VC Transfers

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Fewer and far between is right. Those guys at the next level feel that every time they leave their dorm. IUP and West Liberty get great support, but the strong majority of the students on campus don't care much about what's happening with the basketball team outside of liking a post on social media.

It's all how you make it. If your dream was to play Division 1 basketball, then go for it.

I've chronicled this before, but West Liberty seems to have strong success retaining players for their system that they play because they find kids from the middle of nowhere. Obviously not the case all the time, but I remember a few years back looking at a WL roster and seeing where some of these players were from. Rural, and I mean RURAL, parts of Ohio. 100 people or less graduating class rural. Non-urban areas of WV and KY made up the rest. Great players who were overlooked from smaller areas that likely would not have succeeded in a setting different from what was offered to them at WL.

For a lot of those kids, the dream isn't to play D1 ball. It's to go to college and maybe not work on the family farm or the factory that employs the whole town.

The transfer portal has changed college sports certainly. But the stark reality is that it allows players to recognize their priorities and go get them. I'm not saying I agree or disagree. It's just the way that it is. If Hill wanted to play D1 basketball and had a dream to make the NCAA Tournament, imagine the feeling that kid had. When his team punched their ticket he felt his decision to leave was ultimately worth it.

You know how many kids sit at the end of the Kansas (or Pitt, or whatever D1) bench for four years and may get a token 30 seconds here and there? A lot. Most of those kids are good players. They just aren't P5 players. Many would have had great D2 careers. Look at Curtis Aiken Jr. this year at Pitt. I get he's a legacy at Pitt. But, he's also going to ride pine for four years. He'd be a very strong Atlantic Region player.

They get to say they play basketball at Pitt or North Carolina (although they don't really 'play' basketball). They get the big school experience. The perks. The jet rides. The warm-ups in packed venues. It probably helps with the ladies on campus.

So, the jump from high-end D2 to the bush leagues of D1 basketball ... the Cleveland State's, Youngstown State's, etc., ... is it worth it? I think to that age group ... yes, it is.

Armoni Foster at IUP could certainly get caught up in this mess. Thank goodness for us he doesn't seem interested.

[Scrub]

Fewer and far between is right. Those guys at the next level feel that every time they leave their dorm. IUP and West Liberty get great support, but the strong majority of the students on campus don't care much about what's happening with the basketball team outside of liking a post on social media.

It's all how you make it. If your dream was to play Division 1 basketball, then go for it.

I've chronicled this before, but West Liberty seems to have strong success retaining players for their system that they play because they find kids from the middle of nowhere. Obviously not the case all the time, but I remember a few years back looking at a WL roster and seeing where some of these players were from. Rural, and I mean RURAL, parts of Ohio. 100 people or less graduating class rural. Non-urban areas of WV and KY made up the rest. Great players who were overlooked from smaller areas that likely would not have succeeded in a setting different from what was offered to them at WL.

For a lot of those kids, the dream isn't to play D1 ball. It's to go to college and maybe not work on the family farm or the factory that employs the whole town.

The transfer portal has changed college sports certainly. But the stark reality is that it allows players to recognize their priorities and go get them. I'm not saying I agree or disagree. It's just the way that it is. If Hill wanted to play D1 basketball and had a dream to make the NCAA Tournament, imagine the feeling that kid had. When his team punched their ticket he felt his decision to leave was ultimately worth it.

Another great point. And, yes, Howlett & Crutch have had great success leveraging the remoteness of WLU to get those rural Ohio/Kentucky kids to come in and feel comfortable. No surprise that the kids WLU has lost in recent years are all from more metropolitan places (Hill--Cleveland, Dave Dennis--suburban Columbus, and Jon Alessandro--Dayton). But, man, the kids from Berlin, OH or Gnadenhutten, OH sure do feel comfortable here! And the rural kid from Berlin, OH used his opportunity to play his way into a life in Berlin, Germany. Not a bad gig!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Fewer and far between is right. Those guys at the next level feel that every time they leave their dorm. IUP and West Liberty get great support, but the strong majority of the students on campus don't care much about what's happening with the basketball team outside of liking a post on social media.

It's all how you make it. If your dream was to play Division 1 basketball, then go for it.

I've chronicled this before, but West Liberty seems to have strong success retaining players for their system that they play because they find kids from the middle of nowhere. Obviously not the case all the time, but I remember a few years back looking at a WL roster and seeing where some of these players were from. Rural, and I mean RURAL, parts of Ohio. 100 people or less graduating class rural. Non-urban areas of WV and KY made up the rest. Great players who were overlooked from smaller areas that likely would not have succeeded in a setting different from what was offered to them at WL.

