Inside College Basketball
Posted: Tuesday November 03, 1998 04:06 PM
Rush to Judgment | The Rich Are Getting Richer
Do As I Say, Not As I Did
By Seth Davis
Rush to Judgment
The early-signing period has increased, not eased, pressure on
recruits
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Robertson's strong summer play locked up an early offer from UConn Manny Millan |
The NCAA created the early-signing period for high school seniors
in 1982 to ease the stress on recruits who were ready to commit.
Instead, it has forced an increasing number of schoolboys to make
hasty decisions.
An unprecedented number of top-flight prospects will sign
national letters of intent during this Nov. 11-18 period, and
that seems to have increased the pressure on high school stars to
commit earlier and earlier. Eighty-one of the top 100 players
ranked by Bob Gibbons, publisher of the recruiting newsletter All
Star Sports, had made verbal commitments to schools by Oct. 28.
Many of those commitments were given before the school year even
began. "It's like a stampede," Gibbons says. "One ACC coach
called me recently and said, 'I need to sign some players. Who's
left?' I said, 'There is no one left. If you don't have them by
now, you'd better start scrambling.'"
The trend reflects changes in the recruiting process that have
focused attention on younger kids with each passing year. "You
open up these basketball magazines and you see a list of the best
sixth-graders in the country," says Providence coach Tim Welsh.
"It's just not healthy, and coaches have created a lot of it. I'm
complaining about it, but if I don't put pressure on a kid to
commit early, I'm going to lose out."
Recruits such as Tony Robertson, a top-rated 6'3" point guard
from East Providence, are feeling the heat. Robertson took a
visit to Connecticut at his own expense on Aug. 15, saw the lay
of the land—that UConn coach Jim Calhoun was courting three other
top-ranked point guards—and gave a verbal commitment to Calhoun
on Aug. 20. "I just wanted to make sure I had my Number 1 choice
before someone took my scholarship," says Robertson, who claims
the Huskies had been at the top of his list for some time. Still,
he might have changed his mind had he taken his planned official
visits to Kansas, Kentucky and Florida in September and October.
Robertson's signing caused other dominoes to fall. Robertson
informed his friend Majestic Mapp, a 6'2" point guard from New
York City who was also considering UConn, that he had committed.
"He was kind of shocked," Robertson says. A week later Mapp
scheduled an unofficial visit to Virginia, which prompted
Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen to call another recruit, 6-foot Todd
Billet of Lincroft, N.J., to try to press Billet to make a
decision. Billet decided to make like a point guard and pass. "I
just didn't feel that [choosing under pressure] was a good way to
decide on a college," he says. Mapp committed to Virginia on his
visit. Billet is still sifting through offers from five other
schools.
The way coaches and recruits are forced to make increasingly
hurried decisions might help explain why there appears to be an
increase in transfers the last few years, especially among elite
players such as Jason Collier (who moved from Indiana to Georgia
Tech), Mike Chappell (Duke to Michigan State), Luke Axtell (Texas
to Kansas) and Loren Woods (Wake Forest to Arizona). "The
early-signing period is kind of obsolete now with all these
[verbal] commitments," Billet says. "The system needs to be
altered somehow so we can see the schools and get more
comfortable with the coaches."
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The Rich Are Getting Richer
Because very few top high school seniors will be available when
the April signing period begins, college coaches will try next
week to get as many as they can while the gettin's good. Here are
the schools that apparently will clean up during the
early-signing period:
1. Kentucky. The Wildcats locked up commitments from two players
who will be on most top 10 lists: 6'4" Keith Bogans from DeMatha
High in Hyattsville, Md., and 6'10" Marvin Stone from Huntsville,
Ala. The Cats also expect to have the services of 7-foot,
290-pound John Stewart from Indianapolis, who could thrive once
he loses some weight.
2. Duke. The Blue Devils have commitments from 6'2" Jason
Williams of Metuchen, N.J., who blends an explosive first step
with superb court vision, and 6'10" Casey Sanders of Tampa, a
slashing power forward in the Marcus Camby mold. If Duke can add
either 6'5" Michael Dunleavy Jr. from Portland or Alaska's 6'8"
Carlos Boozer (who says he'll wait until spring to sign), many
experts will rank this the No. 1 class in the nation.
3. Kansas. A year after missing out on several top targets, coach
Roy Williams scored with 6'9" Nick Collison from Iowa Falls, 6'9"
Andrew Gooden from El Cerrito, Calif., and should also sign 6'3"
Kirk Hinrich from Sioux City, Iowa, who originally committed to
Iowa State.
Florida, Virginia and Connecticut are also poised for first-rate
recruiting hauls. North Carolina will move up the charts if
Dunleavy and 6'4" Joe Forte, Bogans's backcourtmate at DeMatha,
opt for Chapel Hill.
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Do As I Say, Not As I Did
Iona senior forward Kashif Hameed swears he is telling the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but he is wilting
under cross-examination. His coach and prosecutor, Jeff Ruland,
is grilling Hameed about a report Ruland received that the player
has been insufficiently diligent about attending class. "You're
scamming me," Ruland says, as Hameed attempts to draw a
Clintonesque distinction between late and absent. Then Ruland
abruptly cuts off the questioning. "Let me put it this way," he
says. "I'm gonna get you." Just like Rambo, only Ruland has
bigger biceps.
What makes this scene noteworthy isn't so much the inquisition as
it is the inquisitor. Ruland was a two-time All-America when he
played at Iona from 1977-78 to '79-80, but he is the first to
admit that he majored in cutting class (with a minor in
bar-hopping). "I hated school, I really did," he says. Entering
his first year as head coach at his alma mater, the 6'10",
290-pound Ruland is giving no slack when it comes to his players'
academic obligations. During the first week of practice he kicked
6'5" guard Devonaire Deas, a blue-chip transfer from Florida
State, off the team because Deas kept blowing off classes. "I'm
just trying to get these guys to skip some of the mistakes I
made," Ruland says. "If somebody had said to me, 'If you don't go
to class, you're not going to play,' that would have gotten my
attention."
That isn't lip service. Ruland played for six years in the
NBA—making the All-Star team twice—before injuries forced him to
retire at age 28, but when he decided to get into coaching, he
hit a snag. He didn't have a degree, having bypassed his senior
year to turn pro. So in January 1990, Ruland, who lives in
Medford, N.J., with his wife, Maureen, and their three daughters,
reenrolled at Iona. For the next 18 months he sat in class with
other undergraduates and worked to earn the 70 credits (out of
120) he needed to get his sheepskin. He graduated in June 1991.
"I still hated going to class," he says. "But for all of the
things I achieved in basketball, getting my degree has been, next
to my family, my greatest accomplishment." Ruland served three
years as an assistant at Iona before assuming the top spot last
April after Tim Welsh left to become coach at Providence.
As an assistant Ruland used to put the entire team through 6 a.m.
wind sprints if one player so much as missed a class. He's still
very much the enforcer, peering into classrooms, staying in touch
with teachers, monitoring study hall. With the Gaels bringing
back two all-league selections, Hameed and junior forward Tariq
Kirksay, from last year's MAAC champions, Ruland has every reason
to look forward to his inaugural season as coach. "I'm right
where I want to be," he says.
No doubt his players will be where he wants them to be, too.
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Issue date: November 9, 1998
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