alongside the likes of North Carolina, Syracuse, ect. I think the staff sees a real chance at landing some huge names in the 2014 class. This is the class that people who follow hoops closely in this area have been talking about for years. I’m talking about the type of guys that can come in and average double digits as a freshman. With that being the case they aren’t going to leave themselves shorthanded. It’s going to have to be considered a huge disappointment if BC doesn’t land any of the big names in this class.

Dragicevich undecided and other links

The Heights retracted their earlier report regarding pending basketball transfer Alex Dragicevich. There is still a chance he could end up at BC. Many of his other rumored destinations no longer have scholarships available. Regardless, I expect Donahue to use this scholarship on Dragicevich or another transfer.

The national media has been much more critical of BC football than the Boston media.

Mark Spinney signed a free agent deal with the Redskins. Good luck to him.

The Sailing team qualified for the National Championship.

Softball beat Providence with their final at bat.

Guys heading to the NHL, wrestling and other links

As expected a few members of the National Championship team have signed with NHL teams. Almeida signed with the Capitals and Paul Carey agreed to terms with Colorado. The Frozen Four and BC also generated interest from the big media outlets. Grantland captured Jerry York's class and focus on winning trophies. Grantland also gave Tampa high marks for their job as host of the event. Most of the BC fans I know loved having the Frozen Four there. The New York Times got into the Frozen Four fever by having The Heights writer Greg Joyce file a piece. Congrats to Greg for the exposure.

Former BC Eagle Kevin Kiley is better known by his ring name Alex Riley. In this article Kevin/Alex shares the story of his rise and similarity between football and wrestling.

This is a pretty good look at next year's basketball team.

With HD on maternity leave there hasn't been much coverage of football on the ACC Blog. However, Matt Fortuna did post today on our rising linebackers.

BC basketball is in the mix for two transfers from Rice. The first is PG Dylan Ennis. The other is G/F Jarelle Reischel.

The Patriot Ledger wrote a long feature on BC Baseball's Anthony Melchionda. He wasn't the only baseball guy getting positive press. The Globe wrote about Kyle Prohovich being part of three generations of college baseball.

Digesting rumors and speculation regarding incoming hoops tranfers

The season is over for most teams, so speculation regarding transfer is kicking into high gear. Donahue has not stated if his staff is seeking a transfer, but we do have scholarships to give and potential playing time. BC's biggest need is for big men who can play the 4 or 5.

Alex Oriakhi is probably the most well-known name available. Because of UConn's sanctions, he is eligible to play next year. The good news: he's from Lowell and would start immediately for BC. The bad news: he supposedly wants to play for a contender, there are questions if he is academically eligible to transfer to BC and he wasn't always on good terms with the UConn staff. Oriakhi is the prize opportunity, but based on his stated needs, I don't see BC in the mix.

Evan Smotrycz is another name to watch. He's a Massachusetts native and played in a system similar to BC's at Michigan. Supposedly he had a relationship with Donahue when Donahue tried to interest him in Cornell. We could use his size, but he will have to sit a year.

Brendan Lane can leave UCLA and play immediately. When he first announced his intentions, there was lots of message board talk about his interest in BC. He would also keep the California pipeline going. But in the week since the announcement, there's been no other reporting. I am guessing it is a long shot.

Hockey still No. 1 and other links

Coming off an opening round sweep, BC Hockey held onto its No. 1 slot in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. BC will take on Providence this Friday at the Garden. The game will be on NESN.

Miami swept the BC baseball team over the weekend. BC will have a chance at their first ACC win this Friday at Clemson.

BC basketball target Anthony January is gaining more attention from other programs...especially with his strong play of late.

If you missed it over the weekend, you need to read the New York Times article on Nerlens Noel. This is Jimmy Noel's little brother and he is one of the biggest basketball recruits to come out of New England in years. BC is not on his radar. If you read the article you won't begrudge Donahue for not bothering. The situation is a mess and multiple people are pulling Noel in different directions.

Here is another scouting report on Luke Kuechly.

Steve Donahue's candid strategies

With the calender turning to basketball season, Steve Donahue has been making the rounds with the media. As the Heights said, his energy, enthusiasm and ability to sell his plan for the program make the potential rebuilding that much more tolerable than what is going on with Spaz.

