Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
(1) Has it been quiet on the recruiting front since Coach Souza's arrival, or is it just my imagination?
Definitely more quiet than the past 4 years. In part a product of the glut of forwards Borek brought in so that we are pretty full until 2018. At this point, in the US market, they have lost most of the current top 1999s and 2000s, so there is little incentive for commiting "early" for 2018. Not missing the Borek bringing in a "unknown potential" kid every month.
(2) Considering a couple of Borek's future recruits have decommitted at UNH and followed/plan to follow him to Providence, but there is no news of any UConn decommits following Souza to UNH ... what do we make of that?
Did Luce Canaan put strings on letting Souza leave, while Coach Umile didn't put any strings on Borek's departure?
Is it just a case of players getting a chance at a re-do, and opting to take a shot at playing for the D-1 champs?
Or is it just another confirmation of Coach Borek's magnetic recruiting personality?
Too early to tell. Sure is an interesting contrast. Wonder why the UNH recruits were not tied more to Umile than Borek? Hard to figure, maybe someone could offer a theory
I have a really hard time trying to evaluate Souza's involvemnt in U.Conn recruiting.
I have to believe UNH not getting U.Conn recruits is more a function of Umile's black and white thinking. The only decommit he has ever taken is Brian Pouliot. (We're also the only Div. I team never to have a European) While the practice of decommitments is becoming rampant, we do not access that pool of players, as he seems to think is is some sort of moral failing/lack of commitment that disqualifies the player.
Now, reading more tea leaves, U.Conn got a top 2000 in Drew Elser just after Souza left (was hoping maybe a young assistant would be able to tell Farabee and Elser that they could be his first line in the new era). Seems he saw U.Conn as a more attractive future. That would not have been a "de-commitment" -- did Cavanaugh insist that Souza not recruit any kids he had recruited for U.Conn?
I know it's early in the "transition", but something just doesn't seem right to me with any of this ...
Quiet sure raises questions, but nothing that a foundational recruit couldn't fix. If that is going on behind the scenes, I'm OK with that. At this point they are bolloxed-up until 2018 by Borek taking the good players, and leaving behind a lot of his mistakes. So, Souza should have a list of USA top 2001s and Canadian 1999s, 2000s that he is working on getting to be "his" guys in re-building the program. I'd rather have 3 top kids than 6 volume kids.
Given the inability to get any of USA's 1999s and 2000s, they can either wait to see if unheralded USA kids develop (like Karashuk did for U.Conn), which means there is no rush, or they are going to Western Canada. That is not a Souza strength.
It may be that Souza has weak connections to Western Canada, and so Stewart had to introduce him to the potential recruits -- the introduction tour, so to speak.
Of course, if this is them trying to get up to speed because Borek was the only connection to potential recruits and took the rolodex, or because of the limited appeal to the "We don't know who you would play for when you arrive in 2018-2019, but I have a really good chance of being Head Coach in three years when the Coach may relinquish the reigns" salespitch, then.....
But ending on a positive note, perhaps in the next two weeks we hear UNH has gotten Brandon Biro, Ian Mitchell, Jordan Sahdu, Griffen Mendel, Brett Stapley and Jake Harrison. I'd shut up then.
that one's gonna leave a mark ...
) ... whither BS35+3, are we to assume he is lurking just below the Top Ten? All of that mega-experience has probably taught him to try his best to avoid being on lists like this one as a lowly AD (although two of "his guys" are on it) ... and Coach Umile, once well-publicized as the top paid State of NH employee overall, has fallen all the way down to #9 at UNH alone. Maybe he's trying to follow BS35+3's low-profile example?
