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  • Just as a team gets a rep, I think coaches do also. Seems like the rep on Howlett is that he is a top notch recruiter that brings in players that are well rounded and with high basketball IQ's. Once he get's them, he beats their lips off running a high tempo offense and pressure defense, and maybe more importantly, beating any hint of selfishness out of them. Obviously if the player has played, there is film on how much they have improved over HS, but even if they redshirted, there is the belief that Ben the teacher and WLU practice boot camp has improved a player drmatically. So if a player was a "marginal D1" coming out of HS, after a year at WLU, there is a belief that they are clearly D1 calibre now...And a WLU transfer that goes to another DII is probably going to be a leader on and off the court. Ben takes good players and makes them great!

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    • Originally posted by Columbuseer View Post
      President announced his retirement.
      Hate to update an old post, buuuuutttt...The finalists for the President position at WLU were announced and on-campus visits were scheduled, then cancled because of Covid. Finalsits are:

      Dr. David Haney
      Dr. Brian Crawford
      Dr. Robert Colvin
      Dr. Joe Delap

      All have Dean and Provost experience while only Haney has past experience as a University President (Centenary University).

      On campus visits and interviews have been pushed back until at least the fall with current President Greiner pushing his retirement date back to cover the delay.

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      • Topperstation has been doing interviews with WLU players. Good interview with Luke Dyer starts at about minute 13. He was #1 in assist to Turnover ratio at 5.90 across D1, D2 and D3. All time record is 5.96 D2. D1 all time record is only around 5.26. Hit over 42% of this threes. Very humble guy. Just wants to win. Great defender too. https://topperstation.com/watch/hill...ball-luke-dyer

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        • I hope all the hilltoppers are working out hard.

          cause i heard tell that there is a new young gun moseying into town and he is really fast on the draw.

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpg301ntomQ

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          • FYI Here is an interview with Malik McKinney, starting around minute 15.
            He and Dyer are pickpockets on the court. If you bring the ball down to your waist inside, the ball is gone!
            Malik has also stripped guys who show the ball to him while dribbling at half court!
            At Seton Hill, he hit 28% of his threes. At WLU, it increased to over 41% for the season.
            Although known as a shut-down defender, the WLU style has revealed he is a very dangerous force on offense.

            https://topperstation.com/watch/hill...malik-mckinney

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            • https://www.timesleaderonline.com/sp...-hoops-at-wlu/
              Last edited by Columbuseer; 05-15-2020, 09:45 PM.

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              • Looks like WLU picked up another verbal: Ben Sarson from Pittsburgh Central Catholic. At 6'6" 205 lbs., he'd be what passes for a "big" in the WLU system. Anyone have any intel (perhaps even our PSAC friends who might know the Pittsburgh high schools a bit)?

                His other offers were from Ship & Cal, so perhaps PSAC folks know this kid?

                Side note, one of the articles that was posted above made it clear that Luke Powell is coming in as a walk-on, so I'm guessing Howlett has one more scholly to play with. Might be that he's using it on Sarson?

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                • Originally posted by Scrub View Post
                  Looks like WLU picked up another verbal: Ben Sarson from Pittsburgh Central Catholic. At 6'6" 205 lbs., he'd be what passes for a "big" in the WLU system. Anyone have any intel (perhaps even our PSAC friends who might know the Pittsburgh high schools a bit)?

                  His other offers were from Ship & Cal, so perhaps PSAC folks know this kid?

                  Side note, one of the articles that was posted above made it clear that Luke Powell is coming in as a walk-on, so I'm guessing Howlett has one more scholly to play with. Might be that he's using it on Sarson?
                  Don't know. DII basketball, as with all DII sports, uses "scolarship equivilancies" with a limit of 10. So it is quite possible that 9 players are on full schollys and 2 are on half schollys...lots of ways a coach can parce up 10 schollys. Short of a player coming out and saying what scholarship he is getting, no real way of knowing. If I am counting correctly, there are 10 returning players and 4 incoming freshmen. I would imagine that some (all except Powell??) are receiving some portion of a scholarship. That would mean that one or more of the returning 10 players are receiving somthing less than a full ride. Logical choices are Conley and Hiles but short of them telling us, who knows?

