Billyboy78 wrote:Jermaine had a special relationship with Cox for 4 years. He's a different case.
And yet people on this board suggested we were all done after Kansas offered and then again when Harris tweeted a pic with Huggins on his WV visit and wrote GOAT. It just proves that message board analysis based on the retweets of a 17 year old doesn't compare to the information the coaches are working with.
That is a good point on the WVU visit and I hope we are able to win the battle based on our recruiting efforts compared to Miami getting nervous that they won’t get their top options and noticing Walker just moved in the Top 100 and has had stock rise significantly over the last few months.
I agree with URIRecruitinginfo.
Just some facis to still consider:
Walker has visited three schools - Rhody, Seton Hall & ECU. I don’t count the Maryland group visit.
We have two very good sources that Walker will have an official visit at Rhody in Sept.
I was at the Adidas Gauntlet in NYC in July. I saw Cox, Carroll & Boswell at Walker’s games. I didn’t see Larranaga at Walker’s games that I warched.
reef wrote:The Miami offer is a concern. Larranaga is a top coach who churns out first round NBA talent quite consistently
Really? Miami is a football school and basketball program has never concerned me. Off the top of my head I honestly can’t name one NBA player from Miami or name the last time they were in the dance.
reef wrote:The Miami offer is a concern. Larranaga is a top coach who churns out first round NBA talent quite consistently
Really? Miami is a football school and basketball program has never concerned me. Off the top of my head I honestly can’t name one NBA player from Miami or name the last time they were in the dance.
Last year? And the one before that? And the one before that?
According to all-knowing Wikipedia, URI and Miami both have 10 tournament appearances each.
reef wrote:The Miami offer is a concern. Larranaga is a top coach who churns out first round NBA talent quite consistently
Really? Miami is a football school and basketball program has never concerned me. Off the top of my head I honestly can’t name one NBA player from Miami or name the last time they were in the dance.
Last year? And the one before that? And the one before that?
According to all-knowing Wikipedia, URI and Miami both have 10 tournament appearances each.
So miamia has just as many NCAA appearances as Rhode Island even with all the advantages of playing in the ACC, enough said. A threat? Of course. A showstopper, nah.
While nobody here is saying URI should back off because of the Miami offer (it's sports - everyone involved in this relishes the thought of taking on the best and beating them), nobody here should be denigrating their program out of ignorance of the facts.
Recruits don't care about a program's history from the 70s and 80s. They look at the recent run of success along with all of the other factors mentioned (relationship with coaches, location, amenities/facilities). Going back to the 97 tournament, URI has appeared in all of 5 tournaments while Miami has appeared in 9. I am going back to 97 to make URI look better - these recruits weren't even born yet the previous time URI had string of success.
I hope Walker decides that he wants to be apart of URI's sustained success moving forward by taking the torch from the last group of players who put URI back on the map and carrying forward to bigger and better days ahead. I just won't fault him if he wants to go to a conference where he will be on national TV several times a year to showcase himself; to a conference where he will be taking on the best players in the country (see my comment above about being competitive by nature).
While nobody here is saying URI should back off because of the Miami offer (it's sports - everyone involved in this relishes the thought of taking on the best and beating them), nobody here should be denigrating their program out of ignorance of the facts.
Recruits don't care about a program's history from the 70s and 80s. They look at the recent run of success along with all of the other factors mentioned (relationship with coaches, location, amenities/facilities). Going back to the 97 tournament, URI has appeared in all of 5 tournaments while Miami has appeared in 9. I am going back to 97 to make URI look better - these recruits weren't even born yet the previous time URI had string of success.
I hope Walker decides that he wants to be apart of URI's sustained success moving forward by taking the torch from the last group of players who put URI back on the map and carrying forward to bigger and better days ahead. I just won't fault him if he wants to go to a conference where he will be on national TV several times a year to showcase himself; to a conference where he will be taking on the best players in the country (see my comment above about being competitive by nature).