What I found most interesting is Donahue's openness about his recruiting strategy. He is obviously looking for guys who can fit in his system, but he is also looking at guys who may be underrecruited or not being recruited by a school like BC. That means going to California and differentiating BC from Pac 12 schools or selling a European kid on the benefit of playing in the U.S. It probably means we won't go head to head with other east coast city schools or other ACC programs. I endorse this strategy 100%. It is not all that different from how Al Skinner approached recruiting.

What's also encouraging is that Donahue and his staff are turning over every rock locally (great series by Around the Res BTW).

What makes Donahue so refreshing and should be a lesson to Spaz and any other future head coach, is that he has belief in himself, his vision and is willing to share that vision. Now wins will ultimately need to come, but being yourself and being optimistic can earn a lot of goodwill.

New hoops recruit and other links

2012 prospect Joe Rahon committed to BC and Steve Donahue. Rahon fits into Donahue's developing template as he is from California, has some mid-major offers and is a shooter. Because the 2011 class was so big, Donahue can be somewhat selective with this class. I expect a few more verbals especially once the staff has a better understanding of what their new players are lacking.

This article captures the young dynamic of this year's BC basketball team. I know they haven't played a game yet, but I am excited for their potential. I expect us to struggle in November and December but think we will be competitive in the second part of the season. Eric Hoffses also had a good article on this year's team.

Steve Donahue is onboard with the expanded ACC. But when he talks about the "talk" regarding the Big East in Boston, I can't think is giving too much weight to the Globe's work. I really don't think the average Bostonian sports fan thinks twice about Big East basketball.

One of TOB's Massachusetts recruits just decommitted from NC State and is in talks with BC. Doyle is saying that he wants to play QB at the next level. At this point I think BC can slow play him until signing day and see how the class fills out.

BC is already targeting 2013 recruits, including New Jersey linebacker Buddy Brown.

A different look at Kuechly and other links

Based on its affiliate list, I am guessing not many of you got to see Raycom's Football Saturdays in the South. I hope Raycom (or some fan) puts it up online, because it was the best piece I've seen on Luke Kuechly. Instead of the usual intense Clark Kent/Superman angle, they actually showed his sense of humor. You also got to see his family and a little of life at home back in Cincinnati. The coolest part was Luke and his dad shooting clay pigeons. Who doesn't look cool with a shotgun? [NOTE to BC: get Raycom to put this piece up ASAP.]

BC's top target Canaan Severin still has us in his top five. It looks like he and Steven Daniels will be teammates this fall. Hopefully they connect and decide to come to BC together.

Did our newest recruit tip off what sort of offense we will run. Most have labeled it "Pro Style" but Lynch said it is a "zone." I am guessing he didn't come up with that on his own. The coaches must be describing Rogers's system that way.

Steve Donahue's crew is targeting Wisconsin guard Matt Thomas.

Busy Donahue, sailing win, Herzy quote and other links

The basketball roster filled out a bit with three new players. I don't expect any of them to be big factors, but it is nice to round out the roster. Plus the new crew had pretty good success with walkons and post grads last season. Donahue also has offers out to members of the 2013 class.

Admittedly I have a hard time keeping up with the different contests, but the sailing team picked up another title.

The other day in my Stanley Cup post, I failed to recognize Cory Schneider as a key backup for Vancouver. (Thanks to Peter F and the others who called me out.) Although he's from Massachusetts, his family is clearly rooting for the Canucks.

Mark Herzlich raised a few eyebrows with this quote: "I'll be the Cam Newton of free agency..." Personally I think the USA Today took his quote out of context. It makes him seem like an overly cocky guy...especially considering he wasn't drafted. However, if you read the full quote in context, you would quickly realize that Mark still has perspective.

Assessing his current value, Herzlich chuckled, "I'll be the Cam Newton of free agency, who knows?"

I bolded the key phrases.

This has been floating around for a few days but I thought it was worth highlighting. I hope someone from BC can get through to Spaz that he needs to change his approach to the media. The poor us, empty cupboard stuff is charming when you've won championships. When you are coming off mediocre seasons the poor us meme just kills marketing.

Of BC's current seniors, Donnie Fletcher might strongest NFL prospect.

It looks like former Eagle Alejandro Bedoya will be playing for the US squad this summer.

BC is still in play for Georgia Tight End Joshua Parris.

Reggie Jackson did have surgery in May, which explains why he did not take part in some predraft workouts.

Although I wanted BC to take advantage of the NFL Lockout, I didn't have Patriots' practices in mind.

Luke Kuechly should be on multiple preseason All America lists.