For a lot of those kids, the dream isn't to play D1 ball. It's to go to college and maybe not work on the family farm or the factory that employs the whole town.

The transfer portal has changed college sports certainly. But the stark reality is that it allows players to recognize their priorities and go get them. I'm not saying I agree or disagree. It's just the way that it is. If Hill wanted to play D1 basketball and had a dream to make the NCAA Tournament, imagine the feeling that kid had. When his team punched their ticket he felt his decision to leave was ultimately worth it.

Solely campus speaking, WL isn't going to be for everyone. It's remote. Very remote.

I think it's kind of kind of neat. That remoteness would have also driven the 18-21 year old version of me insane.

I assume the nightlife is all in Wheeling. But, even that is about 8-10 miles away.

So, to your point, recruiting the kids from desolate places probably helps. It would be difficult to get kids who grew up in an urban environment to stay there four years.

[IUP24]

And these D2 guys might not realize it, but they do have people following them and rooting hard for them. I remember once when my wife, son, and I were out shopping years back, and we ran into Chris Morrow (who was a WLU post player at the time) in a store. My kid (maybe 7 years old at the time) went nuts. He was pointing and whispering. All he knew was that he had bought a ticket to watch this guy play (as a 7 year-old he had no idea he was one of only 1,200 in the arena), and the guy was a hero to him. And Morrow to his credit--even though he had a reputation for sometimes being a hot head on the court--was a true gentleman. He came right over and introduced himself to my kid and had a little chat. Made the kid's day. So those experiences of "stardom" are available to D2 guys in good programs. But they're fewer and farther between for sure.

Fewer and far between is right. Those guys at the next level feel that every time they leave their dorm. IUP and West Liberty get great support, but the strong majority of the students on campus don't care much about what's happening with the basketball team outside of liking a post on social media.

It's all how you make it. If your dream was to play Division 1 basketball, then go for it.

I've chronicled this before, but West Liberty seems to have strong success retaining players for their system that they play because they find kids from the middle of nowhere. Obviously not the case all the time, but I remember a few years back looking at a WL roster and seeing where some of these players were from. Rural, and I mean RURAL, parts of Ohio. 100 people or less graduating class rural. Non-urban areas of WV and KY made up the rest. Great players who were overlooked from smaller areas that likely would not have succeeded in a setting different from what was offered to them at WL.

For a lot of those kids, the dream isn't to play D1 ball. It's to go to college and maybe not work on the family farm or the factory that employs the whole town.

The transfer portal has changed college sports certainly. But the stark reality is that it allows players to recognize their priorities and go get them. I'm not saying I agree or disagree. It's just the way that it is. If Hill wanted to play D1 basketball and had a dream to make the NCAA Tournament, imagine the feeling that kid had. When his team punched their ticket he felt his decision to leave was ultimately worth it.

[Columbuseer]

D1 players watch way too much of the NBA.

The pro game ... I can't even watch it. Hurts my eyes.

Im with you. With exception of gonzaga, and michigan to an extent, the players make decisions grade schoolers would not make .
LSU was shining example of ball sticking and jacking up incredibly difficult shots with no one under. What a waste of lot of bags of shoe money. :-)

d2 regionals were much higher level basketball. If wvu could have made interior passes like mercyhurst they would still be playing.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Your point #7 has been on display these past few days. After watching a very high level MEC tournament and Atlantic Regional tournament, I keep watching these D1 games and wondering if these players have ever heard of shot selection.

D1 players watch way too much of the NBA.

The pro game ... I can't even watch it. Hurts my eyes.

[Scrub]

Your point #7 has been on display these past few days. After watching a very high level MEC tournament and Atlantic Regional tournament, I keep watching these D1 games and wondering if these players have ever heard of shot selection.

[Columbuseer]

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. To many, playing at a small D2 (albeit elite school) doesn't have the same appeal as playing at a mid major. I'm not saying that's how I feel, but it's all how you view it. For certain people, it's the D1 appeal, the twitter following, the free gear, etc. For many, it's the opportunity to get to the real dance. To have that March Madness theme song playing in the background when you run onto the court as a 15 seed on TBS. These kids dream of playing in that tournament. Not playing for West Liberty in front of 1,200 people. That sounds harsh, but that's the reality of it. I don't agree with the whole mindset, but you only get one shot at your college career. We all love the programs we root for, but outside of a uniquely small group of people, nobody views Division 2 sports the same way that we do.

Football players routinely choose the MAC over going to really strong D2 football programs. Is playing at Akron a better deal than playing at Grand Valley State? Who knows, but most of those kids who play at Akron will all remember the day they walked into Ohio Stadium and got to play in front of 109,000 people. Did they get their clocks cleaned? Probably, but I'm not sure those guys really care when they look back at the memory.