If we always lost out to every program people perceive to be at a higher level than us than we wouldn’t be recruiting any top 150 type players. In college basketball, their are your handful of blue blood programs and then your run of the mill high majors and then mid majors etc. unless a blue blood arrives, we still have a chance. Everybody needs to relax, nobody ever said we had Walker 100% for sure to start with and you want to be targeting players who you identified early on and now everybody else is seeing what you saw months ago.
While nobody here is saying URI should back off because of the Miami offer (it's sports - everyone involved in this relishes the thought of taking on the best and beating them), nobody here should be denigrating their program out of ignorance of the facts.
Recruits don't care about a program's history from the 70s and 80s. They look at the recent run of success along with all of the other factors mentioned (relationship with coaches, location, amenities/facilities). Going back to the 97 tournament, URI has appeared in all of 5 tournaments while Miami has appeared in 9. I am going back to 97 to make URI look better - these recruits weren't even born yet the previous time URI had string of success.
I hope Walker decides that he wants to be apart of URI's sustained success moving forward by taking the torch from the last group of players who put URI back on the map and carrying forward to bigger and better days ahead. I just won't fault him if he wants to go to a conference where he will be on national TV several times a year to showcase himself; to a conference where he will be taking on the best players in the country (see my comment above about being competitive by nature).
At this point all we can do is get a visit scheduled with Walker in September and show him a plan that we have for him at URI. Maybe schedule him the same time as Bishop if possible or have former players talk with him when he visits about their experience. Hopefully he doesn’t wait until the spring. I would take McLeod to go with Bishop as there is an opportunity for him to improve and add muscle at a height you don’t normally come across. I would rather leave the scholarship open than take a Somerville or Mading. They would be another bench player that would never contribute at this level similar to Layssard Tertsea.
They are trying to get Walker to visit the same weekend as either Bishop or Long. Bishop is the first choice. They don’t have a date yet from Walker but he has said he will make an official visit in Sept.
CJ Walker PF from FL rated #45 has narrowed his list to 5 schools and Miami is on the list. He lives near Miami. Hopefully he wants to stay home. His family will have input.
His pace presents a challenge. If Bishop commits that leaves URI with one scholarship left (might end up being two). If one of the other bigs wants to commit do you put them off waiting for Walker's decision?
"Every season, college basketball has one or two teams that rise from dormancy to relevancy, squads that make long-awaited charges at the NCAA Tournament and become really fun storylines along the way."
I think we are quietly suring up our Plan B for Walker. I think the fact that’s hes still fielding offers for high majors, the staff realizes they can’t afford to wait, only to be spurned at the altar. UNLESS, he has stated his intentions to the coaches and let us know that we are the leaders, but wants to go through the process.
However, I do not think that has happened, hence the reason we are pushing up on Diawara now.
Rhody83 wrote:I don’t think Rhody is pulling the trigger on any other big man until they hear from Walker. That is unless they are recruiting for four spots.
I think that is why you don’t see an official visit date for McLeod. They are still expecting Walker to visit in Sept.
Rhody83,
I have felt the way you have in terms of Walker and being the only big guy I wanted, but if McLeod says he is going to commit can we afford to mess around with him and not use the scholarship for him? I want Walker combined with Bishop badly, but fear that Ant Walker has taken to all the attention he has received from the big schools and the social media on Twitter and instagram. I do believe in Cox so there is a positive relationship between URI and Walker.
The coaches know how to manage the process. They have been thru this juggle act before.
I am not saying they wait until the Spring for Walker. If he doesn’t visit in Sept/Oct, then they will go with someone else.
Years ago I had a long discussion in January with a father of a Top 100 player (PG) from Oak Hill on recruiting. What I remember most was him explaining how most of the schools were hot & cold with his son at different times in the recruiting process. The son wanted Maryland. Maryland was very interested and then went cold because a Top 25 PG started showing interest in the school. The son started looking elsewhere but held off making a commitment. Then Maryland came back after not getting the Top 25 player. The son had just made a verbal to Maryland. He went to Maryland and started at PG for three years.
If these recruits have good parents or guardians helping manage the process, they will wait for the better school.
