West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkpr...fae6c4a7e/amp/


Hey Duquesne, how does it feel to be on the other end? At least Williams did not break his word like carry did ( scholarships only valid for 1 year). Maybe your coaches need to beef up on theology classes lol!

My years have taught me that almost everything in life has a financial motive. There are a few things that people do just because they care, but very few. It's possible that these "services" could do what they do just because they love the game but the reality is that they are probably doing it for the Benjamins. We may not know exactly how they have "monetized" their service but your first two examples are very plausible and I think likely...particularly #2.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

A lot of those jabronies run 'elite' camps in the summer. The more D1 players they are (loosely) affiliated with ... they can likely charge much more at the camps.

And, of course, there is the 'legal' side of recruiting and then the 'reality' side of it. Basketball recruiting is as dirty as it gets.

It was easy in the 90s when Ricky Roe's dad just wanted a new John Deere and a bag of cash.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I see him playing d2 in a large metro area. I would think that once June comes the d1 openings will have largely evaporated. I would guess that his 150 lb frame is not worth a d1 school having him sit a year. He may learn that at his age there are no mulligans on bad decisions. There are consequences.

Life can be a hard teacher sometimes. Of course, the little bugs that whispered D1 nothings in Hills ear will be nowhere to be found come June when Hills is trying to get a late walk-on from bad DII or D3 programs. They will have moved on to the next DII player they can fill with "you're D1 caliber" garbage and probably won't even remember Hills name.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Speaking of another one I suspect got bad advice ... I haven't seen a thing on Jair Rodgers.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

A lot of those jabronies run 'elite' camps in the summer. The more D1 players they are (loosely) affiliated with ... they can likely charge much more at the camps.

And, of course, there is the 'legal' side of recruiting and then the 'reality' side of it. Basketball recruiting is as dirty as it gets.

It was easy in the 90s when Ricky Roe's dad just wanted a new John Deere and a bag of cash.

It would be interesting for a newspaper to do a story on the "cost behind athletic recruiting." Got to be a billion dollar business!!! Hummmmmm...maybe I need to get back into it now that I have more free time and am much more social media savvy??!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

It would be interesting for a newspaper to do a story on the "cost behind athletic recruiting." Got to be a billion dollar business!!! Hummmmmm...maybe I need to get back into it now that I have more free time and am much more social media savvy??!!

Tricky part of it is the school usually has no trace to the money trail -- and knows 'nothing about it' ... lol.

You get the whales at the big schools. The money doesn't mean a thing to them. They just want their team to beat their buddy's team. They take care of the loopholes.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Tricky part of it is the school usually has no trace to the money trail -- and knows 'nothing about it' ... lol.

You get the whales at the big schools. The money doesn't mean a thing to them. They just want their team to beat their buddy's team. They take care of the loopholes.

So true. In appreciation, The whales probably get a guest lecturer gig at the school on business ethics! LOL

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Tricky part of it is the school usually has no trace to the money trail -- and knows 'nothing about it' ... lol.

You get the whales at the big schools. The money doesn't mean a thing to them. They just want their team to beat their buddy's team. They take care of the loopholes.

I hear you. Hard to come up with a definitive figure because programs (and boosters) are all over the place.

I'm kind of talking about someone taking a look at the costs to the players family (cost of video highlight clip, cost of "elite" camps, etc) AND a deep dive on the more unseemly underbelly like what it costs for a player to play for an AAU team that has a "history" of putting players in D1 programs vice the cost of playing for an AAU team that puts few or none in D1...how much does it cost to for players to attend the various "showcases" and "elite camps"...How much does it cost to get a "recruiting service" known to put a lot of players into D1 to "recommend" a player vice ones that maybe don't have such a "record of D1 success." While I can't put a dollar figure on any of this, I do know it ain't cheep and certainly far beyond what many families can afford. Sooooooo...How are families of limited means funding this? How are any the more "boutique" services/showcases funded? Is it JUST from the money provided by participants or are there behind the scene investors?

I speculate that doing that deep dive would tell a story that some people don't really want to know about!

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I hear you. Hard to come up with a definitive figure because programs (and boosters) are all over the place.

I'm kind of talking about someone taking a look at the costs to the players family (cost of video highlight clip, cost of "elite" camps, etc) AND a deep dive on the more unseemly underbelly like what it costs for a player to play for an AAU team that has a "history" of putting players in D1 programs vice the cost of playing for an AAU team that puts few or none in D1...how much does it cost to for players to attend the various "showcases" and "elite camps"...How much does it cost to get a "recruiting service" known to put a lot of players into D1 to "recommend" a player vice ones that maybe don't have such a "record of D1 success." While I can't put a dollar figure on any of this, I do know it ain't cheep and certainly far beyond what many families can afford. Sooooooo...How are families of limited means funding this? How are any the more "boutique" services/showcases funded? Is it JUST from the money provided by participants or are there behind the scene investors?

I speculate that doing that deep dive would tell a story that some people don't really want to know about!

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Cost is $400 to $4000 per summer per player not including travel, meals, lodging etc.
https://qctimes.com/sports/high-scho...1d00aedb5.html

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

New 2019 PG offer http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/chris-rogers

[Sportsnut]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Not much of an offer list!

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Not much of an offer list!

He seems to have a pretty good HS pedigree.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Imho because there are no lowlights. No one misses a three. No one takes plays off. Very little info on their open court defense. Everyone is all world. Without entire game it is fairly useless.

Also for d1 take photos of the athletes parking lot and look at the hi end new suvs. Determine who has the title- probably Uncle Buck. That would also be a starting point although after the fact.

Sure...But try to get recruited without one! Unless you are a big name blue chip prospect, you are not going to get looked at unless you have a highlight tape. And at the DII level were recruiting budgets are often very tight, they are often the deciding factor in who to go and see and who not to.

As for investigating this, the problem is until you get to the P5 level were the FBI would have an interest, this is not a sexy crime that is going to generate local PD/County Sheriff/state-wide Agency interest. In the big scheme of crime, the recruiting game is considered small potatoes...even though it is a multi million (billion?) dollar enterprise.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Sure...But try to get recruited without one! Unless you are a big name blue chip prospect, you are not going to get looked at unless you have a highlight tape. And at the DII level were recruiting budgets are often very tight, they are often the deciding factor in who to go and see and who not to.

As for investigating this, the problem is until you get to the P5 level were the FBI would have an interest, this is not a sexy crime that is going to generate local PD/County Sheriff/state-wide Agency interest. In the big scheme of crime, the recruiting game is considered small potatoes...even though it is a multi million (billion?) dollar enterprise.

Yep. The days of coaches hitting the road and sitting in gyms is long gone. Here, I know Joe doesn't even leave campus to recruit. His assistants may make a trip or two, but once they identify who they want the players are brought in for a visit with him. I think he's a master at working connections.

Many coaches have told me they don't even watch high school tape. The competition is often too poor. All they want to see is summer stuff when players are playing against other top players and are surrounded by other strong players.

D2 is so different from one end to the other. At IUP, West Liberty, etc., each recruit is hand-picked. They are fully-funded. Those spots are hard to get. At the other end ... the Clarion's of the world ... they struggle to fill out a somewhat competitive roster. They have to build a team out of 2-3 scholarship equivalencies. Not easy to do. It's almost like low Class A baseball ... they may have a couple players but the rest are just roster-filler.