Gary Parrish's Message to Recruits: "It's all relative"

Gary often posts some pieces a bit off the beaten path and this is an interesting piece about recruits choosing average big programs rather than excellent non-BCS programs. Doesn't specifically apply to Gonzaga since our recruiting has been national for years but still a good read regardless.

10 months ago Zach Bell 7 comments 0 recs |

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There is something to this.

If you want to play in the Big Dance it doesn’t hurt to go to a school that goes every year or is likely to win it’s league. That goes without saying.

One thing the author misses is that THE PLAYER has to be able to contribute to get that team over the hump. Doesn’t matter if you are talking about a BCS school or Western Kentucky.

I wonder how many kids come to Gonzaga with the primary purpose of playing in the Big Dance? I’m sure there may be some but I would like to think other reasons might be more important. Am I wrong?

mjc

by quidveritas on Nov 4, 2009 1:47 PM PST reply actions

One thing the author misses is that THE PLAYER has to be able to contribute to get that team over the hump. Doesn’t matter if you are talking about a BCS school or Western Kentucky.

I wonder how many kids come to Gonzaga with the primary purpose of playing in the Big Dance? I’m sure there may be some but I would like to think other reasons might be more important. Am I wrong?

I think the 2 biggest reasons that talented kids commonly go to a particular program is the chance to be in the tournament (and advance in the tournament, too) and to be developed to play on the next level. I’m not a huge scouting guru and I’ve never personally known any D-I bball prospect, but those seem to be the most common reasons.

WKU has gotten some pretty good players in the relatively recent past (and developed others very well) as have Akron, Butler, and other non-BCS heavyweights, so perhaps this message is catching on a bit.

by Nevtelen on Nov 4, 2009 7:11 PM PST up reply actions

They come for the Dance

Good question quidveritas but let’s be honest, it’s that the letter of intent comes with four dance invitations. I think it’s the Dance and the ESPN contract, recruits love the fact that they will be on national TV a lot.

And ZB we recruit “nationally”, but most of our best players have been from the NW because we will take anyone from TX or IL just to say “LOOK! SOMEONE FROM CHICAGO CHOSE GONZAGA!!!” The truth is we are the Boise State of basketball. We pick up a lot of the best of the West that can’t go to the PAC 10 or BIG12, for whatever reasons.

I’m not tryin to say we don’t recruit nationally, but to totally separate us from the midmajors is stretching it until we join a relevant conference because our recruiting is more regional than ESPN makes it look. If we were that much better at recruiting, UW wouldn’t have flattened us for every good HS player in Washington…

by SoundPound on Nov 4, 2009 4:11 PM PST reply actions

We'll take anyone nationally?

Didn’t think two sentences could be interpreted like this but I do take some issue with saying that we’ll take anyone as long as they are out of state. We’ve taken one significant player from Illinois, Jeremy Pargo in recent years. We currently have two players from Texas on our roster, one is Demetri Goodson who happens to be a starter as a sophomore, and the other is GJ Vilarino who once was headed to Kentucky and had other solid offers. I’m not sure if you meant that we’ll take “anyone” to mean that these guys are a bunch of scrubs because they are obviously players. Pargo was a contributor from day one, Meech has been the same, and GJ is expected to be the same.

I’ll also point to the recruiting class of 2007. Austin Daye, Steven Gray, and Rob Sacre all had huge offers. Daye was a five-star who had a final three of Washington, Gonzaga, and Arizona State (I believe). Rob Sacre could have gone to UCLA, LSU, or Notre Dame. Steven Gray was one of the top shooters in the country when he came out and he had interest from Washington. Matt Bouldin also had Notre Dame, NC State etc going after him. To say that we just pick up kids that can’t go to the Pac-10 and Big 12 as you say is really just a false statement.

I’d say that the most influential players on this program since 1999 (when Gonzaga was put on the map) were from the Washington area but that’s to be expected with an up and coming team. Now that Spokane is on the map, there is absolutely no doubt that we are a national program that recruits everywhere. I guess I should have said that we recruit internationally and that would have been more accurate.

As far as comparing us to Washington, I could really care less. If UW was that much better at basketball, Gonzaga wouldn’t have flattened them when the series was still going on.

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by Zach Bell on Nov 4, 2009 4:35 PM PST up reply actions

touche ZB

touche

by superZAGnics on Nov 4, 2009 5:21 PM PST up reply actions

Soundpound

There are lots of Washington HS players that leave the State that are or were stars rather than go to the UW or GU or WSU. Most are from the greater seattle metro area, interesting huh, right in the UW’s back yard. A short list: Marvin Williams, Duke ; Marcus Williams, ARI.; Mitch Johnson, Stanford; Terrence Williams, Louisville; Peyton Siva, Louisville, Aaron Brooks, Oregon, just for a few! Players like Brockman, Hawes, IT, Gaddy and Overton have always wanted to be Huskies and so what? Micah, Ammo, Pendo, Josh, Sean, Steven weren’t too bad but they wanted to be Zags. I find your “flattened” statement a little hard to agree with. Look at that list that I put up………….now don’t you think there’s some talent in this State? Recruit Nationally? I think we do OK. I do think we could do better. This class though was the absolute best put together class that I ‘ve seen since 1996 and with the exception of Stockton we got zippo in Washington but wow, did we score internatonally!!!!!!! I have some issues with the UW’s Coaching staff and don’t believe they match up to GU’s but thats another debate and just my opinion.

by mikesequim on Nov 4, 2009 5:45 PM PST up reply actions