This is part of the new role for Cox. Assistants tend to go hard for “their guys,” head coaches have to weigh all the odds and make a decision. And while Rhode Island fans may get frustrated when schools get in on a guy late and snatch him, they also can be in the same position over schools below them. Bishop has schools like Florida and Wake Forest on his list, but he seems to be a second option for them. Rhode Island has the chance to do that, too, if their top choices don’t work out.
If you think Walker is that much better and that any second option big you could sign in September is as good as one you could get in the Spring, you wait.
I don’t think there is any player that would reject an offer. You wonder what these schools were thinking. If there was any interest, why didn’t they offer during the July evaluation period? Did Wake just lose out on one of their priority recruits?
Rhody83 wrote:Here is an example. Most believe Akok is down to Syracuse, PC & UCONN. But he just received offers from Florida and BC.
The difference is that Syracuse, PC and UConn can hold off those schools much easier than we can. Akok isn’t doing cartwheels over the offers. Hope you are right
Just read one of the Pitt articles and it specifically says Rhode Island is recruiting him the hardest and calls him everyday! Also that Illinois is the other school recruiting him outside of Pitt.
Walker cuts his list to 8 and looks like he wants to decide before his HS basketball season starts. We are getting the third visit behind Illinois and Pitt.
"Every season, college basketball has one or two teams that rise from dormancy to relevancy, squads that make long-awaited charges at the NCAA Tournament and become really fun storylines along the way."
Comments from Walker on each school. Comments aren’t too strong for Rhody but you can’t ready too much into that. BC, Maryland and Kansas aren’t happening.
Shaolin Swat wrote:So, based off of this report, it looks like Walker and Bishop will be on campus at the same time for their official visits
That is correct. Rhody wanted Walker to visit the same time as Bishop. Obvious hope is Bishop helps sell Walker. Walker’s comments on a few of the other schools anout the level of play that they compete with helping prep him for the next level has to be a concern for Rhody. Seeing Bishop who is a higher rated prospect committing to Rhody could help along with Harris and Fatts. Then you take the strong MD connection with the DMV players on the roster. It could be a huge weekend for David Cox to establish himself.
Pitt just offered him last week. We will use that to our advantage. Pitt will still be bottom feeders in the ACC next year. I believe His mom his high on URI and the staff, I think we get Bishop and Walker in the same weekend. We would dominate the A10 with the class Cox is trying to shape.
DC_Rams wrote:Pitt just offered him last week. We will use that to our advantage. Pitt will still be bottom feeders in the ACC next year. I believe His mom his high on URI and the staff, I think we get Bishop and Walker in the same weekend. We would dominate the A10 with the class Cox is trying to shape.
Walker isn’t going to make his decision until after his visits are completed. He ends with VCU the weekend of Oct 20th.
I would expect a verbal the first week of Nov and for him to sign a NLOI during the early signing (Nov 14-21).
He stated in the atticle that he hasn’t thought about a decision date but would like to commit before his high school season starts.
Rhody83 wrote:Walker isn’t going to make his decision until after his visits are completed. He ends with VCU the weekend of Oct 20th.
I would expect a verbal the first week of Nov and for him to sign a NLOI during the early signing (Nov 14-21).
He stated in the atticle that he hasn’t thought about a decision date but would like to commit before his high school season starts.
Chances are, if we don’t get a silent verbal after our visit, we are fighting an uphill battle.
Rhody83 wrote:Walker isn’t going to make his decision until after his visits are completed. He ends with VCU the weekend of Oct 20th.
I would expect a verbal the first week of Nov and for him to sign a NLOI during the early signing (Nov 14-21).
He stated in the atticle that he hasn’t thought about a decision date but would like to commit before his high school season starts.
Chances are, if we don’t get a silent verbal after our visit, we are fighting an uphill battle.
What are you basing that on? I don’t agree with that at all. His order of his visits (I am not including Kansas):
Illinios
Pitt
Rhody
Miami
VCU
He isn’t in a rush to make a decision. Pitt is before Rhody. Using your logic if he doesn’t give Pitt a “silent” verbal before coming to Kingston, they are done.