[Scrub]

And these D2 guys might not realize it, but they do have people following them and rooting hard for them. I remember once when my wife, son, and I were out shopping years back, and we ran into Chris Morrow (who was a WLU post player at the time) in a store. My kid (maybe 7 years old at the time) went nuts. He was pointing and whispering. All he knew was that he had bought a ticket to watch this guy play (as a 7 year-old he had no idea he was one of only 1,200 in the arena), and the guy was a hero to him. And Morrow to his credit--even though he had a reputation for sometimes being a hot head on the court--was a true gentleman. He came right over and introduced himself to my kid and had a little chat. Made the kid's day. So those experiences of "stardom" are available to D2 guys in good programs. But they're fewer and farther between for sure.

[Scrub]

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. To many, playing at a small D2 (albeit elite school) doesn't have the same appeal as playing at a mid major. I'm not saying that's how I feel, but it's all how you view it. For certain people, it's the D1 appeal, the twitter following, the free gear, etc. For many, it's the opportunity to get to the real dance. To have that March Madness theme song playing in the background when you run onto the court as a 15 seed on TBS. These kids dream of playing in that tournament. Not playing for West Liberty in front of 1,200 people. That sounds harsh, but that's the reality of it. I don't agree with the whole mindset, but you only get one shot at your college career. We all love the programs we root for, but outside of a uniquely small group of people, nobody views Division 2 sports the same way that we do.

Football players routinely choose the MAC over going to really strong D2 football programs. Is playing at Akron a better deal than playing at Grand Valley State? Who knows, but most of those kids who play at Akron will all remember the day they walked into Ohio Stadium and got to play in front of 109,000 people. Did they get their clocks cleaned? Probably, but I'm not sure those guys really care when they look back at the memory.

That's well put, IUP24. Nice read on the situation.

That all makes a ton of sense. The only part that doesn't quite fit, though, is the playing time part. Maybe it's just because I was never an elite athlete with any designs on playing at any level, but I just feel like I'd have wanted to be on the floor in front of 1,200 people than on the bench in front of 35,000.

[IUP24]

Just ask Yahel Hill who played all of 8 minutes in Cleveland State's first-round loss the other night. His final stat line was 0-2 from the field with 2 turnovers. When instead, he could have been playing 28 minutes and scoring 17 points in a D2 Elite Eight contest on Wednesday. Just doesn't seem worth it.

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. To many, playing at a small D2 (albeit elite school) doesn't have the same appeal as playing at a mid major. I'm not saying that's how I feel, but it's all how you view it. For certain people, it's the D1 appeal, the twitter following, the free gear, etc. For many, it's the opportunity to get to the real dance. To have that March Madness theme song playing in the background when you run onto the court as a 15 seed on TBS. These kids dream of playing in that tournament. Not playing for West Liberty in front of 1,200 people. That sounds harsh, but that's the reality of it. I don't agree with the whole mindset, but you only get one shot at your college career. We all love the programs we root for, but outside of a uniquely small group of people, nobody views Division 2 sports the same way that we do.

Football players routinely choose the MAC over going to really strong D2 football programs. Is playing at Akron a better deal than playing at Grand Valley State? Who knows, but most of those kids who play at Akron will all remember the day they walked into Ohio Stadium and got to play in front of 109,000 people. Did they get their clocks cleaned? Probably, but I'm not sure those guys really care when they look back at the memory.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Just ask Yahel Hill who played all of 8 minutes in Cleveland State's first-round loss the other night. His final stat line was 0-2 from the field with 2 turnovers. When instead, he could have been playing 28 minutes and scoring 17 points in a D2 Elite Eight contest on Wednesday. Just doesn't seem worth it.

I don't want to say guards are more dime a dozen, but elite bigs are hard to find.

Granted, elite D2 bigs won't be near as dominant in the upper D1 ranks. But, it seems every team can never have enough good post players..

Look at the D2 ranks. You can replace a guard so much easier than a good post player.

[Scrub]

Any rumors on Dale Bonner?

It's harder for guards to go up than bigs in most cases.

I couldn't find much (anything) on several transfer recruiting boards.

Just ask Yahel Hill who played all of 8 minutes in Cleveland State's first-round loss the other night. His final stat line was 0-2 from the field with 2 turnovers. When instead, he could have been playing 28 minutes and scoring 17 points in a D2 Elite Eight contest on Wednesday. Just doesn't seem worth it.

[Columbuseer]

I wonder if coaches are waiting until after tourney to see if transfer rates start to quiesce before deciding who to offer.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Any rumors on Dale Bonner?

It's harder for guards to go up than bigs in most cases.

I couldn't find much (anything) on several transfer recruiting boards.