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Bummer, one of my favorite players, Akil Reese, has left WOU. Good point guard came in as a frosh from SoCal, redshirted and started a lot this year, minutes diminished down the stretch. It's a bit of a reach to get Cali guys, even Washington players. Monmouth often doesn't suit them.
On the Final 4 team they had two starters from Cali (one JC), other starters from Woodburn, Oregon; McKenzie River, Oregon; and Monmouth, Oregon; sixth man from Salem. Having watched WOU athletics for awhile, historically the best football players and basketball players have not only come from Oregon, but usually small Oregon towns. I documented the football stuff on the football board, by far their best players of late (Boss from Philomath, Revis from Scappoose, etc.) have come from small Oregon towns.
When I was in college they had a run of 4-straight 25-win or more seasons. A 30-win team had starters from Coos Bay, Estacada, Redmond, Beaverton, and a B school in Washington, Chimicum (where coach Jim Shaw hails from; Shaw was an All-American player at Western Oregon and played on one of those teams as did his prep teammate).
I wish Reese would've stayed as I wish the 6-10 kid from Auburn, Washington, would've stayed. But I know that if you bring in out-of-staters to Monmouth, you need to play them or they will bolt. Also, I'm not sure the 20-person roster thing is a positive. I like coach Shaw's recruiting, but Bergeson didn't oversell the farm, sticking with a rather small roster. (His two best players in his time in Monmouth? Guards from Junction City and McMinnville. WOU coaches out-think themselves too much with this out-of-state/metro stuff, IMO.)
Gonna miss Reese, excellent player.
On the Final 4 team they had two starters from Cali (one JC), other starters from Woodburn, Oregon; McKenzie River, Oregon; and Monmouth, Oregon; sixth man from Salem. Having watched WOU athletics for awhile, historically the best football players and basketball players have not only come from Oregon, but usually small Oregon towns. I documented the football stuff on the football board, by far their best players of late (Boss from Philomath, Revis from Scappoose, etc.) have come from small Oregon towns.
When I was in college they had a run of 4-straight 25-win or more seasons. A 30-win team had starters from Coos Bay, Estacada, Redmond, Beaverton, and a B school in Washington, Chimicum (where coach Jim Shaw hails from; Shaw was an All-American player at Western Oregon and played on one of those teams as did his prep teammate).
I wish Reese would've stayed as I wish the 6-10 kid from Auburn, Washington, would've stayed. But I know that if you bring in out-of-staters to Monmouth, you need to play them or they will bolt. Also, I'm not sure the 20-person roster thing is a positive. I like coach Shaw's recruiting, but Bergeson didn't oversell the farm, sticking with a rather small roster. (His two best players in his time in Monmouth? Guards from Junction City and McMinnville. WOU coaches out-think themselves too much with this out-of-state/metro stuff, IMO.)
Gonna miss Reese, excellent player.
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