You’ll notice this site doesn’t cover the great armchair athlete event known as recruiting. Aside from getting my hopes up all too often for the next great Creighton Bluejay, a young man whose high school, junior college, or previous Division I exploits leave recruiting “experts” salivating at YouTube videos and tossing out stars like ninjas, most of the writers at WBR are season ticket holders and thus, are boosters of Bluejays athletics.
So, we can’t talk to potential future Jays about their college plans. And that’s fine, because for as many highly regarded prospects who become brilliant players are exponentially more who fade early or simply fail to catch a spark at all. Why spend my time getting excited about someone I’ve never seen play, outside of scratchy online videos captured in small high school gyms around the nation.
Why am I telling you this? Because I’m having trouble sticking to my guns. No, I don’t mean I’m going to start posting Q&As with potential CU recruits. I’m simply stating my excitement for something that 1) is a few months away, 2) I have no control over, and 3) will undoubtedly provide mixed results.
I’m referring to Greg McDermott’s reshaping of the Creighton men’s basketball roster.
Pick up a Six-Pack
I’ve never been great at math, but I can count to a baker’s dozen, which comes in handy seeing as 13 is the magic number for college basketball recruiting. Creighton’s 2010-2011 roster is currently one scholarship short of that limit, now that P’Allen Stinnett is officially off the Bluejays’ roster.
As a result, Greg McDermott has an open scholarship, akin to some extra cash likely burning a hole in his Jerry Ryan suit pants pocket. He told Steve Pivovar at the World-Herald that he would bring in another player for ’10-’11 “if we can find the right one.” This time of year, “the right one” might fall in his lap. But he might be better off saving the scholarship for what proves to be a complete renovation of the men’s hoops roster in 2011.
With five-year Bluejays Kenny Lawson and Casey Harriman scheduled to exhaust their eligibility next spring, along with four-year Jay Kaleb Korver and junior college transfers Darryl Ashford and Wayne Runnels, Senior Day 2011 promises to be a) excruciatingly long but full of well deserved shout outs, and b) the proverbial turning of the page on a large chapter of CU hoops. Add to the mix Stinnett’s scholie and McDermott’s out shopping for a six-pack of talent that will help him make a swift and distinct mark on the Bluejays basketball program.
Because of the usual timing during which major college coaching changes take place, incoming coaches likely have their next season’s additions already on the books. And, with graduating classes not usually as large as CU’s five in May 2011 (six if you count Stinnett’s scholarship) and some schools having at least one early verbal commitment, newcomer coaches often only have a few open scholarships with which to extend in their first class at their new place.
Sure, guys can run players off. It happens. Heck, people might think that’s what happened to P’Allen. But he was given innumerable opportunities to put himself in a position to return for his senior season. By the end of last season, at least for me, it was hard to remember him as even being on the team. No, McDermott’s is the case of a coach coming into a new program that just so happens to have half a basketball team to replace in about one year.
Closing the Revolving Door
Between the number of open scholarships at his disposal and a few intriguing redshirt scenarios he can consider, McDermott has an opportunity to recruit six new players to Creighton for 2011 and build a first-year player base of potentially eight kids stepping on to the court for a CU game for the first time that fall. It is a task that’s as exciting as it is daunting.
Consider, for a moment, the players who left the program for one reason or another, beginning with the 2003-2004 season:
- Tim Blackwell
- Quincy Henderson
- Dennis Howard
- Thomas Lane
- Steve Smith
- Dominic Bishop
- D’Angelo Jackson
- Isacc Miles
- Ty Morrison
- Brice Nengsu
- Kenton Walker
- Andrew Bock
- Stinnett
Eight of those guys came to CU out of high school; four from junior college. All left, leaving a void year to year that the coaching staff tried to backfill with last minute additions. Some worked, some didn’t. But the end result was a sort of revolving door, not exclusive to Creighton in the world of college hoops, but not ideal either.
So how will McDermott break up those six scholarships? Will he go heavily after high school kids, of whom he can mix and match redshirt options and develop a near majority of his roster with one class in four to five seasons?
Will he mix and match with preps and JUCOs, trying to give his roster a bit more balance to avoid having to replace half his team again in the near future?
Will he go primarily the JUCO route, trying to lure big name one- and two-year junior college players to Creighton with the promise of immediate playing time?
Perhaps the biggest question is how would Darian Devries and Steve Merfeld like their frequent flyer/gas card points paid out?
Redshirt Scenarios
Again, my math skills aren’t great. So, I’ll do a bit of checking my own work and address the notion that CU could put as many as eight players on the court in the fall of 2011 that haven’t played a single regular season game as a Bluejay.
With only one experienced point guard on next year’s roster (Antoine Young), it is hard to see how McDermott would redshirt incoming freshman guard Jahenns Manigat. But with the low blocks seemingly under control by all-Valley player Kenny Lawson and former Big East stud freshman Greg Echenique, and the wing spot wrapped up by Ethan Wragge and Wayne Runnels and Casey Harriman, one could make a case for throwing the redshirt on incoming Iowans Will Artino and Doug McDermott.
Will the younger McDermott play immediately, or join the 2011 newcomers?
Sure, some of the active roster’s depth would be in jeopardy: McDermott would only have 9 scholarship players at his disposal for the first month of the season, and then just 10 after Echenique becomes eligible to play at the end of the fall semester. But with Matt Dorwart and Derek Sebastian, among others, in play as walk-ons, the Bluejays could do it.
The payoff? Artino and Young McDermott have the same opportunity Lawson and Harriman did as freshman, to get stronger and more comfortable with the D-I game. (I know, Lawson had an injury. But still.)
Gone would be the days of a dozen players being squeezed into the rotation night in and night out — McDermott would need to lean heavily on his core group of contributors. And in the fall of 2011, Artino and Young McDermott would be redshirt freshman and lead potentially six other newcomers onto the Qwest Center court. They wouldn’t need to be all JUCOs or freshmen, but they would be instantly linked to another large incoming class: the 2007-2008 Creighton Bluejays.
Roster Redo, Redux
The last time Creighton played in an NCAA Tournament, Dana Altman rode a core group of upperclassmen to a Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship and a first round game against Nevada. The next season, Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver were gone, along with Nick Porter and Manny Gakou (and Nengsu and Miles). Into their spots stepped eight new players (three true freshmen, two redshirt freshmen, a sophomore transfer, and two JUCO transfers).
That’s about as diverse and equally distributed a large incoming class as you’ll find. How did it work out? One of the freshmen as an all-Valley caliber player who didn’t graduate from CU (Stinnett). One of the other freshmen left (Walker). One of the two redshirt freshmen evolved into an all-Valley caliber player (Lawson). The sophomore transfer was beset by injuries seemingly from the start of his CU career (Chad Millard). One of the JUCO players left the team but then returned and ended his career with no individual hardware (Cavel Witter). The other JUCO player won the Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year award (Booker Woodfox). None of them made it to the NCAA Tournament.
But Lawson and Harriman still have a chance. Barring a quick replacement of Stinnett’s scholarship and the risky proposition of having both Artino and Young McDermott find minutes here and there in ’10-’11, they’ll have to make it to the Big Dance with virtually the same list of contributors who played meaningful minutes down the stretch last season (minus Justin Carter).
Then, McDermott can crack open a six-pack that is sure to leave a lasting impression — good or bad — on the Bluejays basketball program.