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                  • Originally posted by boatcapt View Post

                    Don't know. DII basketball, as with all DII sports, uses "scolarship equivilancies" with a limit of 10. So it is quite possible that 9 players are on full schollys and 2 are on half schollys...lots of ways a coach can parce up 10 schollys. Short of a player coming out and saying what scholarship he is getting, no real way of knowing. If I am counting correctly, there are 10 returning players and 4 incoming freshmen. I would imagine that some (all except Powell??) are receiving some portion of a scholarship. That would mean that one or more of the returning 10 players are receiving somthing less than a full ride. Logical choices are Conley and Hiles but short of them telling us, who knows?
                    The new fad (loophole) is to get players on academic scholarships. You can have a full ride player on academic ride and not count toward the (10) limit.

                    Word is Joe has Ethan Porterfield ... the region's next superstar ... on full adademdc ride. If you hit the jackpot and have two players qualify for academic money ... even better.

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                    • Originally posted by IUPbigINDIANS View Post

                      The new fad (loophole) is to get players on academic scholarships. You can have a full ride player on academic ride and not count toward the (10) limit.

                      Word is Joe has Ethan Porterfield ... the region's next superstar ... on full adademdc ride. If you hit the jackpot and have two players qualify for academic money ... even better.
                      Yup. Dalton Bolon is on full-ride academic, I believe. That's a freebie. Hazelbaker was an all-academic performer with close to a 4.0 this year, so there's a good chance he's getting academic money as well.

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                      • Originally posted by Scrub View Post
                        Looks like WLU picked up another verbal: Ben Sarson from Pittsburgh Central Catholic. At 6'6" 205 lbs., he'd be what passes for a "big" in the WLU system. Anyone have any intel (perhaps even our PSAC friends who might know the Pittsburgh high schools a bit)?

                        His other offers were from Ship & Cal, so perhaps PSAC folks know this kid?

                        Side note, one of the articles that was posted above made it clear that Luke Powell is coming in as a walk-on, so I'm guessing Howlett has one more scholly to play with. Might be that he's using it on Sarson?
                        I saw him play on two occasions...Fits the profile of WL player...Versatile...Long, Can drive, has guard skills..Nice touch, but didn't see much 3-ball touch...Not gonna be the next grossenbacher...Had 40 in a game this year. Plays with an edge (read: little arrogant) whooping at the crowd after makes...

                        I don't mind the get as a WL fan...

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                        • Originally posted by IUPbigINDIANS View Post

                          The new fad (loophole) is to get players on academic scholarships. You can have a full ride player on academic ride and not count toward the (10) limit.

                          Word is Joe has Ethan Porterfield ... the region's next superstar ... on full adademdc ride. If you hit the jackpot and have two players qualify for academic money ... even better.
                          I wouldn't consider it a loophole at all. IIf you are smart enough to get an academic scholly, why should you have to take an athletic school just because you happen to also be a gifted ball player?

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by boatcapt View Post
                            I wouldn't consider it a loophole at all. IIf you are smart enough to get an academic scholly, why should you have to take an athletic school just because you happen to also be a gifted ball player?
                            I was looking at it as more 'loophole' for the programs who happen to be fully-funded at 10 athletic rides.

                            If you are lucky enough to find legit studs who can then get an athletic ride ... you can have 11 or 12 full ride guys instead of the 10. That's a massive advantage.

                            I'm curious to see last year's scholarship numbers. I know in the PSAC very few teams are even close to the 10 rides -- the public schools, anyway. It's certainly not an even playing field.

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                            • From my experience with big D1 schools, I got the impression that the number of full academic rides (Tuition and Room and Board and books and fees) are scarce as hen's teeth, where qualified and deserving recipients far exceed the number of available scholarships, and are much less in number than the total athletic full-rides. A great student who qualifies for this extremely competitive scholarship and also is a great athlete would be rare indeed (Dalton was #1 in his high school class, I think. Hazelbaker had a 4.25 GPA in high school due to college classes).

                              The style that WLU plays seems to be positively correlated with high performing students, which probably helps them in qualifying for some partial academic help. WLU also ensures that they don't recruit players that they have to baby-sit to go to class.
                              The last couple of years, the published team GPA was over 3.0. Don't know about this year.

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                              • Bolon has already graduated and entered his Master's program. I remember reading an article which detailed the highlights of that December graduation ceremony. In the article they listed the recipients of the University's highest scholarship. Bolon was one of those recipients. So, if this article was correct, I can say for a fact that Bolon was on full-ride academic. As IUPbig said above, if you can find an Atlantic Region POY (wink wink) and not have to pay a dime of athletic money to get him, then you're essentially rolling with 11 full schollys when everyone else has 10, or more likely, fewer than that.

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